The CPA Ontario Centre for Performance Management Research and Education at the University of Waterloo held a half-day conference on performance measurement and budgeting at SaaS-based businesses on Friday, September 13th, 2019. The conference was designed to benefit financial management professionals (e.g., CPAs) working at SaaS-based and other tech companies, particularly those at the start-up and scale-up stages.The event kicked-off with a talk by Charles Plant, CPA, CA. Charles is a Senior Fellow at the Impact Centre, University of Toronto with considerable expertise in the areas of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. Two of Charles’ recent projects include “Scaling Up: Growth Metrics for Software Companies” and “Great Expectations: Phantasmagorical Forecasts and Optimistic Entrepreneurs.” He was a co-founder and CEO of Synamics for 15 years, a telecommunications software firm. Charles currently teaches innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto.
The second session of the morning examined performance measurement issues at SaaS-based companies and was led by Howard Armitage, FCPA, FCMA, Founding Director, Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, University of Waterloo. Howard has written over 100 articles in the area of entrepreneurship and cost management systems. He presented the results from his performance measurement research team’s recent interviews with CFO's/CEO's of SaaS-based businesses, investors who provide funds to SaaS businesses and decision makers in companies/institutions whose responsibility is to purchase SaaS products and services for their organizations.
The final session focused on practical issues regarding the development and use of budgets and forecasts by SaaS business but will also be relevant to finance professionals at other small and medium sized companies. This session was led by an expert panel who have extensive experience in the financial management of SaaS business: Lois Norris, FCPA, FCA, SSIMWAVE Inc. CFO, Dave Pooley, CPA, CA, Axonify CFO, and Chaoran Wang, CPA, Auvik Networks Inc. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager. The panelists shared their advice and experiences on various topics ranging from who to involve in the budgeting process, how often to review results against budgets, preparing and using forecasts for planning purposes, and other related issues.
The completed white paper is available for download.
Event Schedule
8:15am Doors open
8:50am Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:00am Session 1: Charles Plant "An Algorithm for Growth"
10:00am Refreshment Break
10:30am Session 2: Howard Armitage: "Performance Measurement in SaaS Businesses"
11:30am Session 3: Expert panel on "Budgeting and Forecasting in SaaS Businesses"
12:30pm Closing remarks and Luncheon
CPA attendees were eligible to receive 4 CPD hours for attending the conference.
Where
Tannery Event Centre | 151 Charles St W, Kitchener
