By Meta Careers
Lilian A. likes working with startups. That’s because on top of the opportunities of being a pioneering staffer, there’s the expectation of high growth trajectory and and a sense of achievement as the company grows from strength to strength.
At Facebook which Lilian joined nearly five years ago, she is exactly in the job she likes. “In a growing environment, there’s never a dull moment cos you are occupied throughout the day. You always feel challenged and you need to keep going.”
But Lilian might not have gotten to Facebook had she not chosen her profession by the process of elimination which led her to “accounting,” after deleting “doctor,” “engineer,” “marketeer” and “head hunter,” amongst others, from her list.
Accounting was an area Lilian thought she could grow and develop in, especially being numerate. With accounting, there are operations, tax, treasury, financial planning and other areas for her to explore and develop her career.
“I didn’t mind dealing with numbers, and I was fortunate. Once I got into it, I really liked and enjoyed the subject.”
Getting distinctions for the various modules including financial accounting and management accounting for her ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) degree of course, helped.
And so it was the role of an accountant at a tech company, Lilian’s first job, that created interest in her and started what is to be an intense career journey at Facebook where she is today, Director of Finance Operations, Asia Pacific, leading a team of finance professionals who manage 20 legal entities across 15 countries.
Finance professionals are an important part of the back end machinery. Even if the accounting profession might be seen as 'dry' and revolves around deadlines, there is more to it than meets the eye. Lilian says: “Besides the demands on timelines for account closing and filing, we support our customers and vendors, we make sure employees are paid on time, and when they travel, we reimburse them promptly. The work goes beyond meeting statutory compliance requirements to caring for certain aspects of staff well-being. It takes discipline and hard work to deliver our responsibilities thoroughly.”
Lilian also sees the need for finance work to follow an integrated global framework yet be capable of dealing with the inevitable differences imposed by each country's tax and accounting regulations. “We work a lot with the global team to globalize the processes we create. We also take into account each country’s specific local challenges and requirements. One example is tax whereby the rules of each country differ. For example, differences in withholding tax, VAT, GST affects the way we handle tax compliance matters. Differences in sales tax or value-added tax affects our procurement function. In all these situations, we devise the necessary procedures to comply with the laws without deviating from the global framework.”
What would Lilian’s advice be for someone wanting to join Facebook’s finance team? “Besides the basic technical knowledge and skill, staff must be enthusiastic to learn new things and venture into unknown challenges.”
Meet the Asia Pacific Finance Team
Lilian observes: “I have never really come across anyone who has a very easy life in finance and yet progresses speedily. But I have certainly met many successful executives who have made it in the financial profession. This is very much attributable to a desire to become better by taking on greater challenges.”
No surprises that if you were to ask Lilian for the key factor for her meteoric rise, she would say it is good attitude. By this, she means having a right mindset, being open to learning and growing her skill-sets, being happy to take more than less, and embracing others and willing to help them grow and be part of the team.
Asked if she believed the notion that accounting is a dying trade, no thanks to technology, Lilian says, “Technology is great for improving the way we work. In accounting, technology can automate the way we record transactions, classify data and organize them. However, accountants have a role to design how the technology works and make sense of the data for decision making.
“You need to innovate. You cannot afford to be just where you are, doing things in a traditional way. We need to look for people who have a flexible mindset, willing to be innovative and learn new things, and willing to embrace change!”
Interested to learn more? Watch our Facebook careers live where our global leaders share deeper insights on how Facebook finance teams are growing around the world.
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