FinOps Overview | Cadence OneFive Handbook

The Financial Operations (FinOps) function at Cadence OneFive operates according to our core value of transparency while ensuring effective financial management and controls. As a Public Benefit Corporation committed to accelerating building decarbonization and climate justice, our FinOps function balances financial sustainability with our mission.

Core Principles

Transparency
- Financial information is open to the Cadence OneFive community by default
- Only specific information that could harm the company or individuals is kept private
- Regular sharing of financial metrics and operating budget details
- Clear documentation of financial decisions and their rationale
Horizontal Management
- Financial decisions follow the advice process when they affect multiple stakeholders
- Team members are empowered to make financial decisions within their scope
- Financial processes support and enable “manager of one” autonomy
- Collaborative approach to budgeting and resource allocation
Mission-Aligned Financial Management
- Balance company success with stakeholder needs and world impact
- Support climate justice through financial decisions
- Enable rapid scaling of climate action solutions
- Maintain financial sustainability while pursuing public benefit goals

Key Responsibilities

Financial Planning & Analysis

Maintain and evolve the operating budget
Create financial forecasts and scenarios
Track key financial metrics and provide analysis
Support data-driven decision making across the organization | | Operations & Controls |
Manage day-to-day financial operations
Ensure appropriate financial controls and compliance
Maintain accurate financial records
Process payments and manage cash flow
Coordinate with external accountants and auditors | | Compensation & Benefits |
Implement transparent, equitable compensation structures
Manage payroll and benefits administration
Support fair minimum wage commitments
Maintain progressive bonus structures when applicable |

Success Metrics

Transparency & Understanding
- Team members understand company financial position
- Financial information is accessible and well-documented
- Decision-making processes are clear and inclusive
Operational Excellence
- Accurate and timely financial reporting
- Effective cash flow management
- Strong internal controls
- Clean audit results
Mission Alignment
- Resources allocated to maximize mission impact
- Sustainable growth enabling long-term success

FinOps Tech Stack & Access

Access

For Employees

Access to our FinOps tech stack is managed during onboarding, depending on the role. All other access is granted on an as-needed basis by that platform’s admin, who is noted below.

For a description of and permissions for our banking and credit platforms, see Bank Accounts.

Non-employees

We have a number of FinOps-related files and tools that we make available to vendors, contractors and investors. All non-employee access to these files and tools are tracked so we can make sure our information is not continuously open and “out there”. We note the person’s full name, what they have access to, email address that has access, level of permissions, access start and end dates and the purpose for the access.

The access list is maintained by Erika.

A list of who has access to which tools is available in the Shared Drive > Strategic Growth > Financial Operations > FinOps Access.

Quickbooks

We use Quickbooks Online for bookkeeping and invoicing our customers. Quickbooks should be the source of truth for all of our tools and all of our tools need to be able to talk to Quickbooks.

Full Access / Admins: Full Access users can make changes to the chart of accounts, settings (including billing and payments) and invoices, as well as issue invoices.

CEO / Bomee Jung - also the Primary Admin
Strategic Growth Lead / Erika Parkins

Accoutant Access: Accountants can do all of the above except make changes to settings.

Bookkeeper / Sara Vasilovski
We also have a “Book Keeper” user profile to share with external accounting firms when they need to evaluate our setup and books. This user account is to minimize the number of people outside of our company, who have access to our financial records.

Causal: Our Financial Modeling Platform

We use Causal to build our financial models and develop insights on our business performance. Causal enables us to layer information from Quickbooks and other data sources, so we can set budgets, compare budget to actuals and create scenarios. Causal also enables us to easily break out information by department for more granular insights.

Editors

CEO / Bomee Jung
Strategic Growth Lead / Erika Parkins

Viewers

All perm staff are viewers in Causal. If you have not received an invite or are unsure of your access, send a note to the #_please and thanks channel in Slack.

Airbase: Spend Management

We use a spend management platform to:

Improve accuracy of expense categorization by moving the categorization from reconciliation to payment set-up (e.g. by using virtual cards tied to the correct expense accounts in the GL)
Tighten up our record keeping through vendor invoice ingestion.
Enable distributed spend management by Leads, so it’s not on any one person to handle all the bills

Note Our spend management platform will change by Q1 2025, since Airbase is being rolled into another platform and will cease to exist.

Administrators: Bomee Jung and Erika Parkins. Administrators can manage all permissions, requests and approvals and accounting and have visibility on all spend on the platform.
Lead: Marc Zuluaga, François Huet, and Jason Block. Leads have the same permissions as administrators with the exceptions of an approval spend up to $5000 and no access to settings and account management.
Employee: Everyone else. Employees can view all or their department’s bills, expenses and reports as well as all vendor details
FinOps: Sara Vasilovski. FinOps roles can manage all accounting, vendor and bill payment activity and have visibility on all reports and spend.

Expense Management Platform Requirements

Must be able to connect to Quickbooks
Ability to map specific expenses (via virtual cards) or vendors to specific GL accounts
Ability to issue multiple virtual cards to Leads
Ability to track expense reimbursements, tied to the correct departments
Ability for vendors to upload their invoices directly or via email
Other nice-to-have:
- Synch employees from Justworks
- OAuth via Google
- Slack Integration