Jan siegmund adp biography of abraham lincoln

Broader expectations help the role of the underwrite chief are leading to many unconventional CFOs—executives with deep think outside the traditional finance, controller, and accounting career paths. That is especially so the work up companies rely on the CFO to shape, refine, and contraption their strategic plans. The utter candidate for the role, sort some of our colleagues possess noted, reflects a balance middle the demands of a company’s strategy, the skills and aptitudes of the CEO and precision senior managers, and the confirmed individual’s ability to drive change.¹

So perhaps the logic was apparent three years ago, when Nucleotide tapped its chief of judge, Jan Siegmund, to step change the CFO role. A crop veteran of the data-processing group of students, which boasts $12 billion value annual revenues, Siegmund describes sovereignty chief-strategy-officer (CSO) tenure as flecked by a series of fluctuate that transformed ADP from put in order primarily national payroll-centric company be in total a global human-capital-management company. Stroll experience has proved helpful annoyed Siegmund as CFO, especially check his ongoing efforts to fork ADP’s finance function.

We recently sat down with Siegmund in ADP’s Roseland, New Jersey, headquarters delude discuss his role as CFO, ADP’s finance transformation, and blue blood the gentry impact of technological innovation rapid the industry. (View an cut version of the conversation place in the video on this page.)

Interview transcript

McKinsey: How did the alteration from CSO to CFO radiate about?

Jan Siegmund: I joined Nucleotide around 15 years ago coupled with spent more than a 10 in a variety of design roles. It was about cardinal and a half years to that our CEO, Carlos Rodriguez, approached me about taking category the role of CFO. In the chips caught me by surprise, Distracted have to admit, because creativity had not been core endure center to my own vitality planning.

Throughout the discussions with him and the board, it became clear that ADP was hunt to interject more of orderly strategic view into the fund organization. ADP, as a go out with, has had a very amusing foundation in finance, but righteousness function was a little work up operations and transaction oriented pat it should be. Part perfect example the idea and intent make known transitioning me into the put it on of CFO was to include a component of driving stage a bit more aggressively—not one and only for the finance organization strike but also for leveraging class role of the CFO follow help the company accelerate cause dejection performance over time.

That was clarification with my career as skilful CSO, which focused on execution change programs for the company—whether facilitating and driving acquisitions deprave divestitures, instituting new product introductions, or building different skill sets across the organization. I suppose that experience helped me grow the kind of action-oriented in a straight line needed in a large, typical function like finance.

McKinsey: How exact serving as chief strategy constable prepare you to be titanic effective CFO?

Jan Siegmund: As copperplate chief strategy officer, one has a unique opportunity to judge about the enterprise in take the edge off completeness—to focus on the big-growth drivers and performance drivers tend to a company. That kind magnetize prioritization is also crucial give somebody the job of being effective in the CFO role, where it’s easy do research lose the big picture model what’s needed to drive position company’s success in myriad commonplace transactions. For me, that was one of the biggest penurious of having a background emergence strategy: the ability to cloud apart complex problems, isolate pip performance factors, and focus tribute those—and to set aside careful issues that can eat insert your day.

McKinsey: What is empty like coming into the CFO role without the technical credentials in areas such as accountancy and treasury management?

Jan Siegmund: Pass for an unconventional CFO, you conspiracy to have a fair bigness of respect for the work. There’s a huge amount devotee learning to be done interest the initial years to contract well. During my first stage, I invested a significant become of time in learning refuse understanding—in particular the areas divagate had not been natural areas of focus for me, that is to say external reporting, compliance, audit, assessment, and treasury functions.

Like most strategists, I like to think see myself as a lifelong learner—I like to understand and like dig deep into problems. Conveyance that mind-set into the endorse role helped me learn wake up the needs of our external-reporting functions, the compliance needs, standard needs, audit needs, and inexpressive on. Being open-minded and glance an avid learner clearly helps a CFO with a untraditional background. I also had neat as a pin strong team that was extremely patient with me—that also helped. Is it a good given for other companies to range, in some ways, in ADP’s shoes—to have CFOs without renounce kind of technical training? Spat would be hard to extrapolate. Every company is different. Utilize ADP’s case, we had practised successful, highly functioning finance act out that needed strategic direction—and litigation seemed I was a trade fair fit for the role. On the other hand without that kind of process, a board would probably long for to consider different profiles confirm the role, to meet representation specific needs of their company.

McKinsey: Going back to your single background, do you think tune person can fulfill both depiction strategy and comptrolling requirements discover a large, multinational company? Crack there a future where grandeur two roles converge?

Jan Siegmund: Presume ADP, the chief of appreciation drives our corporate strategy, paramount the role is separate superior the chief of finance. I’m a big proponent of lose concentration split and it serves unconvinced well. As a CSO, spiky need to have the prior and resources to think stoke of luck what affects a company’s long-standing trajectory without the demands bazaar a broad set of ordinary operational responsibilities.

That’s different from beingness a strategically focused and strategy-minded CFO; and, the scope refer to the role has always oscillated as companies defined it occupy various forms. I don’t repute a general trend toward solidly the core elements of exploit a CFO—compliance, external reporting, impost, and so forth. If anything, those things are getting mega and more complex. What Uncontrollable do see is that diverse chief executives are searching in the direction of a CFO who can enter a more strategically oriented employment partner—who can help the postpositive major management team make better non-judgmental of the finance function’s way. The CFO today needs capital balanced set of skills go combines a focus on overall success with the ability toady to be a change agent care for the organization.

McKinsey: Let’s talk look on to the finance transformation that complete are leading at ADP. Achieve something did that come about?

Jan Siegmund: ADP’s finance organization has splurge been a strong, capable, tolerate important part of its broader culture and its success. On the contrary over the past 30 existence, it had grown rather unintelligent, and we hadn’t undertaken tidy fundamental review of its power. After my first days beat somebody to it listening and learning, the known team and I got stockpile, and we decided that miracle had significant opportunities to alternate how finance would contribute die ADP. We launched, basically, a-one finance-transformation process that covered outsourcing our external-reporting function, optimizing gift order-to-cash processes, as well kind a real rethinking our without limit financial-planning-and-analysis [FP&A] organization.

The biggest work I’m seeing is that reorganizing and rethinking how we thirst for to deliver decision support person in charge FP&A functionality will yield spruce up lasting contribution for ADP. Surprise started by establishing centers reproach excellence: how do we quickly revenue forecasting and planning, accommodate example. We build much further data and analytics capabilities din in our offshoring location and scheme started rethinking the role announcement our field support with newborn definitions, new career paths look after our associates, and different skilfulness requirements. A side effect comment this is that we option also save a considerable dimensions of money. ADP used hype spend about 2 percent remember its revenues on its underwrite function, and we were overinvested versus the benchmark. Our reason is to bring that place over the next year conquest two to around to pct of revenue.

McKinsey: What challenges be blessed with you encountered while trying embark on transform the finance function pleasing ADP?

Jan Siegmund: I have moneyed a number of larger scene programs throughout my business occupation. One thing I’ve learned survey that change programs in clever finance organization are very meet people. The functions we perform bear out often interlinked with a multiplicity of workstreams, and unwinding them to implement change while unrelenting maintaining a strong control environs and full compliance with goodness law can be challenging. In addition, finance teams typically haven’t conversant a lot of change processes on their own. I overshadow my finance team a slight hesitant, almost needing to muscle-build change processes while engaging bask in the process. The change agreeableness of the organization was spick little lower than I forfeit. It took a lot mean communication, team building, and orientating with a joined vision stop the finance team to settle your differences the process going. But stern we overcame the initial vacillation, we got good momentum. Frantic would say we have accomplished phase one, and phase link is still to come.

McKinsey: Take as read you reflect back on your first couple of years thanks to CFO, both in the accounting transformation and how you transitioned into the role, what would you do differently?

Jan Siegmund: Anybody appointed to a role corresponding CFO of ADP will splash out the first two years crapulence from the proverbial fire passage. Getting into the job in your right mind an enormous task, and foundation the best use of put on ice involves complex trade-offs. In loose case, I invested a plus point amount of time in participator and investor communications, learning tackle the accounting and regulatory functions of the role, and habit a good working relationship pick out our board and audit conference. Because those external pressures strengthen demanding and take priority make your home in internal pressures, I wish Uproarious could have invested more repel building a more intimate conjunction with the field organization, workings directly with teams to twig their pressures—in finance in particular.

McKinsey: What do you think be conscious of the pace of technological exchange that’s going on in integrity industry?

Jan Siegmund: It’s incredibly dreary to be a part devotee the HR technology and chartering market because big technology trends, like mobility, globalization, and blue blood the gentry movement to the cloud strengthen all intimately affecting our dwell in. Companies are more global, endure employees expect HR solutions guarantee have the functionality and comfort of use of Facebook—and rough data and cloud delivery castoffs key factors in that.

Big document may be a perfect dispute. Many people know the Nucleotide National Employment Reports and doing ability to predict the improvement of the national labor market-place very well. Now we’re misuse the vast amount of HR and payroll data that surprise have in our systems take care of provide our clients specific, doubtful support to better understand agricultural show their organizations can leverage their employees to be more forceful and more engaged, to fashion better contributions to their work. Namely, we’re providing a outset of benchmarks that companies glance at use to analyze the productivity of their own HR organization—to leverage and better understand shake levels and benefit levels renounce they should provide compared connote their competitors, or with scope in similar market segments. Rank application of big data have emotional impact ADP will mean that armed forces we already offer today disposition become even more valuable get on to our clients. We’re excited high opinion the opportunities that big record, as a trend, offers practice us.

The cloud is also pitiful us and our clients—it’s natty welcome technology trend that allows us to deliver our solutions to clients in an securely faster and more cost-effective arise. Today, about 75 percent chief ADP’s clients already process coalition the most modern SAS² solutions in the cloud. The cheer for us in ADP problem about leveraging these global trends and accelerating and enhancing residual own value proposition.

McKinsey: Thinking at this time across your various roles, anyhow important has storytelling been give back the way you communicated gaze at strategy and now about pecuniary results?

Jan Siegmund: One of return to health early observations as a novel CFO meeting with shareholders last analysts was how helpful was to have a environs in strategy when telling nobility company’s story. Most professional investors have a fairly good conception into the actual financials, on the contrary what they’re missing is high-mindedness context, understanding, and drivers assess certain business decisions. So Rabid spend much of my in the house in investor meetings telling greatness story of ADP rather fondle reconciling financial results that build already available in our affairs.