Nick Katko Email & Phone Number

Lexington, Ky, Us

Lexington, Kentucky, Us

Throughout my career at BMA I have been privileged to work with many companies on lean accounting training, coaching and consulting. What I have learned is that lean accounting can be implemented in any lean company, regardless of size, industry and ownership. It just takes a commitment from the company to begin.What I have learned is senior leaders of the company must give unequivocal and unwavering support to developing and using a lean management accounting system. Senior leaders must make lean management accounting must be an essential part of a company’s overall lean strategy. As with any component of a strategy, lean management accounting must have an action plan to develop and deploy over time. If it is not part of the company’s lean strategy, a transformation will not be successful. As a Lean CFO, and member of the senior leadership team, you must work to make this happen.Lean management accounting is a company commitment because of the many users of the information and analytical services a management accounting system provides. These users are in every function in a company, and they are the customers of the lean management accounting system. As customers, they define the quality standards for the information and analytical practices in a lean management accounting system. For these reasons it is important to include users in the lean management accounting transformation.

I began Strategic Financial Solutions in 2000 to provide contract CFO/Controller services to companies in the Lexington, KY area. I used my lean and lean accounting experience to help these companies solve specific problems as they related to improving the quality of their accounting function, eliminating wasteful practices and delivering information on-time to owners and leaders.

Lexington, Ky, Us

At Tenmast I lead the company's lean transformation, which resulted in reducing support ticket turnaround time from 30 days to 3 days; reduced past-due accounts receivable and improved the lead time of product development.

Cynthiana, Kentucky, Us

I was very fortunate to experience the economics of lean as CFO of Bullard in the 1990s. At the time, Bullard was a 75 year-old company that was solid, but not spectacular financially. We were afflicted with the typical problems of a mass-production manufacturer: high inventory, low on-time delivery, and inconsistent lead times. Bullard’s ownership committed to lean (not yet knowing it really was a strategy), by hiring a vice president of operations with lean experience, who in turn hired operational managers that also had lean experience. Our corporate goals to serve customers were simple: reduce lead times to three days, and improve on-time delivery to 95%. We were to serve our customers better while improving inventory turns. We achieved these goals in about three years. As CFO, as I saw this financial transformation, it made me realize that lean was much, much more than “lean manufacturing.” Our accounting function was transformed as we provided lean accounting information and turned off standard costing. Our sales and marketing function was better able to calculate the actual margin on sales opportunities and close deals faster because of our consistent service. Product development cycles were shortened. And most importantly, the senior management team became aligned around Lean as a transformative business strategy.

Mba, Finance

Bs, Accounting