Member Spotlight- Jeremy Trujillo, Corporate Controller, Good Money

Each month, we spotlight a member of Controller Collective whose engagement is highly valued by their peers in the community. This month, we are highlighting Jeremy Trujillo, Corporate Controller at Good Money. 

Jeremy, what led you to where you are today?

I have been in accounting and finance for about 11 years now, but I didn’t take a traditional path. I didn’t get a bachelor’s degree in accounting, I didn’t work for a Big Four firm, and I didn’t get my CPA certification. I have a B.A. in Communications Studies, and I did a stint in a master’s program focused on political communication. At the end of the program, I realized there was no clear career path forward, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. This was at the height of the recession in 2010, and I needed a job. I was fortunate enough to fall into an accounting role at a small telecommunications company and over time, I fell in love with the work. I did that for a few years, eventually went back to school to get my master’s degree in accounting, and now I’m a Controller! 

It’s important to recognize the fact that I wouldn’t be here without strong mentors and supporters early on in my career. I would highly recommend to new accounting and finance professionals that they cultivate a small group of mentors and professional advisors they can lean on. A few years into my career, I worked with a rockstar of a CFO, and I now consider her my professional mentor. She helped me find my groove and sharpen my skills as a professional, all while cheerleading for my success. I know I can count on her counsel for everything from technical accounting questions to talking through new roles and opportunities. 

What is your favorite part of your job? 

What I love about accounting is that it’s straightforward (in most cases), with little ambiguity. There is a right and wrong answer to pretty much everything we do. I didn’t feel like I had that same clarity in my previous career studies, so that’s why I know I’m in the right role now. I also love being in a leadership role where I have the ability to build teams, develop staff, and mentor junior professionals. 

What are some career challenges on your radar?

Automation/AI and skills diversity. We hear a lot about how automation is taking over, and that accountants are going to be put out of work because of it. I don’t buy this for one minute. Automation and AI are just ways to support our evolving role, and allows us more time to focus on the work that really moves our businesses forward. This leads me to the other challenge I see in our field, which is skills diversity. Rather than just knowing GAAP, we need to be familiar with  financial modeling, FP&A, strategy, and operations. Automation and AI are pushing us to diversify our skills and be more well-rounded business professionals. For example, I don’t spend all day swimming in spreadsheets (despite what my family thinks). I’m doing a lot of work in HR, operations, and product strategy. I don’t lead these areas, but I provide insight and support to people who do. 

Expanding our skill set should also go beyond hard skills, too. This is, I think, where my education and training in communication really helped. Having the ability to communicate clearly and work across departments and with outside stakeholders is critical. When I’m evaluating candidates for a new role on my team, two of the more important soft skills I look at are communication and emotional intelligence. 

What is the best career advice you have ever received? 

Early on in my accounting career, I struggled with imposter syndrome. My mentor told me to simply ‘fake it till you make it.’ We hear it a lot, but coming from her, it helped change my mindset. Everybody who is in a CFO or Controller position now had to start somewhere. No single person knows all there is to know about accounting and finance. To some degree, everyone in a new role is just trying to get by. Her advice helped me put into perspective that there are plenty of things I don’t know, but there are also plenty of opportunities to learn. It’s important to remember to not get stressed by the feeling that you’re not adequate or prepared for the role, and instead work to grow your skills every single day. Her words helped me to gain confidence around my abilities and interests in accounting and finance. 

What has been the most difficult challenge this year for you? 

Like everyone - COVID! Specifically, keeping up with COVID-related regulations. There are rules around PPP loans, getting loan forgiveness, understanding this whole process. There’s payroll tax deferrals to operationalize. New benefit and leave regulations in some states. We had employees in different states, so we needed to deal with all of those new regulations quickly. Staying on top of all of that has at times been challenging, while also dealing with my day-to-day responsibilities, helping run a business, and running it in a pandemic! 

What advice or learnings would you share with other Controllers experiencing this same problem?  

Lean on your network to see how other companies and leaders are implementing new regulations, processes, etc. The need to have other professionals as a “sounding board” lead me to Controller Collective. Controller Collective has been really helpful in that regard. I can simply pose a question to the Slack group and will get a range of different views from people in varying industries. I have also been leaning on our banking contacts as the pandemic has unfolded. They have been a much stronger resource around COVID issues than our auditors, for example. 

What are your priorities or goals for next year? 

For me specifically, I’m continuing to learn about FinTech. This is my first role in FinTech; I’ve worked mostly for SaaS and technology businesses in the past. This landscape is changing almost daily so there’s a lot to learn and digest! As Finance leaders, I think it’s important to learn as much as we can about the specific industry in which our business operates, and to not just focus on the numbers. We need to understand the product, market forces, and our customer base. This goes back to the idea that we’re not just putting together historical numbers and reports anymore. We have an opportunity to be much stronger business advisors and leaders, and being a forever student will help keep my skills sharp. I’m also not a CPA, so I hope to get further down that path in 2021.

Why did you join Controller Collective? 

Obviously to expand my network, but I also wanted to see the diversity of views from how people are approaching their role. There are so many channels—AP, AR, expenses, leadership, technical accounting, etc.—that cover so many topics. Being able to pop into the Controller Collective forum and ask a question or learn how other professionals are implementing certain things is super helpful to me. Talking to people about different systems and strategies has been really valuable, as well.

I enjoy the diversity of insights in Controller Collective. It’s a huge resource - and in some cases, it’s better than tax and accounting research tools. Those tools don’t tell me how somebody has implemented or operationalized a new accounting policy. Talking to a vendor about a new tool doesn’t necessarily tell me about implementation pain points and successes. But I can get that holistic view from people in Controller Collective. The level of discussion is of very high quality.