Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get ready to modelll! Broadcast on ESPN, watched by tens of thousands of people around the world, and featured across CNN,BBC, ITV, and The Atlantic, the Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) is the hottest esport on the planet. If you ever wanted to apply for the Excel Modeling World Cup against top stars, feature on ESPN, or wonder if you have what it takes, this is the must-listen to episode of the year.  Chief Operating Officer of the FMWC, Maksims Sičs reveals the inside story of how the “Excel World Cup” was started and the success story ever since. Maksims Sičs is himself an expert in Corporate Finance advising customers on financial planning and analysis at companies including AG Capital, and PNB Banka. In this episode Maksims reveals: How the Financial Modeling World cup started The success of the sport in creating a global Excel community How a little help from Microsoft helped FMWC get broadcast on ESPN  The glory: the prize fund for winning and being an Excel world champion stands at $30,000 jackpot and a trip to Las Vegas  The pain: how one competitor tried to do the final stage in VBA and his Excel crashed five minutes before the final How to enter the tournament for only  $20 ticket  How good do you need to be to enter the competition?  How a competitor called the Excel Wizard Bo Rydobon managed to complete cases in 2 minutes through dynamic arrays  Helping SME business with finance  in his (second) day job  Why FP&A provides “light in the darkness” for a business  Enter the Financial Modeling World Cup YouTube video of the episode Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn  Follow Datarails on LinkedIn

When FP&A Meets Treasury with Mike Richards “Spend 10 minutes a week on yourself. Nobody else is going to take charge of your career except for you. If you sit back, you are going to lose.” Mike Richards, CEO & Founder of The Treasury Recruitment Company, has helped professionals in the US, UK and Europe find dream treasury roles at companies such as Chanel, IKEA and Porsche for two decades.   Mike also hosts the popular podcast, The Treasury Career Corner Podcast which has seen  250 treasury guests and more than 120,000 downloads In this episode:  Modern treasury defined The best paths to collaboration between Treasury and FP&A  (aka grab a coffee ☕) Association of Finance Professionals' certifications for treasury and FP&A The guide to understanding treasury operations for aspiring CFOs.  Financial risk management, capital structure, cash management, banking, relationships, and decision-making for treasury  How to get a job in a job market that sucks Horrible finance job descriptions   Links  Upcoming speeches and conferences featuring Mike Richards - https://treasuryrecruitment.com/treasury-roadshow/ Including New York Cash Exchange, then EuroFinance – Barcelona & then AFP, San Diego Listeners can connect with Mike here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrtreasury/ Head to Treasury Corner podcast here - https://treasuryrecruitment.com/podcast/   YouTube video of the episode Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn  Follow Datarails on LinkedIn FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails. Datarails (www.datarails.com) is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models.

“You can throw me in any water. Stormy, cold, or hot and I’ll start swimming.”  And swimming is exactly what Jenny Fuss did.  Jenny Fuss, CFO of Boart Longyear, talks about the challenges of international experience, the importance of having a diverse set of skills in an FP&A team and  how to achieve storytelling and influencing in FP&A. Originally from a small town in Germany, Fuss wanted experience of working and living abroad. When the opportunity to move to become a CFO of a joint venture in China presented itself she took it before relocating again to continue her global career in Houston Texas, and expertise as a finance leader walking the shop floor in manufacturing companies.  This episode covers:  Jenny’s advice for an international-based career  The power of FP&A to provide game changing analysis when you have new customer, need to find a new way to contract or enter new markets What CFOs expect from a new breed of FP&A teams The challenge of doing less F and P (and more analysis) when facing high pressure cycles such as month end closes and budget planning Why she favors a three-year forecast from FP&A The #1 priority for a CFO in their first 90 days in a new role  Owning up to a million dollar mistake   Jenny’s favorite thing about Excel Her top  advice for someone starting out in FP&A Follow Jenny Fuss on LinkedIn YouTube video of the episode Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn  Follow Datarails on LinkedIn FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails. Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models.

Wassia Kamon built FP&A from the ground up at Intralot, a state lottery vendor behind the US Powerball lottery (as an insider she couldn’t play the lottery for nine years). And Wassia knows something about winning against the odds. She arrived in the US aged 17. As she points out “only 3% of people getting a CPA are black”. Wassia says: “Growing up in the Ivory Coast I was not a minority. Coming to the US I had to learn what it was to be a minority.” She started posting regularly on LinkedIn after “seeing that there’s nobody that looks like me that’s talking about finance. “I never had a black boss, I never reported to somebody that was black. So the fact that I’m in this role means that other people saw me for what I could bring to the table and hired me.” Her rapid rise has seen her become a finance executive with roles as VP of Finance at Boehringer Ingelheim From there, she moved on to more FP&A-focused roles at Boehringer Ingelheim, a global pharmaceutical company, as finance business partner for different business units, to VP of Finance at Low Income Investment Fund (the company manages $2billion of investments). She was recently recognized as an up the 40 under 40 honoree by CPA Practive Advisor. In this episode learn: Her approach to learning *on the go* in switching from accounting to FP&A  The value of “starting where you are”  How to make sure finance speaks the same language as the rest of the business Putting ongoing meetings ahead of an annual meeting when it comes to budget and other big ticket items Secrets to managing a team and getting the most out of colleagues Book recommendations to boost your FP&A career How being “overly confident” led to her biggest FP&A career blunder  Her favorite Excel function that changed her life forever  What’s better, chocolate or Cheetos? YouTube video of this episode  Full episode transcript Follow Wassia Kamon on LinkedIn  Follow Datarails on LinkedIn FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails. Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models. Get in touch at www.datarails.com For AFP FP&A Continuing Education credit please complete the course via the Earmark Ap, must pass the quiz with 80% accuracy and send the completed certificate to pbarnhust@thefpandaguy.com for issuance of 1 hour of credit toward your AFP FP&A Certification. 

Paul Barnhurst, experienced FP&A professional, reveals the highs and lows of his career. Highlights include delivering bonuses to the worst performers, meeting Jimmy Carter, FP&A forecasting for American Express, and his biggest tech accomplishment. He discusses his journey to FP&A, accounting vs FP&A, becoming an excellent business partner, and the challenges of leaving big corporations. He also talks about tech adoption in finance and using Google Sheets.

Danielle Stein Fairhurst, Excel MVP and author, discusses the importance of Excel in business, her journey from investment banking to financial modeling, and the challenges of teaching online. They also talk about budget consolidation, differences between competition and work assignment models, the longevity of Excel, and the importance of learning Excel for a career in FP&A.

Bjarte Bogsnes has worked with companies, from IKEA, H&M,Pernod Ricard, Volvo and Equinor (Scandinavia’s largest company). His approach, “Beyond Budgeting” involves wholesale rethinking about budget approaches. In today’s episode, Bogsnes rails against the “misery” and “borderline unethical behavior” in traditional budgeting within companies, as he talks about the seachange happening in businesses. He talks to Paul Barnhurst as he publishes his new book, This Is Beyond Budgeting: A Guide to More Adaptive and Human Organizations (2023).   The episode covers   Definition of beyond budgeting as an antidote to “serious problems with traditional management” How traditional budgeting gets “trust” and “predictability” wrong  Your answer to “Why are you budgeting?” shows the problems inherent in existing process How budget process are “borderline unethical” Equinor (Scandinavia’s case study) change  Making organizations more adaptive and human in the process of transformation Don’t start with rolling forecasting  How a Vinyl collection of 3,5000 is a unique musical passion  How Beyond Budget “will happen” in the next decade    Links    Bognes Advisory bogsnesadvisory.com   FT (case study of Ikea): CEOs forced to ditch decades of forecasting habits   Bjarte Bogsnes: This Is Beyond Budgeting: A Guide to More Adaptive and Human Organizations     Follow Bjarte Bogsnes on LinkedIn   YouTube video of the episode   Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn    Follow Datarails on LinkedIn   FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails.   Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models.

In this special FP&A Today episode, Paul is  joined by three Excel experts whom Microsoft has recognized as Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). Learn why it is important to up your Excel game and how you can do it. Below check out offers (saving $$$) from our MVPs exclusively for listeners of FP&A Today. Get all your questions about Excel answered by the expert panel: George Mount, Founder Stringfest Analytics Celia Alves, CEO, Solve and Excel Consulting Mark Proctor, Excel Off The Grid In this special episode: Our MVPs on when Excel first emerged as a difference-maker in their lives George Mount on the failure of finance to adapt to technology The challenge of finance teams descending to the lowest common Excel skill set The untapped power of PowerQuery and where to start The power of prepping your data properly Python vs Excel Automating Excel reports using Python How to deal with tricky Excel issues Will Excel go extinct with the rise of AI The thing that you absolutely could not live without in Excel Connect with George Mount Connect with Celia Alves Connect with Mark Proctor Special Offers Exclusively for FP&A Today listeners 1) George Mount Subscribe to George’s newsletter to get access to his data analytics resource library and many other goodies https://stringfestanalytics.com/subscribe/ 2) Mark Proctor https://exceloffthegrid.com/fpa is an exclusive offer for our training academy to the listeners of FP&A Today - 30-day full access trial for $1, followed by a $100 annual discount. This is valid until 31 May. Excel Off the Grid  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExcelOffTheGrid LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markstephenproctor/ 3) Celia Alves Celia offers an online course about automation of Excel Reporting procedures. Check out the special FP&A Today discount here https://snapreportschamp.com/course DISCOUNT CODE for 20% OFF: FPA20 (valid up to June 4, 2023). Subscribe to Celia’s newsletter https://snapreportschamp.com/subscribenewsletter Celia Alves - Solve & Excel - on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/CeliaAlvesSolveExcel YouTube video of today's episode Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn  Follow Datarails on LinkedIn FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails. Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models. Get in touch at www.datarails.com

Syed Nadeem is a top finance leader in Saudi Arabia. But the director of Budgeting at listed telecom company, Zain KSA, says he considers his previous failures as pivotal to his position today.  He says: “When I was young [and experiencing failure] I felt so disappointed I thought my world was going to end. Sometimes  you don't get a promotion and you see other peers getting a promotion. I struggled after getting my CMA (Certified Management Accountant). Sometimes you are not getting good increments, or you are about to hire someone and they reject you. But what I learned is this failure actually makes you strong for the future role.” Today, he shares his full breadth of experience-both good and bad and explains why he provides (free) mentorships to businesses on a daily basis and to his 15,000 followers on LinkedIn.   In this wide ranging interview Syed explains: Uncovering the power of FP&A in companies providing a “helicopter view of companies”. The role and limitations of certifications in FP&A How “selling”  is the core to getting a good job in finance  The power of technology in FP&A and “unlearning and relearning every day”     The secrets to effective communication with senior leadership How bad experiences make strong finance business leaders  The secret to talking to Investors in a Language they Understand    Links  Get a free one-to-one career session with Syed at https://calendly.com/syednadeem/connect   Read the full transcript and blog Follow Syed Nadeem on LinkedIn YouTube video Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn  Follow Datarails on LinkedIn   FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails.   Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models.   Get in touch at www.datarails.com

  Maura Feddersen, behavioral research manager at Swiss Re, is an economist who previously worked in the economics team of two of the Big Four Accountancy firms: PwC and KPMG.   She got switched on to behavioral economics as “I always felt there was something a bit missing in economics. [Economics] assumes that people act quite rationally…and that was just not the case. Behavioral economics brings together the economics, as well as insights from psychology, to try to assess how humans really make decisions”.   This  fascinating episode with Maura, uncovers the lessons that FP&A teams can learn from behavioral economics to improve forecasting and the power of “knowing what knowing what you don’t know.”   This episode includes      New research revealing that investors predictions are only slightly more accurate than a chimp How new forecasting methods improved accuracy at Swiss Re by 5% The cognitive biases we need to be aware of that undermine accuracy (such as the dangers of groupthink) Meryl Streep’s Oscar nominations and your forecast confidence levels tested  How to try and manage cognitive bias The true economic impact of uncertainty in the global economy and in your business  The opportunities and limits of AI forecasting  Using RIO (Rational Impartial Observers) The biggest failure in her career Favorite Excel function Her biggest advice for someone starting out to get really good at forecasting    Further reading    Actuaries magazine: So You Think You Can Underwrite [Maura Fedderson]    Insurers, take heed of these 3 common forecasting fallacies [by Maura Feddersen]    Recommended books   Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction Paperback - Philip Tetlock, Dan Gardner Nassim Taleb, The Black Swan, the Impact of the Highly Improbable    Annie Duke, How to decide   Adam Grant, Think Again, The Power of Knowing what you Don’t Know    Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment   Read the full transcript and blog Follow Maura Fedderson on LinkedIn YouTube video Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn   Follow Datarails on LinkedIn   FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails.   Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models.   Get in touch at www.datarails.com   For AFP FP&A Continuing Education credit please complete the course via the Earmark Ap, must pass the quiz with 80% accuracy and send the completed certificate to pbarnhust@thefpandaguy.com for issuance of 1 hour of credit toward your AFP FP&A Certification.