E18: How a Public Company CFO Prepares for Earnings Calls

Earnings calls. If you’re at a pre-IPO company, the' before, during, and after' of an earnings call can be a black box. That's why we brought on Sonalee Parekh, the Chief Financial Officer at RingCentral, for a masterclass about the best ways to prepare for an earnings call -- down to the most granular details and pitfalls to avoid. Along the way she dispenses some excellent career advice to CFOs and those aspiring to the seat. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics --- ! Run The Numbers has a new Spotify and Apple show link. Follow the links to subscribe and ensure you'll never miss an episode  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-the-numbers/id1723787140  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zQCkklNnVgMD364kCW5SV --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:55) Mailbag question (05:15) Sonalee's first earnings call as a public CFO (07:30) Handling curveball questions (09:06) The planning process for an earnings call (14:15) Messaging and metrics (15:50) Sponsor: NetSuite (17:00) Division of responsibilities (23:30) Sponsor: Planful (24:30) Disclosing ARR (26:40) Prepping for analysts (29:55) Who's actually in the room? (34:30) Making the jump to public company CFO (35:45) CEO - CFO relationship (40:30) What separates the great CFOs from the good CFOs (45:00) Rep Yo Stack sponsored by Tropic - Sonalee's tech stack This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [email protected].