I teach Finance Teams how to use ChatGPT - Keynote speaker on AI for Finance & FP&A

For AI Finance Trainings and Workshops:

✉️ Contact me here: hello@nicolasboucher.online

About me:

Number one Finance Thought Leader specialized in AI, trained more than 10,000 people and on a mission to help more than 1 million finance professionals.

3 million people are receiving daily my insights on AI for Finance across all social media channels.

I teach finance people how to use AI.

You can also book me as a keynote speaker.


My previous roles:

🏭 Thales (Germany):
2022-23: Senior manager controlling role for the Transportation business (€500 million business)
2018-22: Part of the management and led the Finance and Controlling team of a production site (400 people) specialised in producing Traveling Waves Tubes for Satellites
2016-2018: Head of Finance Transformation

👨‍💻 PwC:
2014-2016: Audit Manager in PwC Luxembourg
2012-2014: Audit Manager in PwC Singapore
2009-2012: Auditor in PwC Luxembourg


My experience:

Living in 5 different countries across 3 different continents (France, USA, Luxembourg, Singapore and Germany) gave me the capacity to integrate myself quickly and understand different local and working cultures.

Worked 8 years for Thales, an engineering and industrial french multinational.
I had finance manager roles and was part of the management of a 400 people production site.

Prior to that, I worked 7 years as an auditor and consultant for PwC in Luxembourg and Singapore.


My private life:

I am married and a happy father of two young daughters. We both learn from each other and we enjoy reading french books together and play outside.
When I am not busy with my daughters, I am exercising, cooking and spending quality time with friends.
Finally, traveling and tasting new food are some of my favorite experiences. But if you ask me where is the most beautiful place and where can we find the best food in the world, I have only one response: my hometown, Brittany in France.


My Specialties:

-Finance & accounting
-Controlling, budgeting & forecasts
-FP&A
-ChatGPT
-AI
-Storytelling
-Cross-cultural management, coaching and training
-Cost reduction
-Management
-Analytics, Business Performance and Activity Dashboard
-Audit & controls
-Business Processes Modelling
-Financial Statements and Cash Flow
-Business Intelligence
-Fluent in French (native speaker), English & German

Hashtags:
#finance #controlling #accounting #management #cfo #cash #budgeting #forecasting #chatgpt

https://nicolasboucher.online

Nicolas Boucher

Free AI for Finance Course
+ Bonus - Sign up for my free AI training event: https://lnkd.in/d2f2_GTE

👇 Save 1000s of dollars

Bookmark this and follow the curriculum below
+ TONS of FREE RESOURCES at the end!

You want to learn AI for Finance?
I have built and curated a free finance course for you

15 free lessons to make you more knowledgeable than 90% of the finance professionals in using AI

🙏 Help me spread this free course: like, share and comment!

Leverage AI to boost your career
and become irreplaceable

1. AI for Finance Fundamentals Email Course - https://lnkd.in/gFbWBDQ9

2. Prompting & Data-prep - https://lnkd.in/gtz7Bd78 & https://lnkd.in/gC8MqVG7

3. AI Roadmap for Finance team - https://lnkd.in/gK7svud4

4. Generative AI for managers - https://lnkd.in/g_EAYwv8 

5. ChatGPT vs Copilot vs Gemini - https://lnkd.in/gd-8ysiv

6. Top 100 ChatGPT Tips - https://lnkd.in/gX2sekmf

7. Top 100 AI Finance Tools - https://lnkd.in/gvKvkbvA

8. ChatGPT for Finance - https://lnkd.in/grBz2tGv

9. ChatGPT Image Generation for finance - https://lnkd.in/g55D5PtP

10. 30 Ways ChatGPT Helps Finance - https://lnkd.in/gwJ5CKXx

11. 28 Ways to use ChatGPT in Finance - https://lnkd.in/gV8FV82e

12. 6 AI Use Cases for Finance (real ones) - https://lnkd.in/g4wbFW7Q

13. 3 Ways to automate your work with AI - https://lnkd.in/gwUqv83G

14. Save 1 hr per day with ChatGPT - https://lnkd.in/gGdsC-Vr

15. The fast close playbook - https://lnkd.in/gniqwtju

- - -

🎓 Free Masterclass - How to Become an AI CFO

If you want to go beyond theory and actually
• Automate reporting, forecasting, and analysis without writing code
• Cut days of manual finance work down to minutes
• Save 20–40+ hours per month with AI workflows
• Adopt AI securely and stay ahead of fast-changing tools

👉 Register for the masterclass here: https://lnkd.in/d2f2_GTE

🔁 Repost if becoming an AI-powered CFO is on your roadmap

I teach Finance Teams how to use AI - Keynote speaker on AI for Finance (Email me if you need help)

Finance teams think they're using Copilot. They're not.
👉 Here's what they're missing: https://lnkd.in/dmZErhae

They've got the license
They assume it just works

They open it once a week, maybe twice, and call it "transformation"
Only uses a fraction of what it can do and don't even know it

The meetings still drag
The Excel models still eat hours
The insights still land a day too late

Here's the thing nobody wants to admit: the tool isn't the problem. The knowledge gap is.

Most finance professionals are using Copilot the way they used Google, typing in a question and hoping for the best

They don't know the shortcuts
They don't know the workflows
They don't know what it can actually do inside the apps they're already living in

So I built something to fix that.

Top 100 Copilot tips designed for real finance work, not a vendor demo

This isn't theory.

These are the prompts and workflows that CFOs, FP&A teams, and controllers are quietly using to get ahead while everyone else is still doing things the slow way

Here's what's actually in it:
1. Meetings & communication
• Summarize meetings in seconds
• Extract decisions, actions, and owners
• Catch up on Teams chats instantly

2. Excel & data
• Sanity-check files before sharing
• Build Pivot Tables with plain English
• Explain formulas, clean data, find outliers

3. PowerPoint & Word
• Turn raw docs into exec-ready decks
• Rewrite slides for clarity and impact
• Create presentations from a simple prompt

4. FP&A & analysis
• Reconcile numbers across files
• Run scenarios faster
• Produce decision-ready summaries

5. Advanced Copilot workflows
• Research with sources
• Build Copilot agents
• Automate recurring finance tasks

(See the complete list in the cheatsheet)

And if you want to go deeper…

We’re also hosting a live webinar
How to become an AI CFO,
- Automate reporting and forecasting without writing code
- Cut days of manual work down to minutes
- Adopt AI securely while staying ahead of 2026's fast-changing tools

Where I will also talk about Copilot as one of the fast-changing tools
(You can join in the masterclass below after getting your Top 100 Copilot tips copy)

👉 Download the 100 Copilot Tips cheat sheet here: https://lnkd.in/dmZErhae

(Save your seat for the masterclass, after downloading the 100 Copilot cheatsheet)

💬 What’s the first Copilot task you want to automate? Do you want to join my Live masterclass?

🔁 Repost if this helps your finance team work faster

I just mass-released 2 Claude resources for Finance.
Comment "CLAUDE" and I'll send them to you for free.

Companies pay me $10,000+ for workshops where I teach AI for Finance.

I've seen finance teams spend weeks trying to figure out Claude on their own.
Watching tutorials. Testing random prompts. Getting mediocre results.

No one gave them a structured way to use Claude for real finance work.

That's what this bundle is:
The exact playbook and cheat sheet I wish every finance team had from day one.

Here's what's inside:

📘 Claude Finance Playbook

→ How to use Claude in Excel to build financial models faster
→ How to use Claude Voice Mode to work on finance from your phone
→ How to create an interactive scenario planner for faster decision-making
→ Security, compliance, and quality control standards for finance teams
→ Step-by-step prompts you can copy and use today

📋 100 Claude Tips (cheat sheet)

→ 25 Claude in Excel tips (formulas, variance analysis, scenario modeling)
→ 25 Claude Cowork tips (batch automation, research synthesis, file management)
→ 25 Dashboard tips (KPI scorecards, board-ready P&Ls, interactive dashboards)
→ 25 best practices (CSI+FBI prompting, extended thinking, web search)

Why Claude specifically?

Most finance teams I train are using ChatGPT or Copilot.

But Claude is quietly becoming the tool of choice for serious financial analysis:
→ Cell-level citations in Excel
→ Projects that keep your context clean per client
→ Cowork mode for long-running automation tasks
→ Extended thinking for complex scenario planning

I built these resources because I kept getting the same question:
"Nicolas, how do I actually get started with Claude for Finance?"

Now you have the answer.

Comment "CLAUDE" below and I'll send you both resources.

🔁 Repost if your finance team needs to see this!

10 SALES KPIs
👉 Download for free my full PDF collection of the top 100 KPIs: https://lnkd.in/dWcVU-Uv

Here are my top KPIs for managing sales performance effectively:

1/ Sales Growth

Description: Measures the increase or decrease in sales over a specific period of time

Formula: (Current Sales - Previous Sales) / Previous Sales × 100


2/ Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Description: Measures the cost of acquiring a new customer

Formula: Sales and Marketing Costs / Number of New Customers


3/ Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Description: Measures the expected revenue generated from a customer over their lifetime

Formula: Average Purchase Value × Number of Repeat Purchases × Average Customer Lifespan - CAC


4/ Sales Pipeline Coverage

Description: Measures the ratio between the value of potential sales in the pipeline and the sales target

Formula: Value of Sales Pipeline / Sales Target × 100


5/ Sales Conversion Rate

Description: Measures the percentage of leads or prospects that turn into paying customers

Formula: Number of Customers / Number of Leads × 100


6/ Average Order Value (AOV)

Description: Measures the average value of each order placed by a customer

Formula: Total Revenue / Number of Orders


7/ Customer retention rate

Description: Measures the percentage of existing customers who continue to purchase products or services over time

Formula: (Customers at the End of the Period - New Customers Acquired) / Number of Customers at the Start of the Period


8/ Net Sales

Description: Measures the total value of sales made, taking into account discounts, returns, and adjustments

Formula: Gross Sales - Returns - Discounts


9/ Sales per Employee

Description: Measures the amount of revenue generated per employee

Formula: Total Revenue / Number of Employees


10/ Sales Cycle Length

Description: Measures the average time it takes to close a deal from the initial contact with a lead

Formula: Number of Deals Closed/ Sum of the Time Taken to Close Each Deal​


Don't forget to get a copy of my Top 100 KPIs here: https://lnkd.in/dWcVU-Uv

👉 Which other KPIs would you add?

Top 100 Excel Tips
Download the PDF here: https://lnkd.in/g6fdfCBp

(Plus bonus AI in Finance masterclass, where I will teach you real AI in Finance use cases!
👉 Save your seat here: https://lnkd.in/dZEFWMzh)

The best Shortcuts, Formulas, Formatting & Advanced Tips

Bookmark this, and you'll save 1,000 hours!

If you think you know Excel well, I bet you will still learn something new in the Advanced table (items 76 to 100).

What do we cover?

A list of tips that all professionals need.

Here is a preview:

⌨️ Shortcuts

1. How to hide a column?
Ctrl + 0

2. How to hide a row?
Ctrl + 9

3. How to autosum adjacent cells?
Alt + =

4. How to start a new line in a cell?
Alt + Enter

5. How to insert a new worksheet?
Shift + F11

(get the answers 6-25 in the Cheat Sheet below)


🔢 Formulas

26. How to sum a range of cells?
=SUM(range)

27. How to find an average of numbers?
=AVERAGE(range)

28. How to find the maximum value in a range?
=MAX(range)

29. How to find the minimum value in a range?
=MIN(range)

30. How to link cells from different sheets?
='SheetName'!CellReference

(get the answers 31-50 in the Cheat Sheet below)


📊 Formatting

51. How to change cell color?
Home > Fill Color

52. How to apply bold text?
Home > Bold or Ctrl+B

53. How to insert a border around cells?
Home > Borders > All Borders

54. How to format a number as currency?
Home > Number Format > Currency

55. How to align text to the center of a cell?
Home > Alignment > Center

(get the answers 56-75 in the Cheat Sheet below)


⚡️ Advanced

76. How to remove duplicate rows?
Data > Remove Duplicates

77. How to create a data validation list?
Data > Data Validation > List

78. How to find outliers in a list?
Calculate the Z score of each cell =Z.TEST(array, x, [sigma])

79. How to look up data using INDEX and MATCH?
=INDEX(return_range, MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_range, 0))

80. How to create a named range?
Formulas > Name Manager > New Name

(get the answers 81-100 in the Cheat Sheet below)

Download here: https://lnkd.in/g6fdfCBp

- - -

🎓 Free Masterclass — How to Become an AI CFO

If you want to go beyond theory and actually
• Automate reporting, forecasting, and analysis without writing code
• Cut days of manual finance work down to minutes
• Save 20–40+ hours per month with AI workflows
• Adopt AI securely and stay ahead of fast-changing tools

This 1-hour-per-week framework is built for real finance teams

Tuesday, EST: 11am, UK: 4pm, CET: 5pm

👉 Register for the masterclass here: https://lnkd.in/dZEFWMzh

🔁 Repost if becoming an AI-powered CFO is on your roadmap

Crazy that almost nobody in finance is using Claude
👉 Download my PDF to be better than 99% of Claude users: https://lnkd.in/gsA7buv5

+ Bonus: AI in Finance masterclass, where I will teach you real AI in Finance use cases!
You will get the invite after downloading your PDF cheatsheet

I’ve trained over 10,000 finance pros
And a lot of them are missing a big opportunity not using Claude
So I’ve created for you a cheat sheet
So you can be better than 99% of Claude users starting now

Now you can even use Claude in Excel (I included my secret 25 tips)

And I decided to give you for free something that is worth hundreds of dollars

Most of Claude user that got the subscription
They open it, type a question, and expect magic

But they're missing 90% of what Claude can actually do for finance teams

The formulas it can write
The dashboards it can build
The reports it can generate
The workflows it can automate

So I built the definitive guide

100 Claude tips designed for real finance work

Here is a preview:

📊 Claude in Excel (Tips 1–25)

1. How to install Claude in Excel?
Install the add-in from Microsoft Marketplace (admin deploy via M365 Admin Center if needed)

2. How to get cell-level citations?
Ask "What does this cell/range do?" to get cell-level citations you can click to jump

3. How to create a formula from a description?
Ask "Build a formula that flags overdue invoices" → review → apply

(get tips 4-25 in the Cheat Sheet below)

📋 Dashboard (Tips 26–50)

26. How to set up your board structure?
Set your default dashboard structure (KPIs → drivers → risks → actions) in preferences

27. How to build an interactive dashboard?
Build an interactive dashboard (KPI cards + charts + filters) in an Artifact

28. How to create an executive dashboard?
Ask to "Create an executive dashboard summarizing all worksheets"

(get tips 29-50 in the Cheat Sheet below)

🖥️ Claude Cowork (Tips 51–75)

51. How to get started with Cowork?
Use Cowork inside the Claude Desktop app and switch to the Cowork "Tasks" tab

52. How to plan before executing?
Ask to "Show your plan and the exact files you'll touch, wait for my approval"

(get tips 53-75 in the Cheat Sheet below)

⚡ Tips & Best Practices (Tips 76–100)

76. How to pick the right model?
Use Opus for reasoning, Sonnet for speed/intelligence balance, Haiku for fastest iteration

77. How to structure prompts for finance?
Use the CSI+FBI framework: Context, Specific, Instruction + Format, Blueprint, Identity

(get tips 78-100 in the Cheat Sheet below)

👉 Register for the masterclass here after getting the Claude PDF: https://lnkd.in/gsA7buv5

💬 Which Claude feature surprised you the most? Drop it below

🔁 Repost to share this with your team

Really important note: while Claude is impressive within Excel and Cowork, if your company gives you a business license for Copilot and Gemini: start with these tools.
Do not use Claude with confidential data if you don’t have a business license.

The Finance Collection (how to get ahead of 90% in 2026)
👉 Comment "Finance Collection" and I will send it to you

Only the first 200 comments will get it for sure
Repost it to increase your chances of getting the collection

It includes my Top AI resources inside

This Finance collection can save you 100s of hours in 2026
And it is worth $1000+

Most people don’t need more finance theory
They need plug-and-play resources they can use today

So I bundled my best finance resources into one FREE pack:
Finance 101 Collection

Inside the collection, you will find:
#1 100 ChatGPT Tips (PDF)
#2 AI-Powered CFO (PDF)
#3 Month-End Checklist (Word)
#4 n8n Ultimate Cheatsheet (PDF)
#5 The Ultimate Finance Cheat Sheet (PDF)
#6 Top 100 Excel Tips (PDF)
#7 Break-Even Analysis Template (Excel)
#8 Budgeting Checklist (Word)
#9 Financial Statements Template (Excel)
#10 The 30 Day AI Finance Playbook (PDF)

I’ve seen CFOs and executives spend hours second-guessing numbers
they could’ve understood in 10 minutes with the right template

This is because no one gave them a simple starting point

That’s what this collection is:
The shortcuts I wish more people had earlier

👉 Comment "Finance Collection" if you want to receive the link to download this ebook.

♻️ Repost to help someone who’s tired of feeling behind on finance

CEO, CFO, or CFO?
Which one is more important?
👉 Join my next AI CFO masterclass now: https://lnkd.in/d7XXUNFZ

What are the differences in their roles?

Knowing what the management does is going to help you in your career.

Let's discover together what they do:

1. Their Main Leadership Roles
CEO leads the company
CFO manages finances
COO oversees the day-to-day operations.

2. On Strategic Vision
CEO drives strategy, growth, and innovation
CFO ensures stability and establishes discipline
COO implements the strategic initiatives

3. What Are Their Stakeholder Relations?
CEO represents the company to stakeholders and is the public face
CFO reports financials to the board and shareholders
COO liaises between different departments to ensure smooth execution

4. Their impact on Company's Values & Benchmarks
CEO sets corporate values
CFO sets financial benchmarks
COO ensures operational processes align with these values

5. Their Role in the Market Strategy
CEO drives global expansion
CFO optimizes existing markets
COO manages operational aspects of market penetration

6. What is their Client Focus?
CEO focuses on client acquisition
CFO focuses on client retention
COO enhances service delivery to facilitate both

7. Their Involvement with Risk Management
CEO sets the company's risk appetite,
CFO manages risk, and COO mitigates operational risks.

8. Their Relation to the Brand
CEO develops the brand
CFO tracks the performance
COO optimizes operational efficiency to uphold the brand promise

9. Their Role in Investments
CEO determines the investment strategy
CFO manages investment portfolios
COO allocates resources to meet strategic objectives.

10. Their Involvement in the Product Lifecycle
CEO drives product development
CFO monitors product profitability
COO coordinates product manufacturing and delivery

Here's how I build Excel models faster with Claude
👉 Register for my AI masterclass: https://lnkd.in/dt-EBfs7

Financial modeling is slow for 2 reasons
The math matters
And the tiny Excel mistakes add up

So I use Claude to speed up the build AND reduce the error rate
Without changing the way stakeholders want the output

3 ways I do it, depending on the situation

Method 1️⃣: Running Models Directly in Claude
Build the entire model within Claude’s code interface (Claude 3.5/4.5)

Best for fast, interactive model-building without manual coding

You can update churn rates or prices in the chat and see graphs update instantly

Prompt:
"I am the finance manager of a SaaS company.
I need to build a scenario planning for our sales for our products.
We have the personal plan at $49 per month with currently 1,500 subscribers and with a growth of 8% per month and a churn at 3%.
And enterprise: $99 per month with 400 subscribers and 5% growth with 2% churn.
Build this model for the next two years with formulas and dynamic assumptions and a graph."

Method 2️⃣: Python-Powered Excel Exports
This is the game-changer for offline work. Claude uses Python scripts to manufacture a polished .xlsx file from scratch

This isn't just a data dump; it’s a fully functional workbook with intact, dynamic formulas

Note: You must enable "Code execution and file creation" in your Claude settings

Prompt:
"I am the finance manager of a SaaS company. I need to build a scenario planning for our sales for our products. We have the personal plan at $49 per month with currently 1,500 subscribers and with a growth of 8% per month and a churn at 3%. And enterprise: $99 per month with 400 subscribers and 5% growth with 2% churn.
Build this model for the next two years with formulas and dynamic assumptions and a graph.
Build this in an Excel with formulas."

Method 3️⃣: The Claude for Excel Add-In
Anthropic's official sidebar plugin brings the AI assistant directly into your spreadsheet

Best for eliminating context switching. Claude acts as a co-pilot while you work

Pro Tip: It can read complex multi-tab workbooks and explain cell-level citations

Prompt:
"Build a 24-month financial model for the SaaS subscription plans described in this sheet."

If you want to go beyond and actually save 20–40+ hours per month
I am hosting a live session for real finance teams

- Automate reporting and forecasting without writing code
- Cut days of manual work down to minutes
- Adopt AI securely while staying ahead of 2026's fast-changing tools

👉 How to become an AI CFO Masterclass: https://lnkd.in/dt-EBfs7

🔁 Repost to help a finance peer who is tired of feeling behind on AI

Claude in Excel

You should not reconcile line by line in Excel.

I found a much faster (more accurate) way:

I've trained over 10,000 finance professionals on AI.

But still, month-end is taking too long.

• Variance commentary
• Journal corrections
• Flux analysis

12-hour days hoping you didn’t miss something before somebody asks.

So to help you get out of this painful cycle 

I’ve teamed up with Albert Malikov (Founder and CEO of Stacks)

Join us on Thursday 5th March for a free masterclass here - https://lnkd.in/dk-QJyP9

You will see:

The reconciliation hack
↳ that saves 2 hours / month

What happens when AI matches 95% of your transactions
↳ before you even open your laptop 

How to draft variance commentary
↳ in 5 minutes using AI

How to generate flux explanations
↳ for 20+ accounts in under 30 seconds

What auditors actually look for
↳ and how AI can help you get ahead of It

How to flag unusual journal entries in real time
↳ Instead of finding them three months later

📅 Thursday March 5th | 5PM CET | 60 minutes

I'll cover what you can do today with generic AI tools. Albert will show what happens when AI is plugged into your systems.

Reserve your seat here: https://lnkd.in/dk-QJyP9

Month-end shouldn't cost you your evenings, your holidays, or your happiness.

Look forward to seeing you there.

P.S - How long is your month-end right now?

Brand partnership • I teach Finance Teams how to use AI - Keynote speaker on AI for Finance (Email me if you need help)

I spent 3 days on board decks, now only 3 hours

Most finance leaders don’t lack presentation skills

They lack a board prep system

You don’t need better slides
You need a repeatable AI workflow

In this newsletter, I show you:

1) How to anticipate board questions before you enter the room
2) How to build a dashboard or deck in 10 minutes with AI
3) How to create a 5-minute post-meeting feedback loop

Board meetings aren’t stressful because of PowerPoint

They’re stressful because of unanswered questions

In partnership with Stacks, I’m breaking down how to close faster and walk into the boardroom fully prepared

👉 Register for the masterclass here:
https://lnkd.in/dxU27hjW

💬 Still spending days on board decks?

🔁 Repost if your team needs this

View newsletter: AI+Finance by Nicolas Boucher

Sponsored by Stacks If your month-end close still means late nights, manual reconciliations, and rewriting variance commentary - I have a special mast

Open article: I spent 3 days on board decks, now only 3 hours by Nicolas Boucher • 6 min read

I spent 3 days on board decks, now only 3 hours

I just finished preparing today's masterclass
5 hours tweaking slides and testing demos
Register for the masterclass here: https://lnkd.in/e8ut8seM

Why do I spend so much time preparing?

Because companies normally pay me $10,000 for this workshop
→ And today you'll get it free

Here is what I will teach you:

1. You don't need to be technical to build with AI
• I'll show you how to create dashboards faster than your BI team
• Live demo with a real framework our community uses

2. How to automate hours of work without new tools
• Data cleaning with AI in 2 minutes
• Excel AI Agent Mode in action
• Real use case: 1 full workday saved per month

3. Why every CFO role now requires AI skills
• AI mentions in CFO job listings are up 238% year-over-year (Datarails study on 6,000 job posts)
• What this means for your career and your salary

4. Your AI CFO Roadmap
• The 3 steps to implement AI for you and your team
• How to deal with data confidentiality

👉 Interested? Join us here: https://lnkd.in/e8ut8seM

No catch... just one limitation: seats are limited and we usually reach capacity fast

Why listen to me? I've trained 10,000+ finance pros and work with brands like Mercedes-Benz, KPMG, and Rakuten on AI in Finance

and I run the AI Finance Club, the #1 community for AI CFOs, which has 1,900+ CFOs, Fractional CFOs, and Finance pros!

👉 You can save your seat for the masterclass here: https://lnkd.in/drFcBhYe

See you in 2 hours!

Paul Barnhurst

Founder of The FP&A Guy | Providing training and content that helps FP&A and Finance Professionals be better at their job today and tomorrow.

I am a passionate teacher and creator of FP&A content. I enjoy helping FP&A professionals become more effective creators of value for their businesses. Today, I provide content and training on important subjects, including FP&A, Excel, Power Query, Data Visualization, Storytelling, and more. 

I host three popular podcasts, FP&A Tomorrow, Future Finance, and Financial Modeler’s Corner, which bring you the best and brightest people in finance and FP&A. 

I am a Microsoft MVP and have earned the AFP FP&A Certification and the FMI Advanced Financial Modeler Certification. 

I am a big advocate of FP&A planning tools and share research on FP&A software. I have also published several market guides to help buyers understand the landscape. 

☛ Feel free to contact me – Pbarnhurst@thefpandaguy.com

Podcast Host

Paul Barnhurst, The FPandA Guy

More Learning Resources Coming Soon

Something I have been really proud of is the fact that I have helped nearly 200 students through affiliate resources, educate themselves, and earn FP&A Certifications while getting a discount. 

On my website today, you will find links to the following programs:

➡️ AFP - Certified Corporate FP&A Professional
➡️ CFI - Financial Planning and Analysis Professional
➡️ Wharton Online - Financial Planning & Analysis Certificate Program
➡️ Financial Modeling Institute - Advanced Financial Modeler
➡️ FP&A Professionals Institute - Certification and discount on all courses

New stuff coming soon

➡️ AI Finance & Business Cert from Columbia
➡️ AI Finance Club
➡️ Copilot Course
➡️ CFO Tech certification from CFO Leadership Council
➡️ Financial Modeling Training from people such as Carolina Lago and Giles Male
➡️ Copilot training
➡️ Power BI and Power Platform Training

and I have my own new course dropping soon. 

I am excited to offer exclusive discounts on nearly 20 programs in the near future.  I continue to look for great programs to add, and the ones I have added, I either built part of the program, completed it, or I know the people responsible for it personally.  

I work to ensure every one of these is a quality program; I do not just add a program for the affiliate commission.  I also work to get you a discount with these programs.  If you know of a great training program I should add to my website DM me and let me know. 


In the meantime, here is my table comparing the most common FP&A Programs.

FP&A Guy Hot Takes

➡️ Finance is not nor ever will be a revenue center

➡️ ChatGPT will lose the enterprise market to other LLM tools and become primarily a consumer tool

➡️ FP&A will become the most common career path to becoming a CFO

➡️ Dashboards overrated, Data Storytelling underrated

➡️ Budgeting is overrated, planning and target setting is underrated

➡️ Excel is overrated and spreadsheets are underrated

➡️ Pies are only good for two things eating and playing Pac-Man

➡️ FP&A tool selection is overrated and implementation is underrated

➡️ Youtube is overrated, Podcasting is underrated

➡️ Excel formulas are overrated, modeling design principles underrated

➡️ Cafe Rio Sweet Pork is overrated and Crow Burger is underrated

➡️ Water with lots of ice is best

➡️ Jordan over Lebron

➡️ Clean-shaven is overrated and big beards are highly underrated

➡️ VBA is overrated and Power Query is underrated

Friday Humor

1. How do you describe an FP&A Professionals Job?

It is 80% cleaning data and 20% complaining about cleaning data

2. What is the difference between an FP&A Professional and an Accountant?

When an accountant gets creative they go to jail. When an FP&A Professional gets creative they get promoted. 

3. Not all CFOs use a MAC but all CFOs who go to jail used a MAC

4. What is the best place to store an Excel error message?

Column FU row 2 - FU2

5. What do Gold diggers and Cell References have in common?

If you want them to stay in place you need to throw money at them. 

6. Why was the spreadsheet constipated?

Because it could not BUDGET :)

7. What Does EBITDA really stand for?

Earnings Before It Tumbles Down Again

Earnings Before I Tricked the Dumb Auditor

Earnings Before Interest Therapy Depression and Anxiety

Earnings Before I Totally Deny Actual profits

Earnings Before Imaginary Things Disappear Again

Everyone Brags, Ignoring The Debt Altogether

8. What does Adjusted EBIDTA stand for? 

Earnings without any of the bad stuff

New job, a big, visible project, I was not sure how to solve. I turned to Power Query and the rest is history.

➡️ Within 4 years, I received 4 promotions

➡️ I fell in love with Excel for the first time and craved learning more, and today I am a Microsoft MVP

➡️ I impressed my boss countless times by, in the words of Oz du Soleil whooping up on crap data and providing value-added insights 

I owe a lot of my success today to that decision to learn Power Query. It was one of the best investments I ever made in my career. Still have my early books from Rob Collie and Ken Puls. 

If you do not know Power Query, stop waiting and get started learning today. 

Let me know in the comments what is holding you back? How can I help you on your journey? 

It is time to make Power Query one of the most utilized tools in Excel.

Most finance people hate their ERP.  

As my Future Finance Co-host often says, there are two things that will get you fired as a CFO

1. Fraud
2. Mentioning you want to replace your ERP

That is why it is so exciting to see what people such as John Glasgow are doing in this space.

John quit his job and built Campfire because he believed a better option existed.  

I have had the privilege of meeting John personally multiple times, interviewing him for my podcast, and attending Campfire's AI Summit. I can say I have come away impressed with him and what he has accomplished at Campfire every time. 

On a personal level, I am very grateful for Campfire as they have been the exclusive sponsor of FP&A Unlocked for the last six months.  Their sponsorship has allowed me to continue to bring the best and brightest guests in FP&A.  It has also allowed me to continue offering CPE credits for my accounting friends. 

That is why I am so excited to announce I will be hosting a webinar with John and Hank.

In this webinar, we will introduce you to what John and team have been building at Campfire, "Ember Agents." It is AI agents built for the modern accounting team, and they just released it in the last few days.

We will be discussing how Ember agents automates work for your teams, from flux analysis to accruals.  This webinar will include a live demo so you can see Ember Agents in action. 

Register today so you do not miss this exciting event. 

📅 Date: March 31st, 2026
⏱️ Time: 10 - 11 AM PST
🔗Register Here: https://lnkd.in/gZREc3zU


Sponsored by Campfire

After 40 years, Excel is not DEAD; in fact, it is getting a new intelligent layer that will help transform the future of finance.
 
An intelligent coworker is on every desktop. Microsoft Excel is leading the way in the era of AI. Brian Jones, Excel product team lead, shared his thoughts this week on Financial Modeler's Corner.
 
Anyone who tells you Excel is dead is not paying attention or a liar. Claude ChatGPT, Microsoft, and lots of startups are pumping hundreds of millions into building an intelligent layer for Excel.
 
That is why I wanted to bring Brian on and talk firsthand about Excel and Copilot. Below are some takeaways about how to use Copilot to get the most out of it in Excel.
 
➡ Use Copilot to Understand Workbooks You Inherit - Ask Copilot "What is this workbook about and how does it flow?" before diving into an unfamiliar model. It's like having a knowledgeable colleague walk you through someone else's work.
 
➡ Use AI for Tedious, Time-Consuming Tasks First
→ Broken formula references, reformatting, restructuring layouts,
→ adding documentation and comments
These are high-value, low-risk starting points. Let AI handle the grunt work so you can focus on analysis and judgment.
 
➡ Build a skill sheet. A dedicated worksheet inside your workbook that tells Copilot how you work. Tell it your layouts, formatting, formula preferences Tec. Great for teams with their own modeling standards. Think of it as an advanced template that guides the AI to work the way your team works.
 
➡ Model Choice Matters - Copilot in Excel lets you toggle between Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI models. Each has a different awareness of finance concepts and workflows. Test both for your specific use case Remeber outputs can differ meaningfully it takes time to get the most out of AI.
 
➡ Prompt Differently, Get Different Results - How you phrase a request significantly changes what you get. Experiment with different approaches to the same task. This is a new muscle finance professionals need to build.
 
➡ Keep retesting what failed. Unlike traditional software, Copilot improves continuously. Something that didn't work six weeks ago might work today.
 
Brian put it well: every spreadsheet is essentially an app. And for the first time, there's an intelligent coworker sitting beside you helping you build it, understand it, and improve it.
 
Excel isn't going anywhere. Learn it deeper, then let AI take you further.
 
Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/gsQkvFcH
 
 
🎓 Master the fundamentals so you can be better at AI​ and modeling earn your Advanced Financial Modeler accreditation from the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI) today at https://lnkd.in/gQV55MxS (Use code Podcast to save 15%)

Rey (Reinaldo) del Valle came up through the ranks of FP&A at Disney, MTV Networks, FedEx, Norwegian Cruise Lines. He then leveraged his FP&A experience to become a CFO and has worked on several major turnarounds and scale-ups during his career. He was even nominated for Los Angeles CFO of the year due to the amazing work he is doing.
 
Key highlights from the conversation:
 
→ Great FP&A transforms data into actionable insight. Always ask "what do we do with this information?"
→ Benchmarks matter more than people think (Rey saved $500K+ in audit fees by knowing what "normal" looked like)
→ You can't cost-cut your way to profitability in a turnaround—find the growth levers
→ Strategic messages need 7+ touches before they penetrate the organization → Active listening beats having all the answers (even as CFO)
 
Rey shared his FP&A as architects' framework. We work with leadership to understand their vision, then design the financial roadmap to get there. Accountants ensure structural integrity, but we're creating the blueprint.
 
Speaking of turnarounds, Rey stressed that nobody ever turned a business around by just cutting cost. While working at ABC Family, the business grew operating profit from $20M to $200M over 4 years. Not through aggressive cost-cutting, but through strategic collaboration efforts across the business to grow profitability.
 
Listen to the full episode to hear Rey's take on making the FP&A-to-CFO transition, why subtotal functions are his secret Excel weapon, and what he learned from managing through entertainment industry strikes.
 
Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gd42bApE
 
Campfire sponsors FP&A Unlocked. It is the AI-first ERP powering next-gen finance & accounting teams. General ledger, revenue automation, close management, and so much more—all on one unified platform.
 
What are you waiting for more learn more at:
https://lnkd.in/dKxnyDNV

In this episode of FP&A Unlocked, host Paul Barnhurst sits down with Rey (Reinaldo) del Valle to discuss what it really takes to move from reporting t

Open article: FP&A Career Path for Finance Professionals to Become Strategic CFOs with Rey Del Valle by Paul Barnhurst • 2 min read

FP&A Career Path for Finance Professionals to Become Strategic CFOs with Rey Del Valle

Exciting Announcements 🏀🏀🎓🛜

1. Market Resources - Several new training programs from trusted resources, including three focused on AI and finance, are on my website, all with exclusive FP&A Guy codes to give you even more value 

2. My website has had an overhaul with a new design and several new pages. Check it out at TheFPandAGuy. Let me know what you think, and thanks, Claude, for helping me it :) 

3. March Madness Brackets are here

🔵 FP&A Software Bracket - Vote for your favorite FP&A software and let us see if Runway can defend its title. This year, we have new upstarts, including

➡️ Claude for Excel
➡️ Copilot in Excel
➡️ ChatGPT for Excel
➡️ Una Software 
➡️ FinQore 
➡️ Pluvo 
➡️ and more

We also have traditional programs like

➡️ Workday Adaptive Planning 
➡️ Oracle 
➡️ Board 
➡️ Prophix 
➡️ and more poised for a deep run

If voting for your favorite software isn't your cup of tea, then fill out your March Madness bracket and prove you know basketball. Prizes for winners. 

Head on over to my website, fill out your bracket, and find a great learning resource. 

Go Cougars win it all!

AI tool consolidation will accelerate. 

This morning, I got an email saying Superhuman had acquired Rows.com. Superhuman was acquired by Grammarly last summer. 

The goal of these acquisitions is to create an AI-based productivity platform. 

Companies are racing to make the right AI acquisitions to create AI platforms. 

I expect to see more of this type of acquisition in finance and FP&A in 2026.

I think we will see companies focus more on platforms than on best-of-breed point solutions.

This has been HG Capital's investment thesis in the space. Look at who they have large ownership stakes in insightsoftware, Lucanet, Prophix, and OneStream. 

All these companies offer a platform of solutions, and all focus 100% on the office of the CFO. 

My prediction is that we are quickly heading toward tool consolidation, and it will be more of a platform consolidation than the same type of tool buying a similar product in the same space. 

I think for many AI ideas, the ship has sailed, and it will be a difficult road for many new players. The AI finance market is fragmented, and I believe consolidation is on the horizon. 

I talk to multiple companies weekly and stay close to the space. If you are interested in some of the research I have put together feel free to reach out.  I will share an update soon on some of the new tools I have seen.

Open article: Rows — The AI Analyst Platform by rows.com

Over 5,000 CPE hours earned from FP&A Unlocked 🥳 🎆 🪅 

I am proud to offer CPE credit. I have done that since the beginning as a service to others. I did it with FP&A Today, early on with Financial Modeler's Corner, and today with FP&A Unlocked. 

I am the only podcast I am aware of that offers both.

➡️ CPE credit for accountants
➡️ Continuing education credit for people who have the FPAC

I wanted to share a few stats I am proud of related to my podcast and CPE hours earned:

1. 103 Episodes all with CPE credit available
2. 5,233 CPE hours earned to date
3. Over 50 hours earned per episode
4. 142 hours earned from the highest episode
5. 4.9 average ratings for episodes on Earmark
6. 725 people have rated episodes

I am incredibly proud that, in addition to offering a valuable educational experience, I can help people earn CPE and FPAC credit. In the near future, my courses will also be eligible for FPAC credit. 

Huge thanks to Earmark and Blake Oliver for creating such an amazing platform that allows me to offer this service.

The life of a LinkedIn content creator as told through his DMs. These are all real message summaries some with a little sarcasm most without 


➡️ Dear Steven

➡️ Dear Amanda

➡️ Can you find my husband a job?

➡️ Will you do my homework I do not understand it

➡️ We have a family fund that wants to invest in The FP&A Guy Vertical 

➡️ Will you collaborate with me and sell my product even though you know nothing about my product or me 

➡️ Can I promote your podcast I will get you millions of views 

➡️ Will you hire me to do FP&A

➡️ Do you need random software designed for a company with lots of employees?

➡️ You seem nice can we chat offline always with an American name, a pretty photo and a fake job

What is your story?

Seeing an expert share an "AI Prompt Pack" for the 10th time on LinkedIn today then close LinkedIn and consult an expert. Prompts are one small part of optimizing what you get from AI.  

#STOPTHEMADNESS

A watershed moment for modeling with AI in Excel has arrived!
 
This week on the ModSquad, Ian Schnoor, CFA, CFM, Giles Male, and I tested the new Claude Excel add-in.
 
This week we tested Claude on:
 
→ A deferred revenue schedule
→ The AFM FMI Henderson Case Build
→ A CFM FMI Debt Build
 
For the Deferred Revenue Schedule the build was a 9 out of 10 and included documentation better than what 95% of modelers would have provided. There were still some small issues like formatting, documentation layout, and using different functions each time but the results were impressive.
 
Ian had Claude build a full 3-statement model from an AFM case study in 15 minutes, and a complex quarterly debt sculpting model from a CFM case in 10 minutes.
 
For both cases, the results were amazing. Balance sheets, balancing, debt schedules, accurate, correct IRR, etc. There were still minor issues emphasizing the need to know what you are doing to find them, but output was light years ahead of where it was six months ago.
 
Here is where I landed after this episode:
 
→ The mechanical build is being solved — start using AI for it when it makes sense and saves you time
 
→ You still need to know your craft:
 
1. Because catching the subtle errors is more important than ever
2. Because AI often uses more complex formulas and functions then we would use
3. Because your boss expects you to validate the model and understand the assumptions deeply
4. There are times it makes sense to build on your own, just because AI is better, does not mean it is always the solution.
 
→ Don't outsource your judgment. Augment it.
 
→ Documentation and scoping are high-value, low-risk places to start today
 
We've come a long way from our early episodes, where we debated whether to even show the output or not, it was so bad.
 
🎙️ Watch the full episode:
https://lnkd.in/g9mUHSyK

"I didn't understand a single word. We're not doing any of it."
 
This was said by a CEO to Jeff Greenfield after they both witnessed a marketing expert give a presentation.
 
It is a reminder that if people do not understand what you are doing, it does not matter how good it is. This week, Jeff shares advice on marketing attribution, how people need to understand the attribution model, and how marketing and finance can work better together.
 
Key Takeaways:
 
→ Don't rely solely on Google Analytics. It's built to measure Google channels, which means it consistently undervalues upper-funnel channels like social, CTV, podcasts, and display. Finance should understand this structural bias before accepting marketing's numbers at face value.
 
→ Expand your marketing data model beyond clicks. Add an impressions column alongside clicks and sales in your tracking sheet. Graph all three over time and look for lagged correlations. For example, clicks today often result from impressions from days or weeks ago.
 
→ Separate base sales (what you'd get with zero advertising) from incremental sales (what advertising actually drove). A platform like Google may "take credit" for organic or word-of-mouth sales. FP&A should push marketing to isolate true incremental impact.
 
→ Finance and marketing need to agree upfront on how success will be measured before a budget is submitted. When the CFO and CMO are using different models and definitions, budget meetings become adversarial rather than strategic.
 
→ Use regression-based models (e.g., Facebook's open-source Robyn tool) to evaluate marketing spend. These aren't perfect, but they put marketing on the same methodological footing as finance.
 
→ Finance has the fiduciary responsibility for marketing spend. If marketing can't produce rigorous models, FP&A should run their own. Some organisations even place analytics directly under the CFO for this reason.
 
🎙️ Catch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gFziK2u8
 
FP&A Unlocked is sponsored by Campfire.

Campfire is the AI-first ERP that powers next-gen finance and accounting teams. With integrated solutions for the general ledger, revenue automation, close management, and more, all in one unified platform.
 
Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dKxnyDNV

In this episode of FP&A Unlocked, host Paul Barnhurst is joined by Jeff Greenfield , an entrepreneur, advisor, and founder of Provalytics, a leading a

Open article: The Marketing Attribution Strategy for FP&A Teams to Take Control of Marketing ROI with Jeff Greenfield
 by Paul Barnhurst • 2 min read

The Marketing Attribution Strategy for FP&A Teams to Take Control of Marketing ROI with Jeff Greenfield

AI is a magnifier

Before you run off and master AI make sure you know the fundamentals well so AI magnifies you in the right way. 

If you want an FP&A Certification to help with mastering th fundamentals. Check out my website I have reviews and discount codes for all the major programs.

Open article: Compare Top FP&A Certifications: AFP, CFI, Wharton & More — The FP&A Guy by thefpandaguy.com

Compare Top FP&A Certifications: AFP, CFI, Wharton & More — The FP&A Guy

Are you doing exciting things with AI?

If so, DM me and let us chat. I am looking for guests who can walk through how they are using AI on the job.  I am not looking for software vendors who have a solution or people testing something in pilot mode.  I am looking for practitioners who have used AI in their day-to-day job to help automate workflows or who have built agents. 

If that is use please reach out and let us chat.

Move byeond reporting by using the 1:3:1 rule

Businesses want FP&A professionals who can tell the business what to do with data, not just deliver analysis and reports.  

I recently interviewed a recruiting professional who mentioned that one of the most common requests is to find candidates who can tell the business what to do with the data, rather than just throwing it at them and letting them figure it out. 

This is where the 1:3:1 rule comes into play.  When conducting an analysis and delivering your results, use this rule to help guide

1 - Focus on one problem/or one question you are trying to answer
3 - Come up with 3 potential solutions to the problem
1 - Provide your recommended path forward

If you want to move from reporting to delivering information that gets used, make sure you include Calls To Action and recommendations in your deliverables.  Leadership is looking for your opinion, not just a summary of the data. 

Join me next Thursday for a webinar where I will talke more about the 1:3:1 rule and data in general:

Turning Data into Decisions: FP&A's  Guide to High-Impact Analysis  

We will cover:

✅ How to turn analysis into insights with actual calls to action 
✅ How to structure your work around what leadership is really asking 
✅ What separates a real analysis from just another report

Sponsored by insightsoftware

🗓️ Date: March 26th, 2026
🕰️ Time: 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM
👉 Link to Register: https://lnkd.in/gVKBj2fE

Fama-French anyone?
 
 
Can't say I expected a deep discussion on Fama-French, felt like I was back in my finance class in grad school.
 
But that's what happens when your guest has been doing this for 20 years, and the random number generator picks question 17 ﻿
﻿
 
John Thomas Foxworthy M.S. Data Science joined us on Future Finance this week, and I learned a lot from him.
 
He has spent the last two decades watching people overcomplicate AI. His solution!? Ask better questions.
 
Key Takeaways:
 
→ The #1 reason AI projects fail isn't the technology; it's because no one asked the right questions before deploying it.
 
→ Before any AI initiative: run a feasibility study. Assess your data maturity. Know your org's readiness. Let the problem define the solution, not the other way around.
 
→ There are really only three things AI does: describes what happened, predicts what will happen, and recommends what should happen. Everything else is marketing.
 
→ "All models are wrong, but some are useful." If you can't sit with uncertainty and probability, AI will frustrate you. The shift from deterministic to probabilistic thinking is the hardest and most important shift.
 
→ For planning specifically: AI can help you find the scenarios you haven't thought of yet. That's where the real planning value lives.
 
John also shared the Sephora story about how they spent two full years collecting data before deploying a single model, and then tripled revenue in three years.
 
Patience + Process = Results.
 
His book, The Augmented Intelligence Revolution, drops later this year.
 
🎧 Full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gRB7UDzr
 
🎓 Check out our sponsor QFlow.ai at https://lnkd.in/gWYnU9uz GTM Finance CoPilot

Happy to share that I'll be speaking at Turning Data Into Decisions: FP&A's Guide to High-Impact Analysis! Make sure to attend it on March 26.

FP&A teams have more data than ever. So why is leadership still asking "now what?"

The gap between data and decisions is a real business problem, and Paul Barnhurst is breaking it down live on March 26th.

He'll cover: 
✅ How to turn analysis into insights with actual calls to action 
✅ How to structure your work around what leadership is really asking 
✅ What separates a real analysis from just another report

👇 Register now and start the shift from reporting data to driving decisions.

#FPandA #FinancialPlanning #SAPData #insightsoftware #LinkedInLive

Turning Data Into Decisions: FP&A's Guide to High-Impact Analysis

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