The Lead of Finance, Tax, and Accounting Department: Meet Jonathan Kevin Kurniawan and his Journey

Jonathan Kevin Kurniawan (Kevin) is the finance, tax, and accounting department leader. His journey with Blankontech started in the last of 2020, not as finance, but as quality assurance. 

“I was offered QA at first, I tried it with the other four people, but then after 2021, Cuxiang asked me if it became a QA suited me. And apparently, it’s not since my background is not in tech, then here I am as finance.”

As a finance employee of Blankontech, Kevin officially started in March 2021, when there were not more than five people in Blankontech. With his background as an Economic student back then, he crawled step by step, helping Blankontech get a more prominent company.

Finance, tax, and Accounting Department’s scope of work and the team

From the beginning, the job description for the finance, tax, and accounting department is to make a journal for every transaction, count the tax from the end of 2021, and make financial reports for the director and commissioner so they can take the right step for developing the company.

Over time, the finance team becomes two-person, Kevin and Stefani’s jobs are evolving, and many are technical. They must know every existing transaction. Every transaction must follow its responsibility because if there is one missing transaction, it will harm the company.

The essence of the finance department is that they work to maximalize the profit for the company’s running business with budgeting and forecasting.

“Budgeting is how we set the budget for each department with help for each leader, prioritizing the needs monthly; we also forecast, which is predicting the future from a financial point of view so that we can look up the right step for the company.”

Kevin as a Leader, the twist and turn

As a leader and the first person in the finance department, he becomes the first person to manage the company’s money, and a responsibility comes with obstacles. 

At first, since he was the only person who had any practical clue about managing a company, he didn’t know how, but Kevin, with hard work, found a solution.

“I asked many seniors who already have a job or business experience. Even though we’ve still in manual input using google spreadsheets and still so many things to learn, we always try to be better.”

Kevin said that his team is always learning. For example, when he didn’t fully dominate about tax, there was so much miss, but we obeyed and paid for the tax.

Kevin handles general finance, tax, and accounting as a leader. In other words, unlike Stefani, who still does not take care of the tax, he must be capable of all of that.

“But we are all still learning of our subject, taking courses, learning by doing.”

Teamwork management 

Since there is a company objective and all departments are to reach the goal, Kevin and Stefani will do sprint planning every week.

“We plan what we need to do for a week, working on it as planned to make it on time, and if there is any issue or blocked, we help each other and report to Cuxiang.”

Kevin said that communication is crucial to know each other about our responsibility, for example, if Stefani is in charge of cash on hand while Kevin is in bank expenses. They must tell and communicate with each other, so there is no miss.

Weekly Sprint

This is what the finance department sprint looks like this week.

Kevin doesn’t have his own sprint. Instead, he shares a sprint with Stefani as one department’s task. 

For the finance department, this week they need to make pricing for every service we give to clients. Kevin said they set the price considering the market and the quality we can provide. 

And then, as usual, every week/month, they have to pay some operational bills like wifi, tax, and assurance. Since this is the beginning of the month, they need to make a financial report for the last month (September).

Unique in finance’s ticket bar, there is “Permanent Task,” which includes the tasks that they always do every day.

The Routine

As a Finance leader, Kevin has some routines to do every day. First, they must check the company’s credit card because the transactions are not real-time. Another thing they must do is to check their bank account to make sure the income.

Kevin and Cuxiang also have a routine which is budgeting for the company at the end of the month, 

Tips to become a financial employee from Kevin

Be patient- because sometimes, there are unexpected expenses, and we must always be ready.

To be exact- it’s essential to pay attention to the detail in every transaction.

Be integrity- truthful and transparent is essential for becoming finance because if there is any deviation or misappropriation, it will harm the company.

Kevin personally like to go refreshing when he starts feeling enough. He usually wants to go somewhere, play music, exercise, and read books. 

“When there is trouble, there will be a way to get a solution, don’t give up on it, and make that motivation. And I like the quote from Cuxiang don’t be afraid to be wrong. You can be wrong but don’t fall into the same hole. And the last numbers never lie.”

Most of the time, the finance department gets sudden requests outside their budget plan. That situation might frustrate Kevin, but he always tries to listen first and set the request as the priority and urgency.

“the budgeting is still flexible, but we must know the limit.”

Used toolkit

-App invoicehome to make an invoice

-Click for task management

-Email for sending the invoice to clients

Maestro Profile: Jonathan Kevin | Linkedin|

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