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THE LAST WORD / J’Maine Chubb, CPA, CGMA

J’Maine Chubb, CPA, CGMA,
is the CFO of the Houston
Airport System.

Favorite music: I like all kinds of music,
but I’m from Detroit, and a fun fact is
that my uncles — my mom’s brothers —
were Levi Stubbs, the lead singer of the
Four Tops, and his brother, Joe Stubbs,
who was famous before him.
Favorite football team: The Detroit
Lions, even though they have a
history of losing. I still stick with my
home team.
Favorite food: Italian food. However,
since being in Texas, I’ve started liking
Mexican food quite a bit.

‘Forecasting is a way to cope with uncertainty …’

Achieving goals: My dad was an accountant, and my older time, it might be time to say “no.” The challenge is understanding
brother was an accountant, so I chose to do the same. As I when the conversation needs to shift and you need to start
finalized my MBA and began pursuit of my CPA license, I was having a different conversation with a CEO as their finance
working full time in various accounting roles for the state of business partner to make them really understand why the answer
Michigan. I set a goal of becoming a CFO and took the steps needs to be no.
I needed to achieve my objectives. What I learned along the
way was to gain an understanding of technical accounting and Weathering the pandemic: We’ve done very well. We’ve
strive to achieve accomplishments in roles that were not directly benefited from the fact that prior to the pandemic, we set out
accounting-related. I would advise others to start by taking to maintain a certain level of cash on hand, and we were in a
internships, then to create a game plan and take deliberate steps healthy liquidity state. During the pandemic, we made some
toward achieving their goals. adjustments to decrease our expenses, and we were fortunate that
the federal government stepped in and supported airlines and
Modeling to reinforce proposals: I enjoy financial modeling airports. Our airport system received $458 million that helped
because there are so many inputs that go into airport plans. If an us maintain operations. We didn’t utilize any of our cash to fund
airport wants to consider a $2 billion terminal project, you must capital projects, and that helped us keep a high level of cash. It
determine what the revenue sources may be. You must look at seems this pandemic doesn’t want to let up fully, but I’m confi-
interest rates and the cost of issuing debt, along with many other dent that we’re going to weather the storm.
factors, and pull all this information together and make a recom- Mapping a rewarding career: One of the best rewards of my
mendation to your CEO and the senior team as to what should
PHOTO BY BRANDON THIBODEAUX/AP IMAGES know exactly what’s going to happen, but you work to get a cer- the CPA license. The finance and accounting field provides
job is being a role model to individuals that may want to pursue
be done. Forecasting is a way to cope with uncertainty. You don’t
tain level of comfort or confidence around what you’re proposing.
opportunities to work in many different types of organizations.
I could not have reached this level in my career without being
a CPA.
Knowing when to say no: I’m always balancing my responsi-
bility for bringing in the resources that allow my organization
— As told to Teri Saylor, a freelance writer based in North Caro-
to achieve its goals. But the biggest challenge is striking that
balance between saying “yes” and saying “no.” You may say, “Yes,
I can accommodate this project” 10 or 11 times, and the 12th
article, contact Courtney Vien at Courtney.Vien@aicpa-cima.com.
May 2022
42 | Journal of Accountancy lina. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another