Karen La Mura

What is your mission at Formulary?

My mission is to work with a great group of people across different industries to create a fund administration experience that nobody has seen before.

We’ve already built the capabilities to deliver on this goal. I am now excited to share them with the world.

Continuous improvement is part of our mission. Every day, we’re looking to improve, build and create. This approach is something I have never witnessed in my career. When I was a controller, our fund administration partners always delivered the bare minimum.

At Formulary, we work with data in a completely different way. We iterate on the logic, derive real-time calculations, and synthesize and compare outputs.

My ambitious goal is to design the best possible company and technology capabilities to change the industry.

What drew you to fund accounting, and what has kept you in it?

I’ve always been good with numbers.

I took a basic accounting bookkeeping class in high school, and scored 100s and 98s on every exam while others were struggling. I love numbers. I have a photographic memory, and can recite account codes by heart. Numbers speak to me.

Throughout my career, I’ve acquired expertise in many different areas of public and private accounting. I want to build on the foundation of that accounting knowledge. I love learning new approaches to accounting.

Formulary is a new chapter for me because I have not worked on the servicing side before. In different in-house roles I touched everything from audit and management companies to international accounting, consolidation and fund accounting. Now I am leveraging this experience to service other CFOs and COOs because I understand their goals and needs. It’s come full circle for me.

AI is transforming every industry, including fund administration. Where do you think the industry is going?

AI is used in every aspect of the business for us. The big distinction is that we never outsource critical thinking to AI. At Formulary, humans own the outcome.

For great accountants, AI is a powerful tool to help us do our work.

Why did you join Formulary Financial? What was the aha moment?

My first conversation with the CEO, Alfia, drew me in. I was struck by her energy and motivation to change the industry. As a woman, I was inspired by another woman driven to go after a big goal and build a company that will transform our space.

I also wanted to join a high-growth company and start from the ground up.

When I met the Formulary team, I knew that here I would be part of something revolutionary and great.

Formulary talks a lot about “bionic accounting,” blending human expertise with modern technology. What does that actually look like in your day-to-day work with clients?

As compared to my day-to-day work as a controller in an asset management firm, here I am using AI while doing all of my work.

It’s been a learning curve, and I have become very fluent over time.

When I know that I have a big deliverable and have to analyze a lot of data, I use AI as a collaborator to get the results I need. While AI is doing the work for me in the background, I am able to focus on other work and double my productivity.

How is working in fund administration different from working in-house?

As a controller, I spent a lot of time shadowing and reconciling the books provided by an administrator.

Here, on the other side, I keep our clients’ business goals top of mind and focus on delivering proactive, thoughtful service to support our clients and help them scale.

What are you aspiring to in your role at Formulary as Director of Accounting?

Fluency with technology to service clients, helping to build products and models to deliver accurate data and exceptional service, and bringing my previous experiences and insights to make an impact on how we build technology.

How would you describe Formulary’s culture versus working in-house?

Very collaborative.

Everyone is willing to help one another to become better, all together. When someone has a thought, we share ideas openly, explore solutions, and iterate as a team to create something that meets our bar. Once we have a solution in production, we continue making suggestions. Every day, our capabilities get better and better.

Constant feedback and collaboration as a team are the norm.

Everyone is incredibly approachable and friendly. Despite doing very serious work, we know how to bring humor and lightness into the mix.

The Formulary mission is to be the most reliable operations partner to investment firms. How does this come to life in your day-to-day here?

This comes to life through responsiveness, data accuracy, and intentionality in how we engage with clients.

Part of our white-glove service model is appreciating each client’s specific needs. We’re always striving to go well beyond the bare minimum.

Who is an ideal fit at Formulary on the accounting team? Is there a particular type of accountant that Formulary is best suited for?

Technically competent and diligent in how they approach accounting.

Open to new ideas, and not set in ways of working. Here you are expected to explore, grow and learn with the goal of expanding your knowledge.

If someone is considering joining Formulary, what would you want them to know?

This will be a life-changing, transformative experience.

The culture and the way we do things are very different. It will be exciting and scary. You will learn a lot. Most importantly, you will learn a lot about yourself.

Accountants are often set in ways of doing things. For example, in my last three jobs I used the same processes and procedures. Here I am totally revamping how I do accounting and every day I am learning what I am capable of as an accountant.

What excites you most about the future of Formulary and the industry at large?

We’ve been incredibly successful so far. We keep growing through word of mouth and referrals.

I am very excited about our impact and about being part of something bigger than me.

The platform we have is incredible. We’re cutting-edge in every aspect of the business, and I cannot wait to see where we will be in the future.