"I'd miss the action" - An interview with Oscar Ferrer, director of finance

In our last interview, Montana Gallery curator Anna Dimitrova mentioned him as her favorite worker at the company. The fact that Oscar Ferrer is the chief financial officer of Montana Colors may have something to do with her reason for choosing him. In this interview we find out the secret of his popularity, as well as a few technical and more transcendental aspects of his role at Montana Colors.

Why do you think Anna Dimitrova mentioned you as her favorite Montana Colors worker? 

Haha, I can imagine why she said it! I’m the one who makes the payments, so I’m delighted to give her that happiness at the end of each month. But she should remember, as the saying goes: I’m just the messenger.

Can you briefly explain what your role consists of? 

Basically, it consists of managing the financial resources of the Montana group, processing the financial information so that it’s useful, and managing our relationship with banks, shareholders, auditors and the group's subsidiaries.

Let’s talk numbers. How many years have you been working at Montana Colors? 

I have calculated it and it comes out as 9.6666666 years, that is nine years and eight months.

How many pieces of graffiti have you painted? 

My understanding of the word “piece” is quite broad, so I think I can say two, the second being the action of painting over the first piece, to cover it up.

A more permanent use of paint would be the typical repainting of a white garden chair. I don’t have any more adventurous tales to tell I’m afraid.

How many people are you in charge of? 

Haha, I see where you are going. You want to hear me say that ten jobs depend on me. 

I prefer to put it like this. I manage a team of ten people, of great human and technical quality. In that order of importance, for me. 

I don't see jobs, but people, who I try to help, who’ll return the favor by helping me. If I can teach them something along the way, then that will be great.

Let’s get serious. What skills do you think are essential to manage the finances of a company? 

Calm. Lots of   c    a    l     m. 

A certain rigor and clear methodology, without obsessing over the method, because when a few things change you’re lost. Just look at 2020. 

Managing the most sensitive and stressful parts of accountancy requires a great deal of intuition, not everything can be forecast, and you can’t be afraid that the money will run out! You can always borrow more that you can return in five years. You always have to make sure to pay it back to the bank though. 

You also have to solve things in the simplest way possible, without the need for complicated explanations.

What’s the hardest part of your job?

Sometimes it is difficult to disconnect after weeks of high pressure, but you have to try to find the moment of calm, to enjoy other things.

From outside, your work seems very technical and cyclical. Do you think that some jobs suit very specific personality types? 

It’s definitely cyclical. That part is very complicated, having to comply strictly with the dates of the different closings: fiscal closing, accounts closing, treasury closing, the annual closing and so on. Closures, closures and more closures. 

But I think that finance and accounting roles can also have a measure of creativity, which is not always associated with accountants. We need to have the classic skills of order, method, rigor ... blah blah blah ... of course, but also to design a financial report you have to have a certain eye for design and make it attractive, which at the same time will be easier to understand.

In a job like yours, which part is more important: vocation or training?

Talking about a career economists is tough. There will be some, but that’s not me. I think we are very practical people, some of us are comfortable with numbers, like lawyers with words.

So you have to like calculation, of course, a base in education, but what you have to have is calm, like I said before.

Are numbers and art compatible?

Let me see. Trying to define art can be like opening a can of worms, but basically it would be any activity that makes you feel something special, that connects you with a moment that you’ve experienced, or that connects you with the artist. Connections, sensations, emotions ...

Numbers aren't art, that's for sure. And if you’re asking whether those of us who work with numbers are moved by a work of art, obviously we are. I really like painting, I would have loved to be a painter or a writer.

As Anna Dimitrova mentioned in her interview, you have attended many openings at the Montana Gallery. Can you tell us if you remember a specific exhibition that caught your attention? 

I’d choose the explosion that Aryz's exhibition represented. 

Also because of my love of comics, the tribute to Moebius, which was a group show.

If you stopped working as the CFO at Montana Colors, what would you miss the most?

I would miss Montana much more than the job. I'm sure I'd also miss the fast-paced action that comes with my job.