As I have written in previous blogs, this summer I was engaged in reviving a protected species by raising Monarch butterflies. The Monarch has a very recognizable black, orange, and white wing pattern. Its metamorphosis spans approximately 25 warm summer days.
Of course, there are parallels and examples of metamorphosis in life, not the least of which is the transformation of Dasher from a small, direct mail company with a dozen employees to the purpose-driven communicator of complex information with several dozen employees. The changes at Dasher occurred on many levels, including building Dasher’s financial management processes and procedures.
One person at Dasher, our Chief Financial Officer, Bonnie Meisel, has seen this transformation from its very beginning in 2009. After I shared some pictures from my butterfly garden, I asked Bonnie for her thoughts on how our company evolved.
Bonnie said, “I love the butterfly analogy, especially as it relates to transformation. When we started out at Dasher in 2009, we focused on organization of financial data, documentation, proper application of accounting principles and internal control structure, and developing a good reporting structure with reliable data to make informed decisions. My audit experience with KPMG really assisted with this process.”
In 2014, Dasher had its very first independent audit of its financial statements and we sailed through the audit. We have been audited every year since.
Bonnie added more about Dasher’s metamorphosis. “In 2016, we only had one other full-time accountant on staff at the time. Since then, we have added two other finance positions and we now have a very strong team.”
At Dasher, our strong financial performance is totally reliant on having great teams comprised of great people working together. Bonnie said, “At the same time we were working on building a solid financial operation, we focused on the key assets at Dasher – the people– and helping people lead happy healthy lives.” As Bonnie wisely said, “While mistakes have been made along the way, I love the fact that we pick ourselves up and learn from those mistakes, making the company that much stronger.”