INTHEBLACK April 2022 - Magazine - Page 23
“IF YOU WERE COMPLETELY
TECHNICALLY FOCUSED, YOU’D
LIKELY NOT CREATE THE VALUE
THAT’S REQUIRED IN THIS ROLE.
YOU NEED TO BE HIGHLY
ADAPTABLE. YOU CERTAINLY
NEED TO BE NOT OFFENDED VERY
EASILY. YOU NEED TO BE VERY
CREATIVE AND ABLE TO FIND
SOLUTIONS TO DELIVER SOME
PRETTY OUTRAGEOUS PROJECTS
AROUND GREAT UNKNOWNS AND
MAJOR RISK.”
AMIE SCRUTON CPA
“If you were completely technically
focused, you’d likely not create the value
that’s required in this role,” she says. “You
need to be highly adaptable. You certainly
need to be not offended very easily. You need
to be very creative and able to find solutions
to deliver some pretty outrageous projects
around great unknowns and major risk.”
She has dealt closely with controversial
artists, taken on leadership roles in the
organisation of the winter music and arts
festival Dark Mofo and, one memorable day,
took delivery of a shipping container filled
with adult toys for an installation in the
museum.
“There were often some very interesting
descriptions in the ledger,” Scruton smiles.
STRATEGY: CHANGE THE
WAY ART IS EXPERIENCED
By convincing Art Processors to turn the
focus of its technological expertise back
onto itself, Scruton brought about a
transformation in the way the business
manages and uses its finance function.
With its two offices located in Australia
and in the US, Art Processors was using two
different financial systems. Neither had the
ability to integrate with other platforms, nor
with each other.
“It was an awful time-killer,” Scruton says.
“Quite frankly, I was tired of bending these
systems as much as I could. Providing any
useful data at the month end would take an
entire day.”
Partnering with DXC Technology to
implement Microsoft Dynamics 365
Business Central enabled the organisation to
digitally transform by consolidating global
financial data in the cloud, ensuring staff
had access to accurate, real-time financial
activity. What used to take a day could now
be achieved with the click of a mouse.
“What it means, in a tangible sense, is
that I’ve got complete transparency of data,”
she says. “We have data visualisation from
live, real-time, clean, smart data. I’ve got the
ability to automate transactional processes.
“For me, the most important thing is
that it has broadened our remit from just
historical financial reporting to helping
provide the data and guidance that drives
the business into the future. The days of
reporting slightly interesting historical data
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intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au April 2022 23