FP&A Today “I am done pretending" - my honest take on finance and FP&A” – Sarah Schlott
Jul 31, 2025
Join Sarah Schlott, Senior Director of Finance at Tray, as she shares her candid journey from billing temp to finance leader. Schlott challenges conventional practices like annual budgets, advocating for a realistic, operator-first approach to FP&A. She emphasizes the importance of aggressive curiosity and transparency in financial processes. Learn why variance analysis can be misleading and how Excel limitations can bog down financial planning. Her insightful take on managing data and fostering collaboration is a must-listen for anyone in finance!
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Billing Temp Turned Finance Leader
- Sarah Schlott started as a billing temp in a high-growth startup experiencing process failures.
- She took extreme ownership, digging into data and reworking how the business saw itself top-down and bottom-up.
Signs Financial Ops Will Break
- Watch for signs of misalignment like silence or excessive arguing in meetings.
- These indicate lack of buy-in or data/process breakdowns signaling financial operations are about to break.
Accurate Math Isn’t Enough
- Accurate math in forecasts doesn’t mean a successful forecast.
- Forecasts must reflect operational reality and include team ownership for buy-in and usability.
