The Adam Shilton Podcast

Guest Angel Lam shares insights on qualities for finance pros, tech skills importance, LinkedIn profile tips. Discussed working style changes, skepticism towards ChatGPT. Emphasized personal branding, effective communication for career growth. Explored balance between human interaction and tech, caution with NFT trends. Shared tech tools for productivity in finance career.

Episode - 012: - Where we learn from Kevin Appleby – COO and Podcast host at GrowCFO and host of ‘The next 100 Days’ Podcast – What is GrowCFO, and why you should join for free, how to think about software assessments, Kevin’s finance predictions for 2023, whether we’ll ever see a continuous close, dealing with transformation, ChatGPT and much much more. Kevin started his career as an auditor for BDO before working for businesses like ICI, PwC, Mouchel and EDF Energy. Kevin's goal is now to help finance teams and CFOs thrive by sharing insight through his podcasts and growing the GrowCFO network. Show Notes Where to find Kevin & GrowCFO Kevin on Linkedin here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-appleby-295417a/ GrowCFO here - https://www.growcfo.net GrowCFO podcast here - https://www.growcfo.net/growcfo-show  Tech Mentioned Slack – https://www.slack.com Aqilla – https://www.aqilla.com ChatGPT - https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt Jasper - https://www.jasper.ai People Mentioned Paul Barnhurst - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguy/ Christoph Iwaniez - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoph-iwaniez/ Chris Treadwell - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tredwellchris/ GrowCFO Recordings [Note – You must become a free member before you can access these recordings] https://www.growcfo.net/webinars/ Contents [00:01:46] What is GrowCFO? [00:07:30] GrowCFO Transformation Training [00:10:27] How to think about software assessments [00:17:27] Finance Predictions for 2023 [00:23:49] ESG, Data Governance, Month-End Close [00:27:50] Will we ever see a continuous close? [00:33:45] Dealing with transformation & change [00:38:45] ChatGPT & Jasper [00:44:04] Find more about Kevin & GrowCFO

Episode - 011: Where we learn from Soufyan Hamid - FP&A Freelancer and the Finance Presentation Skills master – Choosing what to contact to communicate and how, how you can present like Netflix, how to use teaser & cliffhangers, how to use the PowerPoint rehearsal tool, why doing things manually might help your creativity, the cool apps Souf uses in his day to day, and much much more. 'Souf' started his career at PwC, spent almost 5 years as a manager at Deloitte and 7 years at Proximus as a Finance Business Partner and manager of Strategic projects. Souf is now an FP&A freelancer, but also trains finance teams on how to improve their presentation skills. When he's not doing that, he's spending time with his daughter of 8 and son of 5, attending concerts and playing football (in his words badly), and he also likes cooking and drawing DragonBall Z characters! Show Notes Where to find Souf Find him on LinkedIn here  Find him on his website here  Some Examples of Souf’s Posts -       20 Must Have PowerPoint Skills for FP&A  -       5 Tips to Start Giving Presentations  -       You have only 1 rule Limilt Everything  -       Use the Boomerang technique to avoid tricky questions -       4 Ways to Use Your Hands when Presenting  Building Blocks of a Great Presentation Building Block 1 – Analysis – Focusing on what’s important and actionable Building Block 2 – Big Message – What do you want people to remember? Building Block 3 – Teasers – Keep people wanting more throughout. Building  Block 4 – Rehearse – For important meetings, make sure you practise! Building  Block 5 – Deliver – Think about how to look, engage and pace yourself. Tech Mentioned PowerBI Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint Rehearsal Tool Microsoft Office Google Slides Notion  Canva AirTable Zapier ChatGPT  Contents [00:04:20] Why Presentation Skills?  [00:08:07] Building Confidence, and Choosing What to Present  [00:11:05] What Content Requires What Communication?  [00:12:29] Use Cases for Excel vs PowerBI  [00:18:20] How to Present Like Netflix & Make Finance Addictive  [00:20:57] Using Teasers & Cliffhangers  [00:23:05] What are the Building Blocks of an Engaging Presentation?  [00:27:35] How to use the PowerPoint Rehearsal Tool  [00:32:56] PowerPoint vs Google Slides  [00:35:55] Don’t Get Carried Away with Animations  [00:40:38] Automating Content Creation vs Manual Creativity  [00:48:37] How to use Notion  [00:52:13] Other Apps  [00:53:19] The App Souf Couldn’t Live Without  [00:54:07] Find Out More About Souf  📧: Sign up for The Tech for Finance Newsletter: https://www.techforfinance.com 📺: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@techforfinance

Former EY auditor turned CEO at Fresh FP&A, Chris Ortega, shares insights on chasing passion projects, leveraging technology in finance, aligning KPIs, the power of curiosity, and using ChatGPT. Topics include building a future-focused finance foundation, emotional dashboards, AI in various fields, and essential tools for finance professionals.

Nicolas Boucher, an FP&A veteran, shares expertise on variances analysis, quick analysis, reporting efficiency, business partnership, and optimizing Excel/PowerPoint. Topics include audits preparation tips, business intelligence benefits, technology misconceptions, and online training insights. Discusses music tools evolution and DJ experiences.

Episode - 008: - Where we learn, how Rob Partridge - Managing Director of Synergi Partner Finance - transformed his business by building a portal. What he'd do differently if he did it again. The limitations he's still seeing with open banking. How he's diversified his business by niching down, his favourite tech, and much much more.   Rob has over 20 years experience in the financial service space and now works with businesses of all shapes and sizes to spread large CAPEX projects into affordable monthly payments.   ​ Contents  ---   [00:00:49] The Background   [00:05:44] Financing a Tech Project   [00:14:24] Digital Transformation with a Portal   [00:23:33] Looking at the end result   [00:27:17] The future is integration and self-service   [00:31:45] Fighting Traditional Infrastructure “We want this now!”   ​[00:36:12] What would you do differently?   [00:38:28] What information is crucial to you as a business leader?   [00:42:12] Differentiation & Niching Down   [00:47:54] What is the one app or gadget you couldn’t live without?   [00:54:12] How to find Rob and how to save some Tax (UK Only) [Cut-off March 23]    Show Notes  ---   How to Find Rob   - Rob on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robpartridge/ - Synergi Finance - https://synergi-finance.co.uk  Tech Mentioned   - Docusign - https://www.docusign.co.uk - Creditsafe - https://www.creditsafe.com - Xero - https://www.xero.com - HubSpot - https://www.hubspot.com - SAP - https://www.sap.com - TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com - Headway - https://app.get-headway.com Other Useful Links   - Open banking - https://www.openbanking.org.uk/what-is-open-banking/ - KYC (Know your Customer) - https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/wealth-management/know-your-client-kyc/ - EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)  - https://www.ibm.com/topics/edi-electronic-data-interchange - Companies House (UK Business Database)  📧: Sign up for The Tech for Finance Newsletter: https://www.techforfinance.com 📺: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@techforfinance

In this episode, we speak with Howard Tunnicliffe who is Head of Finance for the Subscriptions division of the Economist, as well as being a coach and teacher under his own brand Financesoftskills.com Howard started his career as a finance and audit contractor for Dell, before moving on to become an analyst at Ernst & Young and then a Management Accountant at DTZ, formerly Cushman and Wakefield. More recently, Howard worked as the Finance Business Partner for Starbucks, before moving to the Economist in 2014 where he's been ever since. Howard is now a proud father, lover of good food, and passionate about helping finance professionals improve their soft skills and EQ. In this episode we cover: 00:01:23 - Driving up subscription revenue 20% 00:07:39 - The challenges of building a subscription business 00:12:56 - Recommendations for those starting in the subscriptions space 00:19:59 - Injecting some entertainment into your presentations 00:32:24 - Why you should ditch your productivity apps 00:40:07 - A new approach to prioritisation 00:46:48 - Courses to improve your soft skills 00:51:35 - Why you should have a personal brand And much much more.

Jon Cowley, Founder of Whatifi, discusses how his career in visual effects led to creating an intelligent forecasting tool for financial modeling. Topics include the power of visualization, new budgeting methods, and the future of modeling. The podcast also covers the importance of storytelling, engaging stakeholders, and the evolution of financial modeling into strategic leadership.

Paul Barnhurst, founder of the FP&A Guy, covers the evolution of FP&A, skills needed in finance, tech stack optimization, and using AI for forecasting. They discuss Canva's success and provide contact info for future discussions.

Tom Costa is Partner enablement manager for Sage Intacct and has worked with many big name software vendors, including Microsoft, Infor, SAP and Acumatica. He is an expert in software demonstration and assessment.