👇50% off all Financial Modeling Courses this week only.

Theory is great until someone sends you 17 blurry PDFs and says "hey what's our business worth?"

This is the wake-up call that happens in the real world.

Businesses still need cash to operate, and they need profit if they eventually want to sell, but 9 times out of 10 the underlying data is a mess, and the "finance team" isn't sophisticated enough to build a forecast.

That's where YOU come in, right?  Just jump in and "stand up the model."

It's easy enough to understand on paper, but when you open that blank spreadsheet, suddenly, you can just freeze up.

Having spent over 15 years in Private Equity & FP&A, I know exactly how that feels.

When it's just you, some incomplete data, and AI isn't helping at all, how do you move forward?

That's where I can help -- I teach you to build (and own) the financial models that run real companies -- completely from scratch.

(𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯, especially in an unstructured environment).

This is financial modeling in the real world.

🌐 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👉 https://www.financialmodelingeducation.com/ 


———

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁:

🏆 Trusted by over 91,000 students with 4.9/5.0 Star average rating

🏆 Over 100,000 followers on LinkedIn & other social media platforms

🏆 Recognized by Business Insider and Financial Modeling World Cup

🏆 Featured by Wharton Online, Wall Street Prep, & LinkedIn Learning


———

𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗺𝘀:

"𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤..."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵..."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"𝘈𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳..."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦..."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯..."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵..."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌐 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👉 https://www.financialmodelingeducation.com/

Chris Reilly

Private equity & FP&A veteran that teaches you to build the financial models that run real companies | 🎓 91,000+ students

This simple Gantt chart helped me navigate a bunch of due diligence in PE.  Grab a copy & modify as needed 👇

~~~
📥 Here's the template 👉 https://lnkd.in/eDJqaFfR 
~~~


𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀:

𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗿

Examine the initial pitch highlighting the company's value proposition.


𝟮. 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗡𝗗𝗔

Protect sensitive information with a Non-Disclosure Agreement.


𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝗜𝗠

Analyze the Confidential Information Memorandum for key business insights.


𝟰. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 & 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹

Create and maintain a financial model to assess the deal's viability.


𝟱. 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆

Determine the growth potential within the target industry.


𝟲. 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

Assess company culture compatibility for integration.


𝟳. 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝗜𝗢𝗜 / 𝗟𝗢𝗜

Express acquisition interest with an Indication of Interest or Letter of Intent.


𝟴. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀

Engage in discussions with the target company's leadership.


𝟵. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 (𝗤𝗼𝗳𝗘) 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀

Examine the consistency and quality of the company's earnings.


𝟭𝟬. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝘂𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

Validate the target's market position and competitive advantage.


𝟭𝟭. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴

Secure necessary funding to execute the acquisition.


𝟭𝟮. 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀

Evaluate potential risks in operations and technology.


𝟭𝟯. 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗘𝗦𝗚 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀

Consider the company's environmental, social, and governance performance.


𝟭𝟰. 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗥

Assess the competence and fit of the company's leadership and employees.


𝟭𝟱. 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲

Verify adherence to relevant laws and regulations.


𝟭𝟲. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝘂𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

Examine key relationships for potential risks and synergies.


𝟭𝟳. 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Plan for a smooth and efficient post-acquisition transition.


𝟭𝟴. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 & 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴

Finalize terms, financing, and overall deal structure.


𝟭𝟵. 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹

Complete the acquisition and begin the integration process.


💡𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘:

This won't cover everything, so 𝗮𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱.

You can see the "modeling portion" lasts throughout diligence.

I can teach you to build it here: https://bit.ly/FMECourses

Great to join Paul Barnhurst on Financial Modeler's Corner!  We talked AI, dynamic arrays, and the future of modeling.

A couple key takeaways:

🔹 Build at least ONE three-statement model from scratch before touching AI - you'll learn accounting, finance, and business understanding simultaneously.
 
🔹 AI in experienced hands is powerful - but those hands need fundamental knowledge to validate outputs and catch hallucinations.

Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gNrtTMvX

Which part of a three statement model trips you up the most?
Full quiz here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eccYpT-R

Which part of a three statement model trips you up the most?

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

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.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words and I do not want to type a thousand words today. 

Enjoy

Thanks to Tom Fishburne for creating such great comics.

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

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.

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

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

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

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