Meet the team: Liisa Falck joins Midagon as Senior Managing Consultant

I have always been somewhat fascinated by finance. When I was about five years old, my dream job was to be the managing director of a bank. However, I also had another dream; working in Tiimari (a chain of stores that no longer exists, selling all kinds of stuff from stickers to sandpaper and from buckets to birthday cards), where my older cousins worked during the summers. It was heaven from a five year old’s point of view. I managed to compromise: working in Tiimari during the summers and leading a bank other times (who needs a holiday, when you have your two dream jobs?). I clearly already had some problem solving skills and capabilities to combine with my career interests at that young age.

Liisa Falck

24.3.2021

My interest in finance later got more concrete, as I started my studies in the Turku School of Economics with the goal of becoming an auditor. That auditing career, however, did not happen. This was because I got interested in enterprise resource planning systems and their capabilities for supporting businesses (another one of the minor studies to add to my portfolio). I again had to compromise. This is how my hybrid career of finance and IT began.

My first real job was as a SAP FICO (Finance & Controlling) consultant. I learned the SAP ERP FICO module in practice by doing. During my first year as a consultant, I also finalized my master’s thesis about utilizing ERP systems in finance operations and reporting. I had already gained hands on experience with finance processes and bookkeeping, by working as part-time accountant conducting book keeping entries and monthly closings for some smaller companies. Over the next five years, I worked as a SAP FICO consultant with roles in different SAP projects, working with requirements gathering and solution fit-gaps, configurations, documentation and testing and finance data migrations, among others. I also had a role in PMO, learning project management skills, such as project planning and budgeting, reporting and monitoring.

Combining finance and IT in-house and as a consultant

I next transferred to “other side of the table,” by working in in-house finance and technology development and team lead roles. It allowed me to focus on finance processes from a single company point of view. This enabled me to gain and in-depth understanding not only of finance processes, but also everything that happens around and before finance, such as purchasing, manufacturing, and sales. After all, everything good or bad, always ends up in finance). Having been working in manufacturing and retail industries I have gained a wider understanding on business processes and further increased my interest developing them with support from technology.

I returned to consulting a little less than four years ago. Before that I lived in the United States for over a year. Throughout my career, I have had a chance to work with people from different countries and cultures. However, but it really makes it more concrete to live in another country so you can understand how differently people can see things, even though the world is getting smaller. In my consultancy roles, I continued on my chosen path. I combined finance and IT, such as having process area lead roles or project manager roles. I joined Midagon in the beginning of March 2021. I hope to work in finance and IT related roles, possibly in some transformations. I want to bring my experience in finance and IT to provide value added to my clients. My joining Midagon is taking place in the middle of a pandemic. Therefore, my start is different. I hope that after the summer, the situation will improve, and I will be able to see my colleagues and clients in person.

In my free time, I like to do sports. Before the pandemic, I frequently took workout classes at my gym. I now do these classes online next to the bed. I also like downhill skiing and backcountry skiing. This winter, like many Finns, I became excited about cross country skiing and probably gained more kilometers than the past twenty years combined! I also started tennis lessons, which I am excited about. I like cooking and especially making desserts and baking in general. Finally, next year I will be a “mökkeilijä,” since this summer we will start building a summer house in Kirkkonummi, which should be ready next spring.