I spent over a decade in finance before this. I worked my way up from accounting and AP roles through Assistant Controller, Controller, and ultimately Director of Finance. Along the way I supported a company through a sale process and oversaw financial reporting across multiple entities.
That whole climb, the actual job underneath the title never changed: look at how the work gets done, find what's slow, manual, or error-prone, and make it better. Process improvement hasn't been a task on my list; it is the way I'm wired. Most people will do a thing the slower way if that's how they were taught. I can't. Slow, manual work drives me up the wall, so I research the Excel formula or build the process that makes it fast.
I've seen what clean, efficient operations look like, and exactly what messy, manual ones cost a business.
What changed is the toolkit. AI and automation are the newest, sharpest tools for the work I've always done. They can do the repetitive work I used to streamline by hand, faster and across far more of the business than just the books. But the judgment about what's worth doing comes from the years in the chair, not the technology.
I'm a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and the founder of CLW Solutions LLC (est. 2022), based in Wisconsin's Fox Cities and working remotely with clients across the country.
I'm a CPA and I've worked closely with Chris for nearly four years… She is reliable, detail-oriented, and brings a level of analysis that goes beyond typical bookkeeping. I'd recommend her without hesitation.