Making Sense of Our Cents: Ask an Expert with Kenny Bement

Meet
Kenny Bement, Chief Accounting Officer

If you think all accountants are quiet number-crunchers in dark rooms… you haven’t met Kenny Bement. Our Chief Accounting Officer has been at Conservice for just over a year, but his finance chops run deep…like, wrote-the-actual-accounting-rules and numbers-are-in-my-blood deep. He’s worked for some of the world’s biggest companies, helped shape international standards, and still somehow makes spreadsheets sound exciting.

We caught up with him to talk about what makes accounting fun, what he loves about Conservice, and why he proudly identifies as the guy cleaning up after the business parade.

Okay, first things first:

DO YOU GO BY KENNY OR KENNETH?

“Kenny. My dad and grandpa were both Ken, so it’s my small way of maintaining a sense of identity. I already followed their career paths – both were in Finance. I figure I can keep Kenny as my own.”

It sounds like you were a finance prodigy. Tell me more about that.

IS THAT WHAT PULLED YOU INTO THE WORLD OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING?

“Not sure about a prodigy…but I definitely had an early exposure to numbers and accounting. My dad worked for a big CPA firm and was always talking numbers and teaching his kids to calculate gas mileage on road trips or track spending by hand in old check registers. I wasn’t convinced that’s what I wanted for a career but once I started getting into it, I saw that it came naturally to me. My first job was actually cleaning the building where my dad ran his CPA firm. I took it very seriously. I even gave myself a title — Building Services Technician. Had a little acronym and everything: BST. I was very proud to clean those offices and earn a few bucks.”

You really were made for this life…

“Been living it since I was a kid. Then I studied accounting and information systems in college and started my post-grad career in New York with IBM and just kept going from there.”

Lovely. Tell me more about your  

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE BEFORE CONSERVICE.

“Yeah, I’ve worked for a lot of different kinds of companies. I’ve worked for global public companies including Google and a large aerospace and defense technology company. I was recruited to write the accounting rules for revenue recognition for both U.S. and International accounting standards. And after nearly five really fun years doing that, I went back into corporate America and started specializing in helping private companies to scale their Finance function.”

Wait.

SO YOU WROTE THE RULES YOU NOW HAVE TO FOLLOW?

“Yes I did. It’s funny because sometimes I’ll be in a meeting with auditors or consultants who raise a technical issue and I’m like, ‘Yeah…I actually wrote that rule.’ But at the end of the day, we all have equal rights to interpret the rules so I work hard to ensure the company’s policies and positions are aligned with the rules and industry practice.”

Accounting doesn’t always get the spotlight.

WHAT WOULD YOU WANT THE REST OF THE COMPANY/WORLD TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR WORK?

“I think a lot of people assume accounting is just number crunching in a quiet corner, but it’s way more than that. We’re here to help the company make great decisions. And to make great decisions, you need great accounting and reporting.

In Finance we like to say that if business is a game, then accounting is the scorekeeper. If business leaders don’t like the scorecard then we need to change something in the game to create a better outcome. So we spend a lot of time making sure leaders have numbers they can trust.”

You have a lot of people in your department.

WHAT IS YOUR TEAM LIKE?

“We accountants are a unique breed. I always joke that business is like a big parade—with the music, the floats, all the excitement. And Accounting? We’re the team with the brooms at the end of the parade cleaning up after all the fun. Maybe it’s not as glamorous, but absolutely essential and it’s a great career path because every company needs it.

But really, it’s a team of smart, committed people with valuable expertise and who take a ton of ownership. We love smooth and predictable processes and systems. We like things to make sense, to reconcile, to balance. And we care a lot about getting it right.”

What’s your leadership style like?

“I once took a leadership assessment that labeled me an “Energizer.” Not sure how scientific that method was, but I’ll take it. I try to set clear expectations of my team, and then help them to succeed and hold them accountable when they don’t. And I believe strongly in aligning empowerment with accountability because a lot of problems can arise when you have one without the other.”

I don’t know many people who find spreadsheets fun…

SO WHAT’S THE FUNNEST PART OF YOUR JOB?

“I guess fun is relative in Finance, right? But seriously, we have a lot of fun whenever there’s a big change in the business—like an acquisition, a transaction, business restructuring, a new product or new revenue stream—that’s where it gets interesting.

For example, when we acquired Onboard, we had to integrate all of their policies, systems and data with our own. That kind of thing is challenging, sure, but also really energizing. You’re solving puzzles that matter.”

Outside of work,

WHAT KEEPS YOU BUSY?

“I’m married with four kids who are involved in all kinds of activities—so that keeps the family busy. We are actively involved in the local church community. And I also love the outdoors. Hiking, camping, backpacking, trail running. There’s just something about being outside, especially in the mountains, that resets everything for me.”

Utah is a good place for that.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO THROW IN?

“Just that it’s a privilege to be part of this company. I’ve worked with all kinds of companies from massive global organizations to smaller private companies, and Conservice really hits a sweet spot with its size and growth potential. And I’m excited for what’s next.”

Follow Kenny on LinkedIn

Hear from more experts in tech and utility management at Conservice.

Kellianne Gammill

Copywriter

Kellianne Gammill is an experienced wordsmith and Copywriter at Conservice. More importantly, she is a big fan of taxidermy and Pitbull.