Jaguar Health CAO’s Proven Fractional Playbook for Public Company Growth
For a publicly-traded life sciences company, the stakes for financial reporting are as high as they get. There is zero room for error, yet resources are fiercely guarded. How does a company navigate SEC compliance, SOX controls, and rapid international growth while remaining agile?
In a standout session from our “The Future is Fractional” virtual conference, Scrubbed’s Gliezel David sat down with Ismaila “Ish” Sougoufara, Chief Accounting Officer and SVP of Finance at Jaguar Health, to discuss this exact challenge.
Ish provided a candid, practical playbook for how Jaguar Health, a commercial-stage pharma company, moved from having compliance issues to a model of excellence by strategically integrating a fractional partnership.
Here are the key takeaways from their conversation.
Navigating Compliance with a High-Risk Public Company
For a biotech company, the core challenge is a paradox. Ish explained that financing is hard to secure, forcing efficiency, but as a public entity, you must also meet strict compliance demands.
He warned leaders about the dangers of a “DIY” approach to accounting to save costs, calling it “high risk, and very low reward.”
“It is not a field where you can learn it on the fly,” Ish stated. “Trying to do it on your own… to save costs, it will surely come back against you… What you don’t want to see is the qualified opinion.”
Building a Partnership on "Commitment and Sacrifice"
Ish was clear that the type of partnership is what determines success or failure. For him, the key was finding a fractional team that did more than just clock in.
"Talent is never enough," he shared.
"You have to have the care, commitment, and sacrifice."
Earning Board and Auditor Buy-In
How do you get your board and auditors comfortable with a fractional expert handling critical SEC reporting? For Ish, the answer was in the results.
“Quality speaks for itself,” he said. “Before Scrubbed, Jaguar had serious compliance issues. It’s public. The turnaround in the quality of the financial reporting… the removal of the material weakness is public… That has been accomplished [with] Scrubbed’s commitment, quality, and competence.”
This outcome made the partnership an “easy sell.” Ish noted
Scrubbed is not seen as fractional. We refer to Scrubbed as our company in the Philippines. It’s an integral part of Jaguar.”
- Ismaila Sougoufara, Chief Accounting Officer & Senior VP Finance
Scaling the Partnership from Compliance to FP&A
The partnership didn’t just solve a problem; it scaled with the company. Ish explained that the relationship evolved as Jaguar Health grew, expanding from foundational 10Q and 10K reporting to complex areas like technical consultations and memo preparations, to reconciliations, to valuations, to tax as they expanded internationally into Italy.
This scalability, combined with a robust business continuity plan from the fractional partner, ensured that even with team changes, the quality of service was never impacted
