Heavy Highway Contractor

Good morning everyone,

First, I want to thank the CFMA community for the support we have received during our first year of membership. I attended the CFMA Annual Conference last year and had the opportunity to connect with several members again at CONEXPO last week. We have also sent members of our accounting team to CFMA conferences and events, which have been a great investment in their professional development and a meaningful value add for our company.

I would appreciate some advice from the group regarding hiring and evaluating accounting leadership within construction companies.

We are currently restructuring the leadership of our accounting department, which has created an opportunity to bring in a Controller. I have quite a bit of flexibility around the profile of the role. The right person could be a strong and up and coming Controller who wants to grow with a large and further scaling contractor, or a more experienced Controller who is ready to step into a broader CFO type role.

One thing I am thinking about carefully is how best to evaluate candidates beyond a traditional interview process. In a role like this, technical capability, judgment, and leadership style are all extremely important, which I have all found to be very challenging to assess during a couple one hour interviews. 

For those of you who have hired senior accounting leaders or have witnessed the process first hand, I would be very interested in hearing:

• What hiring processes have worked best for you
• Whether anyone has used project based evaluations or short trial engagements
• How you assess construction accounting expertise during interviews
• Any best practices you have found when hiring a Controller or CFO

Additionally, we plan on interviewing several recruiters, if anyone has had a particularly strong experience with recruiters who specialize in construction finance and accounting leadership, I would appreciate any recommendations. Ideally, we would like to speak with recruiters who are very familiar with the construction industry and organizations like CFMA.

Thank you again for the support this community has provided. I have already found the CFMA network to be extremely valuable and look forward to continuing to connect with more members.

Cameron Smith
Smith Trucking Company

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Cameron Smith
Vice President
Smith Trucking Company Inc
St Augustine FL
(904) 940-1226
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Cameron,

Good morning. It's great to hear about your experience with CFMA. I too think that CFMA is an invaluable tool in the construction industry! 

You are taking a great step in asking for advice from a well-versed and experienced group. As you know, there are many variables that you'll have to consider. The first step is to determine what your growth targets are and what the timeline is for this growth. You then need to define what you need from a CFO and see if you can find a candidate that has similar experience to what you and your company will be going through during this growth phase.

All while trying to find a candidate that fits your company's culture.

I've been on both sides of the desk (as a CFO of a growing GC and as a consultant) and I'd be glad to jump on a call with you and talk through some of the issues you'll face and need to prepare for. Just let me know. My email is kevin.jacobs@bdo.com.

Talk to you soon.

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Kevin Jacobs, MBA, CCIFP
Fractional Chief Financial Officer
BDO USA
Ridgeland MS
(210) 806-3667
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2026 12:57
From: Cameron Smith
Subject: Advice on Hiring & Evaluating a Controller / CFO

Good morning everyone,

First, I want to thank the CFMA community for the support we have received during our first year of membership. I attended the CFMA Annual Conference last year and had the opportunity to connect with several members again at CONEXPO last week. We have also sent members of our accounting team to CFMA conferences and events, which have been a great investment in their professional development and a meaningful value add for our company.

I would appreciate some advice from the group regarding hiring and evaluating accounting leadership within construction companies.

We are currently restructuring the leadership of our accounting department, which has created an opportunity to bring in a Controller. I have quite a bit of flexibility around the profile of the role. The right person could be a strong and up and coming Controller who wants to grow with a large and further scaling contractor, or a more experienced Controller who is ready to step into a broader CFO type role.

One thing I am thinking about carefully is how best to evaluate candidates beyond a traditional interview process. In a role like this, technical capability, judgment, and leadership style are all extremely important, which I have all found to be very challenging to assess during a couple one hour interviews. 

For those of you who have hired senior accounting leaders or have witnessed the process first hand, I would be very interested in hearing:

• What hiring processes have worked best for you
• Whether anyone has used project based evaluations or short trial engagements
• How you assess construction accounting expertise during interviews
• Any best practices you have found when hiring a Controller or CFO

Additionally, we plan on interviewing several recruiters, if anyone has had a particularly strong experience with recruiters who specialize in construction finance and accounting leadership, I would appreciate any recommendations. Ideally, we would like to speak with recruiters who are very familiar with the construction industry and organizations like CFMA.

Thank you again for the support this community has provided. I have already found the CFMA network to be extremely valuable and look forward to continuing to connect with more members.

Cameron Smith
Smith Trucking Company

------------------------------
Cameron Smith
Vice President
Smith Trucking Company Inc
St Augustine FL
(904) 940-1226
------------------------------