MAKING THE MODERN FINANCE LEADER
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ELMO CLOUD HR & PAYROLL: BEYOND THE NUMBERS
WRITTEN BY
AMBER DONOVAN-STEVENS
PRODUCED BY
ANDREW STUBBINGS
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E L M O C L O U D H R & PAY R O L L
James Haslam, Chief Financial Officer, ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll, discusses the evolution of the cloud HR and payroll software provider, and the role that the modern CFO plays in business today
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s technology evolves at an exponential rate and customers demand more from their products than ever, the role
of C-suite executives is also changing. Few understand this as well as James Haslam, Chief 04
Financial Officer, ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll, who seeks to redefine the traditional associations of his role as he leads the financial strategy of the tech company that enables medium-sized companies (50 to 2,000 employees) within Australia and New Zealand to deliver employee satisfaction through the use of its cutting-edge technology. Haslam’s experience spans over an 18-year career in accounting and finance. Before becoming a chartered accountant, he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Business from the University of Warwick in the UK. Haslam moved into KPMG’s graduate program in 2001, working largely across audit and corporate restructuring before moving to Australia in 2005 with KPMG’s secondment program where he worked primarily in corporate finance.
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In 2014, he joined Deloitte as a director in the corporate finance team. Yet Haslam’s ambitions were pulling him away from ‘the Big Four’ and in 2017 he founded Financial Agility Consulting. “I saw a gap in the market for providing corporate finance advice to midmarket executive teams, particularly around mergers and acquisitions and IPOs,” he explains. Shortly after founding the company, Deloitte reached out to Haslam, referring him to ELMO in order to assist with developing the w w w.e l mo so f t wa re . com . a u
E L M O C L O U D H R & PAY R O L L
“ I believe that we have a great work culture and I am only as good as my team”
company’s prospectus as part of the IPO, which was successful in 2017. Little did he know at that time how the initial engagement would set him on the path to become a CFO at ELMO. As he continued with Financial Agility Consulting, Haslam continued to work on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) projects and IPOs until early 2019, including supporting ELMO on
James Haslam, Chief Financial Officer, ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll 06
five successful acquisitions, before he succeeded ELMO’s then-CFO, Trevor Lonstein. “It’s not your traditional route into the CFO role,” Haslam acknowledges, “but the advantage I’ve gained through both my Big Four and consulting experience is a wide view of the strengths and weaknesses of many CFO’s who I have worked with. I believe this experience has provided me with a more holistic view of businesses which I find now benefits me in my role.” The skills and networking abilities gained from both KPMG and Deloitte, along with its prestigious alumni, gave Haslam the tools he needed to navigate the industry well, but he reflects that it was in his private consulting work where he learned how to obtain his own opportunities and engagements.
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07 “That need to be resourceful and go
alongside providing a fantastic user
the extra mile with self motivation has
experience,” he says. As CFO, Haslam’s
really honed my negotiation and emo-
core responsibility is to set the financial
tional IQ skills that are so vital in my
strategy and ensure the accuracy of
role today.” He goes on: “Learning how
financial information and metrics, both
to really listen to the needs of stake-
internal and external to the company,
holders is integral to my work at ELMO
particularly with regard to stakeholders.
every day.”
This is in addition to the traditional role
ELMO is a leading provider of human
of ensuring company controls and pro-
capital management (HCM), payroll,
cesses are both working and effective.
rostering and time and attendance
Yet to truly drive the company forward,
software solutions. “We’ve currently
the role of CFO needs to extend beyond
got 14 modules covering the hire-
day-to-day operations. “The position is
to-retire spectrum, with a focus on
no longer about simply doing the work
increasing automation for companies
and reporting the numbers” explains w w w.e l mo so f t wa re . com . a u
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Haslam, “but being a leader that looks beyond the numbers; being a progres-
everyone can understand.” ELMO is growing at a significant pace
sive figure.” He describes this type of
both organically and through acquisi-
CFO as the ‘Modern Finance Leader’.
tion, reporting annual recurring revenue
“A Modern Finance Leader looks
growth of 42.8% over the last 12 months
ahead by two or three years; asks
to A$52million and it is expected the high
themselves ‘how can we invest and
growth will continue in the near term.
lay the foundations to support further
Haslam explains, “It is important to
growth?’ and embraces new technol-
support the growth through the adop-
ogy in an ever-changing landscape.
tion of new technology and partnering
To do that you need to be partnered
with key providers across the business,
across the company and able to com-
particularly as we grow our customer
municate complicated financial data
base, now up to 1,478 and employees
with any department in a way that
up to 368.”
“ A modern finance leader looks ahead by two or three years; asks themselves ‘how can we invest and lay the foundations to support further growth?’”
Haslam divides the company into four segments: the financial and administrative function; client services; sales and marketing; and R&D. “All of these departments need great support and so we work closely with them to ensure that their needs are being met. This also extends to C-suite members of the company.” To ensure these partnerships are
James Haslam, Chief Financial Officer, ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll
cared for, Haslam notes that there are other companies that ELMO partners with in order to support automation. 09 E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
James Haslam James Haslam joined ELMO as CFO in February 2019. He is a Chartered Accountant with over 18 years of experience in accounting and finance roles. Before joining ELMO, James founded Financial Agility Consulting, a consultancy practice providing senior executive management support through mergers, acquisitions, capital raisings and IPOs. Prior to Financial Agility Consulting, James worked for both KPMG and Deloitte, providing professional services advice, predominantly in the respect of mergers, acquisitions and IPOs. James holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Business from the University of Warwick in the UK and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. w w w.e l mo so f t wa re . com . a u
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“For example,” he says, “our sales and
provides automated billing services
marketing team and the executives
and metrics reporting, we expect Zuora
undertake a significant amount of
to have a major benefit to our opera-
travel and TripActions provides a sim-
tions going forwards. Automation is
ple and intuitive platform for booking
a key part of my outlook for finance
travel and capturing the data around
which enables my team to spend less
travel.” Nurturing partnerships like
time undertaking routine tasks and
this is a part of the forward thinking,
more time developing themselves, their
technology embracing attitude that the
knowledge and decision making.”
Modern Finance Leader needs in order
Another partnership Haslam is
to assist in navigating the company
enthusiastic about is the ongoing work
through a fast-evolving landscape.
between ELMO and the University of
A company that ELMO is currently engaging with is Zuora. “Zuora,
Technology Sydney (UTS) on developing a new module leveraging data w w w.e l mo so f t wa re . com . a u
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2002
Year founded
$52mn Revenue in AUS dollars
368
Number of employees
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E L M O C L O U D H R & PAY R O L L
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15 analytics and artificial intelligence
is both supported and appreciated by
in a program that will benefit both
the CFO. “My team is the backbone of
institutions mutually. “Through the
our finance operations and I am a big
partnership with UTS, which includes
believer in empowering my team, what-
access to their state-of-the-art data
ever their aspirations may be.” Since
center, we can leverage our large vol-
Haslam has been in the role, he has
umes of anonymised data to develop
expanded the team and set up both a
insights to develop algorithms which
financial planning analysis team, and
are expected to provide customers the
a corporate development team. He
ability to deepen their workforce plan-
identifies being “collaborative” as the
ning processes” he says.
key requirement for teams. “I want the
To ensure a high standard, Haslam
team debating ideas and talking collab-
enthuses that, for him, and for any
oratively. I don’t stress about mistakes,
good Modern Finance Leader, it is
but I want the team feeling confident in
imperative to have a great team that
exploring and finding solutions. I often w w w.e l mo so f t wa re . com . a u
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“ My team is the backbone of our finance operations and I am a big believer in empowering my team, whatever their aspirations may be”
say, if you can’t fix your issue in less than 30 minutes, share it. I believe that we have a great work culture and I am only as good as my team. I am proud of them and their efforts.” As ELMO continues its upward growth trajectory, it will continue to drive automation through technology. As it breaks into the finance and tech-
James Haslam, Chief Financial Officer, ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll
nology industries, Haslam is confident that younger decision makers will increasingly adopt the ELMO solution
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with their increased appetite to adopt
across Australia and New Zealand it
technology. “Our automation makes
will be interesting to see how this latest
both employers and employees lives
acquisition with operations in the UK
simpler. We have great brand equity
evolves and if it acts as a launchpad for
in the ANZ region; we attract a lot of
global expansion.
leads and we’re evolving into a market leader in the mid-market.� ELMO also garners a notable amount of international interest, with a number of other countries taking interest in the solution. Although the company is very much focused on maximising growth w w w.e l mo so f t wa re . com . a u
ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll 580 George Street Sydney New South Wales Australia 2076 T +61 2 8305 4600 www.elmosoftware.com.au