FP&A Today

Saaya Nath, a Partner at Jump Capital, brings her fintech expertise to the discussion, highlighting the vital role of AI in transforming CFO leadership. She shares insights on automating finance workflows and the common challenges finance teams face. Nath also delves into the evolving CFO Tech stack and how SMBs can leverage innovative tools for spend and cash flow management. The conversation touches on regulatory hurdles founders encounter and offers practical advice for low-risk AI implementation. Plus, get a glimpse of her favorite Excel function!

Christian Franz Hansen Christian, a seasoned management consultant and finance thought leader, has shaped finance roles at giants like General Motors and Lego. He discusses transforming finance from number crunching to strategic business partnering, emphasizing soft skills and stakeholder engagement. Christian shares insights from his work at Maersk, focusing on effective communication and prioritizing tasks for productivity. He also highlights the power of Excel's Power Query to optimize data management, offering practical strategies for today's finance professionals.

Tobias Zwingmann, an ex-Senior Data Scientist turned managing partner at RAPYD.AI, shares insights from his work empowering businesses with AI strategies. He discusses the transformative potential of generative AI in finance, emphasizing the importance of data literacy. Tobias delves into the latest enhancements in Microsoft’s Copilot and how FP&A professionals can leverage tools like Excel and Power BI. He also addresses common data preparation pitfalls and offers tips for achieving clean, actionable data in financial analysis.

George Mount, an Excel MVP and the founder of Stringfest Analytics, shares insights on leveling up from Excel to advanced analytics. He discusses the career benefits of his books on data analytics and how Excel is foundational for finance professionals. The conversation touches on using Python to enhance data science skills, the rise of citizen data scientists, and the synergy between Excel, AI, and low code tools. George also highlights the importance of data organization before diving into AI, making this a must-listen for anyone in finance.

Bruno Oliveira, recently promoted to CFO at Swissport, shares his extensive FP&A experience across various industries. He dives into the unique challenges of managing financial planning in aviation post-pandemic. Bruno discusses the critical collaboration between FP&A and data analytics, emphasizing the importance of effective communication. He also highlights the significance of safety metrics and shares insights on integrating AI technologies. The conversation wraps up with budgeting strategies and adapting skill sets for the future of finance.

Ravikumar Ramanan, former CFO of IBM India and author of 'The CFO Lens', shares transformative insights for finance professionals seeking to excel. He emphasizes the shift from traditional roles to a more hands-on, owner mindset that drives strategy execution. Ravikumar discusses the importance of storytelling in finance, balancing good and bad costs, and prioritizing sustainable growth over short-term gains. He offers valuable advice for success at any career stage and shares his favorite Excel functions to enhance financial analysis.

Don Tomoff, founder of Invenio Advisors and a finance expert with over 30 years of experience, dives into the impactful role of AI in financial planning. He highlights how AI can revolutionize efficiency, making it essential for modern finance professionals to adopt these technologies swiftly. Don discusses the democratization of data access and the importance of tailored AI prompts for task automation. He shares insights into transforming financial workflows and sheds light on the future of finance, where tech-savvy skills will be paramount.

Skip Katroll is Senior Director, Insights and Analytics at AmPhil. AmPhil helps big-name nonprofits raise more money and advance their missions. This episode is packed with practical and honest insights and takeaways you can apply to your day job. Skip gives the inside story on creating and selling a report at Amphil, "Unlocking the Secrets of Lost Sales Opportunities", and the approach that he followed. Skip also reveals how a background leading finance at top universities alongside math, economics (and a love of sci-fi) informs his FP&A. Prior to joining AmPhil, Skip was an associate vice provost at Liberty University responsible for the institution’s strategic planning and regulatory compliance.  In this episode:  My multidisciplinary journey (aka “confused youth”) - studying math, economics, educational leadership and religion  (and how it applies to my data insights)  FP&A business partnering at a University Finance team - navigating functions from the Dean of Arts to the Dean of Engineering  3 proven strategies for financial data and analysis getting management to informed decisions Countering “so what, and "why am I am here” approaches from business partners How to navigate ad hoc requests When you don’t have enough access to data  The power of benchmarking  Leading vs lagging indicators  Unlocking the Secrets of Lost Sales Opportunities - a big impact report and the challenges, impact and approach My favorite Excel function Connect and and ask questions to Skip over on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skipkastroll/ Further Reading: Skip Kastroll: Bridging the Gap: Translating Finance Insights for Effective Decision-Making

Laura Bloom started as as a contracts manager for an air cargo company. In a dramatic switch she moved to accounting, then finance and FP&A at top companies including Dotmatics, Salesforce Comcast, and is now senior finance manager at Icertis, a SaaS platform for AI-powered contract intelligence. In 2023 she founded Impact FP&A specializing in Go-To-Market (GTM) finance strategy for companies. In this episode she reveals the importance of flexibility in her career and joining the dots in your story: “For example, with contracts management, you wouldn’t think that would translate into finance and accounting. However, as part of that role I was working with sales to build the sales bids for new business. I was also working very closely with accounting to give them revenue expectations for commercial contracts and OPEX expenses for our commercial properties.” In this episode: My passion for bringing order from chaos in finance Examples from my FP&A including calculating the obsolescence reserve for almost a billion dollars worth of inventory on a biannual basis Building a new model and updating assumptions (transforming the process from 6 months to 60 days and releasing $5m back to the balance sheet) The importance of data minimalism Monte Carlo analysis giving you a wider range of possible outcomes  Tableau as a data visualization tool and digging into commissions Importance of flexibility in a finance and FP&A   Most important FP&A Skill?  The ladder of abstraction The most vital go-to-market finance metrics  Connect with Laura on LinkedIn or email her at contact@impactfpna.com

Former CFO Daniel Paik, turned founder and CEO of CuroWork is at war on back office functions. He vows to “transform back-office departments from cost centers to profit centers” with FP&A in their sights. He says: “I call the back office the last frontier. We are the only ones not measuring ourselves. Therefore we get crap given to us every single day." Here are some of the ways that Daniel Paik, a former CFO, fixed the “back office” mentality in finance teams. Salespeople at one company said that the hardest part of their job is the 4 hours of entering Excel sheets related to forecasts. After looking at the situation, Paik decided to hire a financial  analyst (at $80,000) to take away the pain for salespeople previously diverted away from the selling - bringing in $4m in extra revenue Paik discovered and stopped a recurring report that hasn’t been read by the client in three years - giving back up to 5 hours a week to finance for strategic tasks By analyzing  how a finance professional was performing next to her job description Paik found “she was 140% utilized just on her recurring work” (compared to ad hoc work or project work). “By reallocating a lot of our time to project work we can become a value center or a profit center.” In this episode: ERP SOS! How an  8 month ERP implementation turned into two years  Moving from individual finance contributor to manager: tips and tricks  What Peter Drucker actually said about measurement (and why it matters)  The unmeasured country of Back Office functions Managing finance buckets into recurring work, ad hoc work and projects How to balance a million finance projects The right metrics to measure the finance team Average worker only productive up to 4 hours a day and how to get the most of that time What is a business for?” The real power of a project The power of AI in the back office  Connect with Daniel Paik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielpaik/ CuroWork: https://www.curowork.com/