After starting her career as an auditor, CPA Prajakta Raut took her Sarbanes-Oxley compliance know-how from KPMG to Sleep Country Canada to set up its internal audit function and ensure compliance with internal controls regulations.
Throughout her subsequent nearly 20-year tenure with the brand, Raut took advantage of the organization’s ongoing growth to continually broaden her experience beyond audit and accounting to include finance, tax, budgeting and financial reporting. She played a key role in the brand’s successful privatization, and then taking the company public again with an IPO several years later.
While continuing to take on strategic projects that included leading Sleep Country’s ERP transformation, Raut served as controller, vice president of corporate accounting, and vice president of finance and risk management.
When she was ready to be challenged as a CFO, the position wasn’t available, so Raut found it in a completely different industry: franchise lawn care. Today, as CFO at Weed Man, Raut is applying what she learned during Sleep Country’s growth to the lawn service provider that’s hoping to achieve the same success.
![Weed Man CFO Prajakta Raut](/imgproxy/339h19kR8W8rPxa-UBRmD_IG3Bq9v2Ieys-8hDbQtNw/g:ce/rs:fit:324:324/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL1ByYWpha3RhX1JhdXQuanBn.webp)
Prajakta Raut
CFO, Weed Man
- First CFO position: 2024
- Notable previous employers:
- Sleep Country Canada
- KPMG
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
SANDRA BECKWITH: You spent 19 years at Sleep Country Canada before joining Weed Man as CFO earlier this year. What lured you away?
PRAJAKTA RAUT: When I joined Sleep Country early in my career, almost 20 years ago, it was a $100 million business. As it grew into a billion-dollar company, I grew professionally, too, gaining invaluable experience with challenges and strategic projects that included taking the company private, and then public again.
I wore many hats, gaining exposure to new areas of the business with each opportunity.
They always kept me on my toes until the point where I felt my career had plateaued, and a position with exciting exposure wasn’t available. I was ready to be challenged again, and Weed Man offered that opportunity.
What made you the right candidate at the right time for the CFO position at Weed Man?
RAUT: One thing that differentiated me from other candidates, I think, was the culture fit. We care for our team, our franchisees, and our sub-franchisors — all the human components of the corporate world. I share that approach.
The other big factor was that Weed Man aspires to grow into a billion-dollar company, and leadership wanted a finance partner who could help lead them through that growth. I played a role in Sleep Country’s growth story, so I have experience with the shift from a smaller company to a much larger one. I learned valuable lessons along the way.
At the same time, I was attracted to the role because of Weed Man’s culture, the opportunity for professional growth, and because it’s in an entirely different industry from product-focused retail. It provides the intellectual challenge I was craving.
How does your background affect how you do your job at Weed Man, and how might it differ from someone who came to the CFO role with different experiences?
RAUT: I’m a CPA with a strong accounting background, but today’s CFO needs many more skills. While at Sleep Country, I was exposed to many aspects of finance and other areas that a finance leader needs to touch to be able to sit at the CFO level — risk management, forecasting, strategy, change leadership, corporate citizenship, project management and so on.
My experience with all of this became the pathway to the next story in my chapter here.
What part of the CFO’s job is more difficult for you because of your background or experience?
RAUT: I wouldn't say it’s difficult, but at the moment, my biggest priority is making sure I understand the business and the franchisor-franchisee dynamics really well.
I have to shift my mindset from a product-based retail company to a consumer service-based business, and from a public company to a private one, all while understanding the stakeholder groups and aligning my priorities with theirs.
What’s the easiest?
RAUT: Because of my experience, it’s knowing what the growth progression might look like and therefore what we need in place to support it. I believe in proactively setting up the right foundation, as lack thereof is costly.
For example, when you're growing and increasing the bottom line, you can forget that your technology has to keep up with the change or you won’t be able to maintain that growth without Band-Aids. Fixing a maze of these patches could become a huge and risky change management exercise over time.
What advice would you give to others in finance hoping to become CFOs?
RAUT: The CFO role today is very broad. To get exposure to what’s involved, you must value your time at work as if it’s money and spend your time wisely. Make sure the work you're doing is rich and not repetitive. Look for change projects and opportunities to broaden your exposure and thinking.