From the Foxhole to the Ledger: Fixing Broken Books and Surviving Family Business Politics | Matt Hunter, CPA

<p>Matt Hunter, CPA didn&#39;t take a straight line into construction finance. He was out on his own at 16, sitting in a classroom at North Georgia Military College when the second plane hit on 9/11, and deployed to Afghanistan within weeks. Twenty-one years later he retired as an Army major in military intelligence — and only came to accounting in his thirties.</p><p>In this episode of Finance at the Jobsite, Rishi and Matt get into the parts of the CFO seat most people won&#39;t say out loud.</p><p>What we cover:</p><ul><li>Digging out of ~$1.2M in unpaid payroll tax at a packaging company — the cash-out refi, getting the IRS to abate roughly $400K in penalties, and losing a banking relationship over a tax lien mid-COVID</li><li>Cleaning up 36 months of financials at a copier business and adding close to $1M to the sale price</li><li>The first things Matt checks when he inherits broken books (hint: it starts with the balance sheet, not the P&amp;L)</li><li>What it actually takes to stand up a finance function from scratch — and why the best money an owner can spend is on the best bookkeeper they can find</li><li>Owners who have never once logged into their ERP, and the 20,000 inventory items that should have been 1,000</li><li>The politics of family-owned construction: supervising the owner&#39;s spouse, intercompany billings in Vista, and why the hardest part of these jobs is rarely the numbers</li><li>Finding out he was being replaced from an email to a recruiter he was accidentally copied on — two months after a glowing review</li><li>Mental health, bravado, and job loss in construction and the military — told honestly, without the polish</li><li>Earning credibility in ego-heavy rooms: know your numbers, get out of the office, and take care of people</li><li>Red flags and the questions to ask before you sign with a founder-led construction company</li></ul><p>Matt is currently looking for his next CFO role in commercial construction or manufacturing, open to relocating within a half day&#39;s drive of Atlanta. If you&#39;re hiring — or know someone who is — reach him at <a href="mailto:mrhcpa1706@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">mrhcpa1706@gmail.com</a> or on LinkedIn.</p><p>Finance at the Jobsite is hosted by Rishi Srivastava and brought to you by Beiing Human.</p><p>#FinanceAtTheJobsite #ConstructionFinance #ConstructionAccounting #CFO #ConstructionCFO #CPA #FamilyBusiness #JobCosting #ERP #Vista #ViewpointVista #ConstructionIndustry #Leadership #VeteranLeadership #MentalHealthInConstruction #APAutomation #Controller #ConstructionManagement #BeiingHuman</p>