WPFN Member Spotlight: Vicky Cao, CPA, CPFO

This month we're highlighting WPFN Member Vicky Cao, CPA, CPFO, finance manager, City of El Segundo, California.

What Leadership style to do you find to be most successful and why?

The best leadership quality, in my opinion, is excellent communication skills. Understanding what employees are doing and whether they are following consistent performance criteria is much easier with a good technical background. However, a leader must be able to hear what others have to say about their tasks and obligations, evaluate the situation and find solutions, and effectively convey information that will lead to better performance and a sustained dedication to service. Being a finance officer, we should know how to manage up, manage across, and manage down through active listening and effective communication – they are actually two essential aspects of communication–receiving and giving information.   

What is a challenge that you had in your career and how did you overcome it?
My big career challenge was to adjust myself to the governmental accounting /finance practices. It took me nearly a year to get used to fund accounting and other governmental finance procedures once I moved from the private to the public sector. The everyday job and, most importantly, the CPFO designation exam preparation taught me a lot. I gained knowledge of every facet of government finance functions, not just the tasks I was performing, while preparing for the CPFO designation. 

What are your favorite ways to relieve stress and/or decompress?
I play tennis on weekends and walk with my colleagues during lunch break on workdays. I also make every effort to fit travel time into my busy job schedule. I found that spending time outside of the office greatly reduced my stress levels.