When Susan Lee joined Meta (then Facebook) in 2008, her first job was to develop early revenue projections for the company. Unlike her experience as an analyst at Morgan Stanley, no models or infrastructure existed for forecasting. “There was a real Wild West feel to it. To get the data, you had to go find the engineers who built the data warehouse and have them show you how to set up the data and how to query it. “I did,” Lee said.
The social media company had 400 employees and was smaller than MySpace when Lee joined the finance team. She lived through the company's period of rapid growth, stagnation in mobile advertising, and initially rocky IPO. Now, as CFO, she leads finance at a 70,000-employee company making big bets on large-scale language models and other AI applications. She is precise and humble, but ambitious and positive. All these characteristics make him a good fit as one of Silicon Valley's top CFOs.
Lee is also a deep thinker about the finance function and its future in today's large companies. In a Q&A with chief accounting officers at the FEI Corporate Financial Reporting Conference, Lee outlined some of Meta's core principles of finance, which are most adaptable to organizations of any size. It is something. Here are seven of them.
plan dynamically
What does the financial planning process look like at a large hyperscale technology company? Early in his career in finance, Lee would have thought it would be a direct continuation of the previous year's plan. spoke. Estimate 1 year. ” But Mehta starts every planning cycle with a blank piece of paper and an idea for the biggest challenge ahead. “And those are often not the same challenges we were facing 12 to 24 months ago,” Lee said. “The process is a little bit tedious because we start from scratch every year, but it has built the company dynamically and for what we face today, and it allows the company to adapt quickly. ” said Lee. Lee adds: “There’s something really intentional about trying to preserve what made us special.”
partnerships matter
Meta's business does not provide financial models. But the financial model ensures that the company can achieve its mission this year, next year, and for three, five, and 10 years. Mr Lee said finances are an important narrative mechanism for management. We also need product and business partners to “know that we are here to help the company achieve its goal of ensuring the successful launch of new products into many regions of the world.” '' said Lee. “If you're just sitting in an office typing away at a spreadsheet, you're not going to be so lonely.”
be objective
Although finance is a partner, its perspective is not tied to individual products or businesses. Lee said there is a need to consider long-term investment and automation plans as an independent and objective party. This requires the following judgments: “These products are performing better than those products, or this area is running more efficiently than other areas.” Or, this is a project in which we should invest more. And this is a project that needs to be scaled back because there is no market for it. ”
budget for the future
Rather than thinking about our financial resource needs in 2025 and trying to improve by 5% next year and budget accordingly, Meta's finance leaders collectively asked, “What should our finance organization look like at the end of the decade?” ?What should be the overall picture of all our responsibilities?'' Li said: “When you expand the time horizon, you suddenly remove the limitations of what you thought was achievable right away. People are asked to think outside of their immediate operational rhythm.” When an organization has a mission, the problem is It depends on how you get there. “We are going through a budgeting process that will put us on a long-term path to realizing our 2030 vision,” she said.
Tap on others for AI knowledge
How can AI be used to streamline financial operations? Improving financial efficiency is not a top priority for Meta's AI engineers, Lee said. “Every time we add an engineer to our company, [focusing on] How can we create better models? How can we create better products? ” Lee found inspiration by talking to financial institutions whose core business is finance. Additionally, Lee said that whenever he meets with other CFOs, they talk to each other about how their respective finance teams have been leaning toward AI-powered process automation and what hacks each has unlocked. Ta. “I encourage CFOs to broaden their horizons: What are other companies in your industry doing with respect to AI? What are financial professionals in your adjacent industries doing? ” BPO partners can be another resource. “How are BPO partners using AI to streamline the operational work they do on your behalf?” It’s about talking.”
Give treasurers a “deep purpose”
“One of the things we care about very much at Meta is making sure that when you work in the financial industry, you have interesting opportunities for growth and development and a meaningful career path.” says Mr. Lee. “Even if we're a company where finance isn't our bread and butter.” At Meta, for example, the finance department doesn't build apps, data centers, or AI infrastructure, and it doesn't sell advertising. “So how can CFOs ensure that those in finance at non-financial companies feel committed to the mission?”
Take transparency seriously
“The cleaner, clearer, and easier to understand your financial reporting is, the more it reflects good judgment about, “Am I telling people what they need to know?” Mr. Lee said. Investors are concerned about what's going on, as opposed to “boiling the ocean… tripling the amount of 10-K,” and that the issuer is applying judgment and that judgment makes sense to them. Mr. Lee said that he appreciates the clear picture of “when things are right.” “That’s what makes the difference between a 10-K that is a valuable document and a 10-K that feels like a compliance requirement.”
“The more investors feel that you are not trying to hide problems with disclosure,” Lee said, the more they will trust you as a management team and as a company. It is important to take accurate and timely reporting of operations seriously. Mr. Li added: “This is a very consistent feature.”
