BROADCASTS.com

When it comes to newbie accountants, few clients are more coveted within the realm of public accounting than those preparing for an IPO. So it was back in the early 1990s, when Craig Nickerson found himself knee-deep in CPA envy after having served not one but five of his firm\u2019s IPO-minded tech clients. Today, Nickerson credits his IPO client streak to having aligned himself with a well-connected senior partner widely known in Florida\u2019s tech community for his IPO savvy.

Fast-forward to the late 1990s, and Nickerson is living in Beijing after having been tasked with helping to set up a Chinese manufacturing plant for a client company that he had joined as a controller. \u201cIt was the Wild West,\u201d explains Nickerson, who recalls the added complexities of business dealings involving large amounts of cash. \u201cAs they said in China, an executed contract is just the start of a negotiation.\u201d

Nickerson, who would later ascend the finance leadership ladder at a string of private equity\u2013backed companies, observes that \u201canyone can be a good CFO when the numbers are up and to the right \u2026 but being a good CFO is about having the fortitude to stick with your investment thesis through good times and bad times.\u201d

THE PERFECT PODCAST COMPANION

Order Now: CFO Thought Leader Magazine

Twenty five CFO profiles each issue curated from hundreds of hours of finance leadership interviews originally featured on the award winning CFO Thought Leader Podcast. http://bit.ly/2Wfv291