Emma Smith

The role's scope shifts with revenue size, project complexity, team structure and cash flow pressure.

• A controller in a small business may be hands-on across month-end, WIP, payroll, AP, AR and cash, while the same title in a much larger business can mean leading a team, owning controls and handling forecasting, banking and bonding.
• Smith says searches stall when employers screen on title rather than remit: profiles technically match but practically miss, interviews feel close but never quite click, and the role gets reposted.
• They recommend starting with revenue size, project scale, cash pressure and what needs to be done week to week, and accepting that the right hire may be an accounting manager or senior accountant rather than a controller.
• They also warn against moving a big-company controller into a small business, or the other way round, without recognising the shift the environment requires.

Smith contrasts a controller at a $12m construction business, still heavily hands-on and reporting straight to a founder or president, with the same title at $75m, where it can mean leading a team, partnering with operations and managing more complex reporting, forecasting, banking and bonding.

The comparison posts widen the point over time: an early post argues that 'controller' means different things in a $10m and a $100m business; later ones turn that into an explicit hiring diagnostic and a caution about cross-environment moves.

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What matters, they say, is complexity, risk and how often the business needs a higher level of financial support.

• A company using a bookkeeper plus a fractional CFO can be well served, but the risk of that capability sitting outside the business grows as month-end gets more complex, WIP and job costing become more critical, and forecasting moves from optional to essential.
• They also say a controller should sometimes come first, ahead of replacing a bookkeeper: a good controller can decide what the function needs and what level of person complements them, and may conclude the existing bookkeeper does not need replacing at all—only someone other than the owner to ask when unsure.

A roughly $10m concrete subcontractor had a bookkeeper handling day-to-day work and a fractional CFO producing month-end reporting, but the president was still collating information for the CFO and checking and correcting the bookkeeper's work while running the commercial side. That involvement, rather than the revenue figure, indicated to Smith that the structure needed to change.

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Smith connects WIP, cash flow, job costing and reporting to operations, and says the numbers often signal a project problem before it becomes obvious elsewhere in the business.

A construction finance candidate noticed cash trends on a project that pointed to a subcontractor being in trouble, raised it internally, and was overruled; six months later the subcontractor failed and the business had to replace them and handle a resulting claim. Smith highlights that the candidate was reading the data forward rather than explaining the outcome afterwards.

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In one business, a controller prepares the schedule and assembles the numbers with little further responsibility; in another, the controller is expected to challenge project managers, question margin movement, interrogate over- and under-billings and present the position to the president.

• In smaller firms, the owner may still be heavily involved in producing or reviewing it.
• Finance can own the integrity of the numbers, Smith says, but cannot own WIP alone: the information that makes it accurate—costs still to come, change orders, productivity problems, schedule delays and risks not yet on the ledger—sits with the people closest to the job.

Smith sets two businesses side by side to show that an identical job-description phrase can mean preparing a schedule in one company and challenging project teams on margin in another, making 'owns WIP' a poor basis for comparing candidates.

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Revenue is recognised over time while the cash sits in retainage, so the accounts can show profit while the business is cash constrained.

• Poor tracking or late release of retainage strains subcontractor relationships, creates disputes and produces unnecessary write-offs.
• For a finance hire, Smith's test is whether the person understands how retainage flows through WIP, cash and risk—the line they draw between a bookkeeping-level function and a construction-experienced finance leader.

The UK's consideration of a retainage ban frames the post; Smith notes the US is not moving that way soon, making tracking and managing retainage the more important question for US contractors.

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Their benchmark is 5–7 business days for many construction businesses; regularly going past 10 days should prompt questions about late information, manual processes, an ERP that is not used properly or does not fit, too much knowledge concentrated in one person, or an under-resourced team.

• The number of days is not the real issue: it is whether the delay comes from genuine complexity or an unexamined process.
• If leadership is still waiting for last month's numbers halfway through the next month, decisions are delayed and problems are caught later.

Smith lists the diagnostic questions they would ask a business with a slow close: is information reaching finance too late, are processes still manual, is the ERP fit for purpose, does too much knowledge sit with one person, and is the team under-resourced? They say these matter more than the day count itself.

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Running several agencies on one role backfires, they say: candidates get contacted repeatedly about the same job, résumés arrive without context, people start asking what is wrong with the role, and the search becomes harder rather than faster. They prefer available or exclusive work and quality over volume, and say brand recognition matters more than employers expect—most controllers will not know a $15m construction company by name.

A hiring manager told Smith: “We don't need a recruiter we got 75 resumes from our job ad.” Smith asked how many were relevant and pointed out that the controller who is not actively looking, or the CFO who has not updated a résumé in 18 months, is not in that pile.

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They accept that the qualification may be necessary where the work is highly technical, reporting is complex or lenders impose specific requirements, but say employers should be clear about why.

• If the actual need is someone who can own the day-to-day and month-to-month finance function, work with operations on WIP, handle job costing, cash flow and bonding, ruling out people who have done exactly that for years because they lack the qualification is a mistake.
• Smith's framing question is what the business needs the person to do; from there, employers can decide whether CPA status is essential, preferred or merely nice to have.

Smith notes that qualification tells you a lot but not everything. The practical test is whether a candidate can take ownership of the finance function and put their arms around WIP with operations—a capability neither guaranteed by a CPA nor excluded by its absence.

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They now say no early to clients whose culture or expectations do not align, rather than spending weeks trying to deliver the impossible.

• They rejected the instruction not to niche, building credibility in small, owner-managed businesses instead of large-company preferred-supplier lists.
• They work on or exclusive terms rather than multi-agency, share their candidate pool rather than protect it, and argue that trust compounds.
• They also dispute the idea that the market goes quiet in summer: the market does not slow, people do.
• The through-line is depth in one area rather than breadth.

On niching, Smith writes that they were told to work with big companies and let the work flow. But small, owner-managed businesses fired them up, and building depth in that SMB network gave them credibility and trust: “You can't be known for everything, but you can be known for doing one thing exceptionally well.”

The post is explicitly a retrospective: advice they once followed and have since outgrown. The most heavily rejected item was the instruction not to mix UK and US markets, which they say building a US business disproved.

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This post is the clearest statement of their working philosophy behind the more specific construction and accounting posts.

Emma Smith rates six pieces of career advice and explains what held up.

• They argue for saying no early rather than forcing a poor client fit; choosing small owner-managed businesses over large-company PSL work; working on or exclusive terms; sharing a candidate pool rather than protecting it; staying active through the summer; and building in both the UK and US markets.
• The through-line is depth in one area: being known for doing one thing exceptionally well.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for an employer weighing contingency, multi-agency, and search. Emma Smith’s preference for exclusivity, quality over volume, and an SMB network offers a concrete point of comparison for how a finance-leader search would be handled.

This example shows the warning signs a finance-leader brief should probe before defining the hire.

A father-and-son construction business reached $14m on strong project delivery, but the back office did not keep pace.

• The accounting remained largely cash basis, WIP needed sorting, and there had been no signed-off financials for several years.
• A former employee had also wiped financial records.
• Banks, bonding agents, and lenders eventually demanded clean, trustworthy numbers.
• By the time the business asked for help, it needed cleanup before it needed a stronger finance function.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this as a diagnostic in a campaign or hiring brief: ask about accrual accounting, WIP, signed financials, external reporting, and bonding or lender requirements. Those details often matter more than whether the title is controller, accounting manager, or senior accountant.

This post explains the title-versus-remit problem that runs through much of Emma Smith’s finance hiring commentary.

Emma Smith hears “we need a controller” from Texas construction and manufacturing businesses, but the role behind the title often looks different.

• A controller in a $10m construction company is not doing the same job as one in a $100m business.
• In smaller companies, the work is hands-on: cash flow, billing points, WIP, and daily control without a large team.
• The title can attract people from large environments who are used to layers and narrower responsibility.
• They start with revenue size, project scale, cash pressure, and week-to-week needs, then decide whether the answer is a controller, accounting manager, or senior accountant.

For brands planning a campaign

Write the role description around remit, scale, and weekly work rather than title. This post offers a framework for screening candidates and explaining to an employer why a reposted controller ad has not worked.

This is the clearest comparison of scope and expectations for construction finance roles.

At $12m, a controller may still be hands-on across month-end, WIP, payroll, AP, AR, and cash, reporting straight to a founder or president.

• At $75m, the same title can mean leading a team, owning controls, partnering with operations, handling complex reporting, forecasting, banking, and bonding, and supporting growth decisions.
• Emma Smith says the title matters less than what sits behind it and offers a guide to how construction accounting and finance structures evolve from around $10m to $100m and beyond.

For brands planning a campaign

Use the contrast in size and complexity to benchmark candidates: ask what they personally owned, how large their team was, and what reporting and banking demands they handled. The guide also points to a potential campaign resource for employers planning finance team growth.

This example shows the difference between reporting what happened and using financial information to anticipate what might happen next.

A construction finance candidate noticed cash trends on a project that suggested a subcontractor might be in trouble.

• The candidate raised the risk internally, but the project team continued with the subcontractor.
• Six months later, the subcontractor failed, forcing a replacement and a claim.
• Emma Smith highlights that the candidate was not explaining a result after the fact; they were using financial information to spot a problem before it became obvious elsewhere.
• WIP, cash flow, job costing, and reporting should not sit apart from operations.

For brands planning a campaign

Ask a finance candidate to describe a time they used financial data to flag operational risk. The story also shows why construction finance leaders need to work closely with project teams, not just close the books.

This post explains how one phrase can describe very different levels of responsibility.

The same WIP language can describe different jobs.

• In one business, a controller prepares the schedule and pulls numbers together.
• In another, the controller is expected to challenge project managers, question margin movement, understand change orders, interrogate over- and under-billings, and present the position to the president.
• In smaller construction businesses, the owner may still be heavily involved in producing or reviewing WIP.
• Emma Smith argues for a partnership: finance owns the integrity of the numbers, while operations owns the quality of the information going into them.

For brands planning a campaign

Define WIP ownership in the hiring description with specific tasks and decision rights. In interviews, ask candidates to distinguish the mechanics of preparing WIP from the harder work of challenging project teams and explaining margin movement.

This post turns a policy debate into a practical test of whether a finance hire understands construction cash flow.

The UK is considering banning retainage because of the pressure it puts on supply-chain cash flow.

• The US is not moving that way soon, making an understanding of retainage more important.
• Retainage typically withholds 5-10% across jobs and can leave a small or mid-sized business carrying $1-2m in cash.
• Revenue is recognised over time while the cash sits in retainage, so a business can look profitable on paper and still be cash constrained.
• Poor tracking or late release can strain subcontractor relationships, create disputes, and lead to write-offs.
• Emma Smith asks whether an accountant understands how retainage flows through WIP, cash, and risk.

For brands planning a campaign

Use retainage as a screening question for construction finance candidates and a content angle for employers reviewing cash management. It distinguishes bookkeeping-level work from construction-experienced finance leadership.

This post offers a practical benchmark for finance process maturity.

Construction close is rarely simple, with WIP, job costing, billing, revenue recognition, accruals and information from project teams to reconcile.

• Emma Smith suggests 5-7 business days is reasonable for many construction businesses, while regularly taking more than 10 days should prompt questions.
• Causes may include late information, manual processes, an ERP that isn’t used properly, too much knowledge held by one person or an under-resourced team.
• The key is whether delays stem from genuine complexity or a process nobody has challenged.
• If leadership is still waiting for last month’s numbers halfway through this month, decisions are delayed and issues are harder to catch early.

For brands planning a campaign

A finance-leader brief can set close-cycle expectations and ask candidates how they shortened or stabilised a close. The post also works as a campaign proof point for employers concerned their finance function is falling behind.

They contrast a hands-on SMB controller with a big-company controller who has layers of support, and say searches stall when companies define a role by title instead of what the person must actually do. Their diagnostics start with revenue size, project scale, cash pressure, team structure and week-to-week responsibilities.

Side-by-side comparisons and diagnostic questions, often opening with a client quote such as “We need a controller.”

Smith says there is no right or wrong environment: some people thrive in large, structured businesses, while others prefer the influence and variety of a smaller company.

For brands planning a campaign

A sponsor can support a practical role-definition guide or checklist for construction and manufacturing employers. Show how the same title changes with complexity and remit, rather than repeating a generic job description.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5

They say Finance owns the integrity of the numbers while Operations owns the quality of the information going in.

• For close, they consider 5–7 business days reasonable for many construction businesses and say regular runs beyond 10 days need explanation.
• They also value finance people who use cash and project data to anticipate problems, not just report them afterward.

For brands planning a campaign

Brands selling construction finance software, ERP, banking, bonding or fractional CFO services can support practical explainers on WIP, retainage, job costing and close. Focus on a specific operating scenario and the decision it changes, not a product feature list.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

Smith describes companies using a bookkeeper plus a fractional CFO and asks when the risk of keeping financial ownership outside the business becomes too big.

• They argue a controller should sometimes be hired before a bookkeeper so they can shape the function.
• They also warn that a $14M business can be profitable and still struggle with banks or bonding if its accounting has not kept pace.

Client stories and questions about who owns month-end, who challenges WIP, who checks the work and how much still sits with the owner.

For brands planning a campaign

Sponsorship can fit guides, webinars or newsletters on scaling a construction finance team from roughly $10M to $100M+. Recruitment firms, fractional CFO platforms and accounting software can align with this subject without implying there is a single revenue trigger.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5

They say job ads reach active seekers but miss experienced controllers and CFOs who are not applying, argue that multiple agencies on one role can confuse candidates and slow the hire, and favour exclusive work.

• Their advice from 13 years in recruitment includes saying no early to the wrong clients, niching into owner-managed businesses, sharing candidate pools and staying consistent through quiet periods.
• They also say face-to-face meetings reveal culture and role details that video calls miss.

Smith's searches are mostly for controllers, CFOs and VP Finance. One post describes recruiting an accounting graduate for a home builder and highlights the value they place on early-career searches.

For brands planning a campaign

Brands targeting hiring managers can sponsor content on recruitment process, candidate experience and search strategy. The natural format is an opinionated practical post, not a vendor brochure.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5 · Source 6 · Source 7

They compare SMB controllers in the UK and US, say the UK gave them structure while the US gives them challenge, and use a light post about football versus soccer language to explain their position as a Brit recruiting in Dallas. Their practical market focus is Texas construction and manufacturing, with comparisons back to UK expectations.

For brands planning a campaign

This perspective suits brands operating in both markets, relocating finance talent or translating role expectations across UK and US construction businesses.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

They say the qualification tells you a lot but not everything, and that “CPA required” can become a screening rule rather than a business need.

• Their test is what the business needs the person to do: own the day-to-day finance function, work with operations on WIP, handle job costing, cash flow and bonding, or meet specific lender or technical reporting requirements.
• They also refer to a Texas construction accounting and finance salary guide covering Project Accountant through CFO.

For brands planning a campaign

A salary guide or role-assessment tool could be a natural sponsorship. Treat CPA status as one input, not an automatic pass or fail.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Common patterns include “Who should own WIP?”, “How long is too long to close at month-end?”, six lessons from 13 years in recruitment, and big-business versus SMB controller comparisons. Smith also promotes guides and a newsletter, and several posts invite readers to message them for a copy.

For brands planning a campaign

Partnership formats could include a co-branded guide, newsletter sponsorship or a sponsored post series. Preserve their diagnostic, reader-question style rather than switching to hard product promotion.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5 · Source 6 · Source 7 · Source 8 · Source 9

For brands planning a campaign

A sponsor can supply case-study material or support a series of anonymised finance transformation and hiring stories. Clarify permissions and accuracy checks before publication.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5

The August 2025 and November 2025 editions mix data points with a hiring read: accounting and finance hiring is not slowing so much as becoming more deliberate, with demand for controllers, senior accountants and FP&A roles.

For brands planning a campaign

Brands in Texas construction, manufacturing or finance can co-sponsor regional market updates. The format is a data roundup with a clear hiring takeaway, not a generic economic newsletter.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

In a post about 13 years in recruitment, they share advice they have outgrown and explain how they work: taking exclusive or other engagements and sharing their candidate pool rather than guarding it. The posts describe the business as one they built but don’t specify their formal title or ownership stake; ask directly if that distinction matters.

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Fearn separates bookkeeper, staff accountant and controller work, describes fractional fixes and warns that owners often overspend by hiring a controller for bookkeeper-level tasks. Smith makes the same distinction in construction and manufacturing hiring, asking what the role needs to do week to week.

Fearn writes as a small-business finance advisor at JRF Consulting, with a direct service offer and a focus on accurate books.

• Smith writes primarily about recruiting controllers, CFOs and VP Finance for construction and manufacturing companies.
• Their examples are rooted in Texas project-driven businesses and UK/US market differences.

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Heaviside describes legal recruiting’s low barrier to entry, mass-applying candidates and lack of transparency, and explains how she built a different model. Smith makes a parallel critique of multi-agency finance searches, candidates contacted repeatedly and résumés sent without context.

Heaviside recruits lawyers and works in Big Law and Houston legal markets; her posts often combine personal career narrative and industry commentary. Smith recruits accounting and finance leaders for construction and manufacturing businesses, and their posts usually teach through client hiring or finance-operations problems.

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Barbagallo says many growing brands have a bookkeeping and controllership problem before they need a fractional CFO.

• Smith makes the same case for construction businesses choosing between a controller, accounting manager or senior accountant.
• Both use clean books and reliable reporting as the foundation for better decisions.

Barbagallo’s examples come from CPG, consumer goods and ecommerce.

• He writes through Thryve Accounting and Advisory Services, with a podcast and advisory offer.
• Smith works in construction and manufacturing recruitment, and their teaching draws on project finance topics such as WIP, retainage and month-end close.

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His posts work through that decision directly — three titles, three scopes, three cost structures — and argue that the expensive mistake is putting a controller on bookkeeping work or paying for CFO-level strategy before the records can support it. He also describes the fractional route: a fractional controller for the strategic work plus part-time bookkeeping for the day-to-day, and a practice that identifies the right seat, structures the role, then helps recruit and guide the person.

He writes from the provider side of fractional accounting and finance, so his posts are strongest on defining the role and weighing full-time against fractional cost.

• They do not show candidates, a placement record, or Texas construction and manufacturing market coverage.
• If the decision is already “hire a controller or finance leader” and you need people to compare, Emma Smith’s posts are closer to that task: their examples show how the same title can mean different work at a $12m and a $75m business, and why the strongest candidates never apply to job ads.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Her posts describe launching a legal search firm in Houston, why she calls agency recruiting “the dark side,” and the industry habits she set out to reject — mass-applying candidates without permission and sending submissions without logical thought. She also documents the slow route to credibility: meeting law students and deans, attending industry events, and learning one market deeply enough to place at volume.

Smith recruits lawyers for law firms.

• Their posts contain no construction-finance roles, finance candidate examples, or Texas contractor or manufacturer market detail.
• That makes them a benchmark for recruiter conduct and niche focus — useful if the buyer is choosing between agencies — but not a source for a finance-leader shortlist.
• Emma Smith’s posts address that market directly.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

His posts argue that most owners who ask for a fractional CFO actually have a bookkeeping and controllership problem. He describes a firm that provides fractional bookkeeping, controller, and accounting-manager support, then hands clean, closed books to the client’s tax preparer.

He sells the service his own firm provides, so his posts explain what a buyer should expect from an outsourced finance function, not how to assess individual candidates.

• His posts offer no construction-finance recruiting detail or candidate shortlist, and he addresses mostly consumer brands, with contractors alongside them.
• For hiring a finance leader inside a construction or manufacturing business, Smith’s recruiting posts are the closer match; for reliable monthly numbers from an outside firm, his are.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2