In this episode, Chloe Lau, Director of Finance Operations at SAXX, shares how her career has evolved beyond accounting to include partnerships with teams across operations, technology, logistics, and brand strategy.
Tax returns, audits and spreadsheets. These are the things you might think of when someone mentions they’re a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). After speaking with Chloe Lau, Director of Finance Operations at SAXX, a leading global apparel brand, we learned that this career opens doors to so much more than that. In her role, she partners closely with operations, IT, logistics and brand teams, and often gets involved in topics well beyond traditional accounting.
Her role and designation help the company navigate growth and complex decisions, as well as fine-tune processes that benefit the brand and its customers.
CPA is a pathway, not a destination
“I was at university studying accounting, and the CPA struck me as a pathway rather than a destination. Something that would lead me to opportunities I might not get elsewhere,” said Lau.
And she did find those opportunities. Lau started her career at KPMG before moving to a mining software company, then to a public company in the construction rental space. She then moved into e-commerce, first in furniture and now in apparel at SAXX, where she manages the finance team and oversees accounts receivable, accounts payable, treasury, tax, audit and compliance.
For an aspiring CPA, Lau’s career path shows that the designation doesn’t lock someone into one industry or role. It can lead to exciting opportunities and new challenges in any industry.
Skills that travel with you
Lau shared that the CPA helped her build a strong technical foundation early in her career. With that came soft skills like resourcefulness, collaboration, management, problem-solving, conflict resolution and adaptability. These attributes allow a CPA to adapt quickly to unfamiliar industries and bring broader business skills to every role.
“CPA gives you flexibility. Being able to drop into a completely different environment and get up to speed quickly has been invaluable in my career,” said Lau.
She shared that “in finance, it’s easy to think the job is just about numbers, but the reality is that you’re working with people every day. So, having colleagues who are collaborative and genuinely care makes it that much better.”
At SAXX, finance is part of the growth conversation
“SAXX is a well-known, established brand. It’s private equity-backed and in a real growth phase. That combination means it’s actively being built and scaled, which is exactly the kind of challenge I was looking for,” said Lau.
Lau met that challenge when the business was looking to add another cross-border sales channel. She helped restructure the brand’s legal entity and systems setup to support cross-border direct-to-consumer sales into the U.S. The new structure relied on Section 321 rules, which at the time allowed duty-free treatment for lower-value shipments.
“Finance was involved from day one. We worked cross-functionally with our operations, IT and logistics teams to identify the right structure and strategy that would allow us to take advantage of this duty-free rule,” Lau explained.
By mapping out all the processes upfront and testing before launch, the business quickly moved into a new sales channel. This is where finance adds value by enabling growth, not just reporting on it after the fact.
The CPA can take a career, and a business, further
As a 19-year-old university student deciding to pursue her CPA, Lau couldn’t have imagined her career path would lead her to where she is now, overseeing the financial operations of a global apparel brand. For her, the CPA is portable and has given her skills and a network that have led to incredible opportunities.
“The designation is a foundation, not a job description. You don’t need to know where you’re going in order to start.”
For Lau, the CPA designation became a springboard for a career she could never have mapped out when she was starting out. For businesses, it can be the foundation for bringing financial expertise, strategic thinking and a collaborative approach to whatever comes next.
Ready to start your CPA journey? Learn more here.
Photo courtesy of BBZ Productions.
Originally published by CBC.
