SouFBP

I can help Finance Teams  train their storytelling and presentation skills

Thanks to a wisely crafted training program, your FP&A team can learn how to
- prepare their message: get the main insight from their analysis
- prepare the story: use a framework to deliver a clear and convincing story
- prepare their visuals: learn design techniques and tools to build clean slides and graphs
- prepare themselves: master the delivery of a presentation and switch to discussion facilitator when needed

Founder

Proximus

Responsible of Strategic Finance for the Consumer Business Unit, I helped
- building our 5 years strategic plan
- designing key objectives in our priorities: Fiber, 5G, market share
- working on innovative projects (eHealth, eEducation,...)

All that with transversal teams composed of Finance, Marketing, Sales and Strategic advisors

Finance Manager Strategic Projects CBU

	Budgeting and Forecasting (Short to Long Term): new modelization including business assumptions
	Monthly Reporting and Variance Analysis vs Budget/Forecast/Last Year
	Assistance and review of Business Cases (New product Launch, Investments,…)
	Business Strategic KPI’s Settings and Follow up 
	Development of Automatic and Comprehensive Reports (usable for all Stakeholders)

Finance Business Partner EBU Mobile at Proximus

Deloitte Belgium

Manager

Leisure and Travel Industry (Zwijnaarde): Business Controller
Plastics Manufacturing (Kontich): Cost Controller
Leisure and Hotels (Brussels): Financial Controller
Gas (Vilvoorde): Financial Professional
Manufacturing (Aalst): Treasury Officer
Consultancy (Diegem): Treasury Responsible

Experienced Senior

Groupe Vlan

•	Follow-up of general costs and production costs (printing, paper, set up and distribution)
•	Follow-up of commissions charged and turnover granted by national advertising distributor
•	Monthly analysis of reportings per product (titles)
•	Follow-up of legal updates (Accounting Law, Corporate Law, Taxes,…)
•	Participation to yearly budgets 
•	Setting up of Closing Procedures
•	One-off requests (Business Object queries, financial calculations,…)

Financial Controller

PricewaterhouseCoopers

•	Industry department: Main Clients: Sodexo Pass Belgium, Bosch, European Air Transport (DHL), Pharma Belgium,…
•	Organisation of audit engagements as in-charge and coach of junior members
•	Specialised in revenue recognition of services companies
•	Assignments both in French and in Dutch

Senior Auditor

I train Finance Teams at Soft Skills | Corporate Training Facilitator | Course Instructor | Keynote Speaker

𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀

As the leader of The Finance Circle, I am passionate about transforming the role of finance professionals into strategic business partners. 

With over a decade of experience in corporate finance, I specialize in bridging the gap between technical expertise and essential soft skills. 

My mission is to empower finance teams with advanced financial modeling, FP&A tools, and statistical forecasting techniques, while also emphasizing business acumen, communication, storytelling, and leadership.

At The Finance Circle, we offer tailored training programs that cater to both large teams and individuals. 

Our initiatives, including the Financial Storytelling Program, are designed to enhance your team's ability to influence and drive business success. 

Our approach has been trusted by leading organizations, and we continue to make a significant impact through workshops, speeches, and personalized coaching sessions.


Key Trainings:

- Financial Storytelling Program / The Finance Stage: Learn Storytelling for Finance
- The Finance Copilot: Make your Finance Team a real Business Partner
- The Finance Window: Finance for Non-Finance Teams
- Slides and Visuals Design: Learn how to use Excel and PowerPoint to build your slides

Soufyan Hamid

A great slide does 3 things:
1️⃣ It’s quick to read
2️⃣ It’s easy to trust
3️⃣ And it stays in your mind

But when I look at the first draft of the finance teams who follow my program, most miss all 3

Too many look like dashboards: typical information overload to make sure we don't miss anything

The result is that it IS exhausting for most people

But did you know that part of this is not even due to the quantity of information that is shared?

Design matters in slides as much as the way you prepare your meal on a plate

So, no matter how good your insights are, if you want to get the attention of your audience, here's how:

✅ Consistency
Keep the same layouts, fonts, and titles
Your audience shouldn’t have to solve a puzzle at every slide

✅ Balance
Distribute text, visuals, and white space evenly
A slide has a center, so start from it

✅ Contrast
Guide the eye
Use color, bold text, or shape to highlight what matters

✅ White space
The human eyes need space to digest
If everything is important, nothing is important

✅ Pattern
Follow a simple layout logic
It helps people navigate faster and remember more

✅ Hierarchy
Start with the message
Then show the data that proves it

✅ Simplicity
It's not only a question of style, but of acceptance
If it takes 30 seconds to understand, it’s too slow

✅ Alignment
Even one misaligned box changes perception
And trust me, perception is everything

✅ Variety
Choose visuals that serve your point
Sometimes a simple table has more effect than a chart

Remember: your slide isn’t there to contain everything you know

This part is the backend

But making sure the message is heard, understood and acted upon is the ultimate goal

If you had to choose, which of these principles is the one you struggle the most with?

I trained 1.235 Finance Pros in Storytelling | EMBA Lecturer | Keynote Speaker

Every week in my training, we do the same exercise: actuals < budget

And 80% of the room says, “The budget is wrong” or “Finance made a mistake”

I know, I speak of my “Finance for Non-Finance” training and we cannot expect everyone to be fair to our work, but there is a thing to learn here

Budgets and forecasts are tools to discuss drivers that haven’t happened yet

When there’s a variance, our assumptions are to be checked

Which one slipped?
- Volume we expected but didn’t convert
- Price we thought we could hold
- Mix that shifted
- Timing that moved
- Capacity or productivity that never showed up

Assumptions must be co-owned

Sales, product, ops, finance ... we build them together.

And yes, they’re often stretched. That’s fine

But once they’re in the system, we accept them as the basis for execution

If reality disagrees, we don’t blame “the budget.” We revisit the thinking, update the driver, and learn

Next time you see a gap, ask:
- Which assumption broke?
- What changed in the market or in behavior?
- Who owns the driver?
- What are we changing now?

Don’t shoot the forecast
Fix the assumptions

That’s how finance becomes a partner in decisions

Most people expect answers from FP&A

What if leadership was more about the questions

If you want Monday to feel different, cross the gap:

•  Shape the question before it’s asked. Don’t wait for a request and frame the discussion
• Model to support a decision (so think of it first)
• Explain variance by what happens next
• Design every slide to play with consequences
• Set the agenda early and bring scenarios
• Create ownership in others
• Get alignment in advance
• Challenge the business model
• Be the thought partner they call first
• Earn your seat in strategic conversations by being relevant

The truth is simple: technical skill is the base

What moves you forward is mixing business with finance, helping the company choose, and challenging the status quo

Useful > Accurate

Read this today but what I want from you on Monday: 

Pick one shift, one meeting, one decision

...and work on it 

Because your career depends more on the steps you take than on the choices that are made for you

Love him or hate him, Steve Jobs had an edge in presentations

So let’s learn what we can from him and apply it to finance:

But before doing it, it's important to know that I am not asking anyone to become a TED talker or an inspirational leader

Our business updates have a different goal: help leaders grasp what changed, why it matters, and what we do next

So here is how I translate six of his core presentation rules to FP&A work:

1️⃣ Clarity beats complexity

Ask yourself: can a non-finance leader grasp my point in 10 seconds? If not, strip the slide to the essentials and name the decision it supports.

2️⃣ Numbers inform but stories transform

Turn “Q3 margin down by 8%” into a short storyline: pricing lag, mix shift, energy spike, and the fix we control next quarter. 

Use the 3 What: what happened, why it matters, what we do next.

3️⃣ Your voice is the real slide

Slides do not drive change. People do. Rehearse tone and pacing so your presentation leads to engagement....and discussions

4️⃣ Less text -> More impact

One idea per slide. One message per chart. If they read more than they listen, you have already lost them.

5️⃣ Rehearse like a partner

Your goal by rehearsing won't be to know everything by heart. 
Instead, know your structure, detect when something goes wrong, anticipate the CEO’s first question. 
But more importantly, refine transitions, so you won't have to say "on the next slide, ...

6️⃣ Command the room, even virtually

Own the narrative with purposeful pauses, direct headlines, and clear next steps.

A simple checklist I use with teams:
• Headline first, chart second
• One decision per slide
• Driver table before variance waterfall
• “What we’ll change” on the final page
• Rehearse answers to the five hardest questions you expect

Yes, I know, many of his craft weren't directly applicable to Finance

But the outcomes are transferable and learnable, and they work in finance

Let’s make our updates shorter, sharper, and more useful to the business

 Steve Jobs’ 6 Rules of Presentations — Applied in FP&A

Control is an illusion in Finance

Focus where it actually counts 🎯

There are tons of things you can't change as a CFO 
- Market changes (who could have guessed today)
- Political decisions (we know about that in 2025)
- The mood of a board member (I hope you can't)

Of course, that doesn't mean you have to see things coming

I plan for it, then I put my energy here:
• How I simplify complex stuff
• My confidence and consistency
• The tools I choose to make ideas land
• The link to purpose, priorities, and next steps
• The story that is tailored to who you have in front
• Human insight leaders can act on (with info they get)
• My integrity in presenting facts and context (no cheating)
• My understanding of what the audience actually cares about

This is the work

Even if you predict, you can't control all reactions

Building a story that travels well enough to survive them

Whatever it is: month-end, QBRs or Earnings prep

Discipline and integrity are what you control

Let the uncontrollables be uncontrollable

What are you putting in your circle of control this week?

You open Excel

There are hundreds of chart options

And somehow… none of them look right

We’ve all been there: you try one, then another, then tweak the colors…

...and twenty minutes later, you still have a chart that no one understands

I know it hurts, but you need to hear this:

You don't need 100 charts in Finance
You only need 7

7 charts that, when used and designed properly, can explain 95% of what we do in FP&A

And the problem is that most people don’t use them right

They let Excel decide the colors, keep the gridlines, and end up with visuals that confuse instead of clarify

In my new video, I’ll show you:
👉 The 7 charts every finance professional should master
👉 When to use each one (and when not to)
👉 And how to design them beautifully in Excel

🎥 Watch it here → https://lnkd.in/edyBbmqZ

Because charts are like jokes

If you need to explain them, they're probably not so good

Story first then charts

But most experts will give "exploratory" tips

While I want you to also think "design"

Because most “default” Excel charts are...

...how can I put this delicately: UGLY

They mix weird colors
They hide the message
They feel designs from the 90s

The problem is that it costs attention, credibility and time

But no, I won't tell you that you need a new tool for that

You just need a better way to use the one we all open every day

Here’s the bar I set when I build finance charts in Excel:
• Use the company palette so people recognize the story as ours
• Remove decoration that doesn’t inform: borders, gridlines, clutter
• Put the message on the chart, an idea, a headline
• One idea per visual

A few small moves change everything:

📈 Line charts
• Smooth the line (it's more pleasant)
• Adjust the y-axis bounds if it helps the point land clearly

📊 Bar charts
• Set gap width to roughly three quarters so the bars breathe and read fast.
• Add data labels and simplify the axis so the eye doesn’t work twice.

🥧 Pie charts
• Keep it simple, use “inside” labels, and let the colors carry the logic
• Don't listen to the haters: they're great too

🫗Waterfalls
• Build them clean so drivers read in order and the labels come from your story
• Avoid the famous "connectors" 😣

Most finance teams still live in Excel and that’s fine

What matters is how intentional you are with the design

🎥 Yesterday I published a new video where I walk through, step by step, the best practices for seven charts every finance team needs

Go have a look, then share it with someone who needs help

 Steps to Creating the Perfect Finance Chart

I still remember the day my CFO said I sucked at presenting

Not exactly formulated like that but I took it personally

Not because he was wrong...
...but because he was right

My slides were good (and so was the design) 

And the analysis behind was impeccable 

But there was no story, no structure, no point

Which made it so that no one understood and remembered it

That day, I decided to prove him wrong

I studied how people listen

I learned how to build tension, simplify insights, and land a message that sticks

I practiced. A lot.

Until one day, people stopped seeing me as “the finance guy with slides”

They started asking me to teach what I was doing differently

That moment changed everything

Today, I help finance teams across Singapore, the US, Europe, and Africa tell stories that move business forward

And I speak in front of hundreds of finance professionals who share the same challenge I once had

And the same determination to overcome it

Because here’s what I’ve learned along the way:
- Being susceptible is not a weakness. It can be your fuel
- There’s nothing in the world that can’t be trained
- Sometimes, one harsh comment is all it takes to start your whole journey

You just need to listen, and decide what you’ll do with it

The best strategy is one your team can actually execute

It’s easy to hear that and think:

“So… let’s aim low”

But that’s not what I mean with that

There is a difference between "easy" and "achievable"

Looking for "achievable" is what I recommend because I know that, little by little, the results are more sustainable and move people in the same direction

The proof is that I’ve seen it often when discussing budgets with teams

When a target is difficult, people sigh, maybe whisper a bit… but they get to work

When it’s impossible, that spark disappears

Because people we work with can tell the difference between hard and hopeless

I'm certainly not the one who will allow sandbagging (my ex-colleagues will confirm that) in a budget/forecast process

But if you have to choose, go for the high but realistic path

One that searches for your team's performance without breaking them

Ambition is giving people the belief (and the means) to make progress

If people don't understand Finance, it's our fault

Because they DO want to understand

But the problem is that we limit the education to 
- T-shaped balance sheet (they never see that)
- Debits and credits (they never book anything)
- Examples of a grocery store (they work in big corporates)

Somehow, it's normal to find our colleagues lost in finance

But it doesn't have to be like that

Because we need the rest of the company to
- understand our reports
- extract observations and analyse
- participate to budget/forecast exercises
- make decisions based on financial outcome

That's how I thought my "Finance for Non-Financials" course

Roles in which Non-Finance people have a real impact

And to do so, the training is
1️⃣ Tailored: I'm not speaking of a SaaS to a Manufacturer
2️⃣ Active: Adults don't want to be back at the university bench
3️⃣ Engaging: People take a full day off their work, and I respect that

Dounia said it herself: these 6 hours are probably the most well invested in training for years

And I'm not done with it!

In the next year, I want to train at least 1.000 more people to understand and use Finance in their jobs

So, my fellow finance leaders, if you want your colleagues to finally understand finance in your company

➡️ Contact me 😉

In any career, there are boosters and traps

If you want to be tactical, be intentional about these

Careers in FP&A accelerate when you treat them like a roadmap

You identify the boosters, avoid the potholes, and drive with intent every week

Promotions tend to follow momentum

Here are ten tactical choices that build momentum.

1️⃣ Combine output with ease

Deliver what you promised and make collaboration smooth. The fastest way to gain trust is to hit deadlines while removing friction from meetings and handoffs

Obstacle to avoid: smart work that feels heavy to everyone else

2️⃣ Own your market value

Keep a running log of wins that tie to concrete results. I tracked cycle time reduced, forecast accuracy gained, and the margin moves my team enabled.

Obstacle to avoid: thinking people will notice your work

3️⃣ Be selective with effort

Choose problems that matter to the P&L (and cash-flow). No one expects you to be an expert in everything.

Obstacle to avoid: perfect outputs on low-value questions

4️⃣ Layer capabilities

Numbers first, then data modeling, then communication, then influence. There is no point in becoming a storyteller if your input is a mess.

Obstacle to avoid: trying to go directly to the top of the pyramid

5️⃣ Manage stakeholders upward

Great CFO updates are short and sharp. What was requested, what changed, the decision needed, and the risk if we wait. No suspense. Clean choices.

Obstacle to avoid: status for the sake of status

6️⃣ Lean into your edge

Maybe you see patterns in messy data. Maybe you stay calm in tense reviews. Double down on what makes you distinct because distinct sticks.

Obstacle to avoid: trying to be great at everything

7️⃣ Stay out of noise

Complaint threads drain credibility. Energy spent on solutions builds it.

Obstacle to avoid: the coffee machine's negative chit-chat

8️⃣ Protect mental clarity

Close is a marathon each month. Sleep, boundaries, and clean files keep judgment sharp. Foggy brains miss the quiet risks.

Obstacle to avoid: treating heroics as a plan

9️⃣ Make people feel seen

Great analysts learn the field reality before they challenge the plan. Sales and Ops follow people who respect their constraints.

Obstacle to avoid: drive-by finance

🔟 Invest in others

Your legacy is the careers you help lift. When your team grows, so do you.

Obstacle to avoid: direct all attention to you

I know some of these look selfish or even Machiavellian

But if you want your career to depend on no one else but you, you will have to deal with them

So for this week, ask yourself: which area should I turn into a differentiating edge?

I built a CFO clone to present in my place

Should you?

Quarterly town halls are where momentum is made… and lost

People drop off after 30 seconds of "underlying result", "EBITDA" and other "Guidance" stuff

Sometimes, it's due to education, others to simple language differences (try motivating people in Madrid when you speak in English)

Yes, I could learn the 12 languages of my group, but that would take some time. 

So I tried something different: a HeyGen avatar of me delivering the same message in multiple languages and a consistent tone

It's a new way of thinking your all-hands presentations if your group is split into different regions and time zones

But if this is feasible, it’s also a risk

Deepfakes, impersonation, “urgent transfer” scams

I couldn't simply show you the trick without warning of the risks...and exploring solutions

In the new video, I show:
👉 When an avatar helps for quarterly results (and when it shouldn’t)
👉 Step-by-step build: avatar, voice, script, scenes, languages
👉 The guardrails every finance team needs

🎥 Watch it → https://lnkd.in/gnDnnVzs

Tried avatars already? Powerful, weird… both?

Tell me how it felt (and what you’d want me to test next)

You know that moment in a meeting when you’re explaining a number…

and you see eyes glazing over?

That’s the exact second Finance loses the room

And it happens to smart people: because we confuse “being clear” with “being precise”

But here’s what I’ve learned after four years of teaching non-finance people about finance

👉 When we’re not understood, it’s because we don’t want to be understood

Non-finance colleagues are ready to learn
They want to understand.
They just don’t want a lecture.

In my new video, I break down how to speak finance so business people actually listen

An this, without dumbing it down, and without losing yourself in the process

🎥 Watch it here → https://lnkd.in/eKg_fUat

That’s the difference between being the finance person who reports numbers…

...and the one people call before they make decisions.

26% of finance pros regularly use AI in their job

That's better than LY but that means 74% are missing something

🚨 And tomorrow 28/10 at 5PM CET, you can learn about this in Nicolas Boucher's free webinar "How to Become an AI CFO" (register here https://lnkd.in/eARHiA9g)

Because AI won't solve every problem, and certainly not the most important ones in your job

But it will help you with these common issues
- lack of time
- lack of a clear structure
- lack of presentation skills

Last week, I showed what could be done at a conference in Amsterdam and even did a masterclass for the AI Finance Club beginning of this month

I can't remember such a surprise when the audience saw what could be done with tools you use every day

So, if you want to use your time efficiently as a Finance Business Partner

Come to the free "How to Become an AI CFO" webinar

📅 Tuesday, Oct 28
🕔 5PM CEST | 12PM ET
🔗 Register here https://lnkd.in/eARHiA9g

I'll be there

Will you?

---------

If you want to go deeper, here are three ways I can help you:

📘 I put together a free Financial Storytelling Starter Pack — you can grab it here: https://lnkd.in/eadSXhKp

🤝 And if you want to explore solutions for your team, you can plan a call with me here: https://lnkd.in/eKTff5s2

In the real world, “storyteller” means everything and nothing at the same time. 

I’ve been 
- the FP&A lead who wrote the board narrative at 2 a.m.
- the controller who had to explain a variance clearly
- and the guy in the room when sales and marketing could not agree 

The story changes shape every time, because the need changes

Some days you are the Architect
You design the structure of the story, following who will hear it and the amount of information you have

Other days you are the Translator
You make sure that everyone will understand, from the call center operator to the director

You become the Connector
You link numbers to people so they see how their real-life is impacted

You step in as the Strategist
You shape direction with a clear “what changed, why, what next”, just like an internal super consultant

Sometimes, you roll up sleeves as the Builder
You turn insights into plans, owners, and dates so someone takes accountability

And many more roles

That’s why “storyteller” is not a skill but a chameleon skill set

I don't know if I can count myself as one of them, but the best finance leaders I’ve worked with swap roles without ego 

So, if you lead a finance team, build this range. 

Hire for it
Coach it
Reward it

Because the right story, in the right role, at the right moment, moves the business.

Which role did you play this week?

LinkedIn

Author of the LinkedIn Learning course Advanced Excel for Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

Course Author - Advanced Excel for FP&A

The FP&A Mastery Signature Program

The FP&A Mastery Signature Program is a premier immersive hybrid learning experience for finance and accounting professionals. It offers live and on-demand access to the expertise of experienced FP&A and consulting practitioners. Curated content is designed to support the achievement of greater professional and personal growth, stepping into the next level of financial leadership, and tapping into a community of like-minded professionals for ongoing support. This transformative experience is designed to bring:

1) exceptional technical skills
2) frameworks for client deliverables
3) higher-level critical thinking
4) greater situational-awareness
5) greater self-confidence and positivity
6) a network of support, referrals, and intros
7) model templates to leverage
8) executive presence and non-technical skills

☑️ SIGNATURE PROGRAM BENEFITS AND FEATURES:

✔️ All live sessions are recorded (video/audio and transcribed)
✔️ Prior cohort recordings and materials accessible in advance
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✔️ Access to templates, reports, models, and work files
✔️ Optional projects and capstone business cases
✔️ Learning is NASBA-accredited and CPE eligible
✔️ Periodic live office hours
✔️ Online community

☑️ ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

The FP&A Mastery Signature Program isn't for everyone - it is for growth-focused finance professionals dedicated to reaching their next level of technical capability, communication, confidence, and success. They seek a higher level of enablement, empowerment, and assurance which can only be possible through longer-term commitment and community. The program is exclusively available to finance and accounting professions who meet the following criteria:

✔️ Have been in a finance, accounting, and consulting role for at least five (5) years.
✔️ Have overseen, either currently or in the past, junior-level finance staff.
✔️ Are growth-focused, open-minded, and ambitious.

Creator

Seidman Financial

▪️ CFO Advisor
▪️ Finance Director
▪️ FP&A Inner Circle Mastermind
▪️ FP&A coaching and training
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▪️ Learning and development (L&D)
▪️ Instructional design
▪️ Advanced financial modeling

Financial Advisory | Fractional CFO | Turnaround & Restructuring | Leadership and FP&A Development

National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA®) 40 Under Forty

Maven

Since 2023, 500+ learners have attended dozens of live cohorts for 8 courses and masterminds. These courses and masterminds are among the top-rated learning experiences in corporate finance on the Maven platform including:

Cash Flow Forecasting Level 1

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Dynamic Excel for Finance

The Fractional CFO Power Skills Mastermind

Advanced Financial and Business Modeling

Data Management with Power Query

Effective Live and Virtual Financial Presentations with Executive Presence and Influence.

Mastermind and Live Cohort Leader

The Fractional CFO Power Skills Mastermind

Since its launch in March 2023, 450+ finance and accounting professionals have grown their advisory businesses and careers through the learning and development ecosystem. In the process, they have earned more than 3,000 credits of CPE and receive ongoing support as needed.

Attendees learn pure application, not academic concepts. They get to implement techniques and methods straight into their work, delivering invaluable solutions to their clients while building a business congruent with their personal values and professional goals.

Rice Business - Jones Graduate School of Business

Adjunct faculty for Data Analytics for Accountants

Adjunct Professor

Corporate Finance Institute® (CFI)

Author of:

1) The Role of the FP&A Professional
2) FP&A for New Analysts

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/certifications/financial-planning-and-analysis-program

Subject Matter Expert - Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Specialization

American Management Association

Co-author of "AMA's 5-Day MBA".

Adjunct faculty member and subject-matter expert (SME) in finance and strategy since 2010.

Adjunct Faculty Member

Wall Street Prep

Senior FP&A Instructor

Michelin

FP&A Development and Program Facilitator

Premier FP&A + Fractional CFO learning and development experiences ▪️ Financial and CFO advisory ▪️ FP&A masterminds & community ▪️ Finance leadership development and training

Companies that go through my FP&A and CFO training and engage my advisory services are companies you know, work with, and buy from:

ABM Industries, AICPA, AlixPartners, Allscripts, American Chemical Society, American Management Association, Association for Financial Professionals, BI Incorporated, Bloomberg, Choice Hotels, Chomps, CIBC, CHEP, Cigna, Conway MacKenzie (dba Riveron), Corporate Finance Institute (CFI), Cox Enterprises, Crawford & Company, Deloitte, Discover, Erie Insurance, EVRAZ, Express Scripts, EY, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Fresenius-Kabi, FS Investments, Genentech, Guy Carpenter, HCPI, Heartland Financial, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Hormel, Hostess, Int’l Gaming Technologies, ILCPAs, International Game Technology PLC (IGT), KPMG, Marsh & McClennan, Michelin, NACVA, NDCPAs, NerdWallet, OnDeck Capital, Outsystems, Pulse Network, Radisson, Rice University, Robinhood, Saltchuk, Santander, Sloan Valve, Solar Turbines, Sol Petroleum, Spotify, StanCorp, United Technologies, Universal Business Team, University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Steel, Verizon, Whole Foods, Wall Street Prep, Walmart, and Workday.

But the proudest statistic of all: nearly 40% of program attendees are repeat participants. Which means they learn and come back for more.

100,000+ learners have upskilled through five (5) practitioner-focused LinkedIn Learning courses that focus on Excel, FP&A, AI, and effective communication.

As a Microsoft MVP and one of the most prolific professional speakers in FP&A, I personally address companies, associations, and student groups on strategic financial planning, workplace engagement, advanced business modeling, business storytelling, crisis management, and financial leadership development programs (FLDPs).

Want to connect or learn more?
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Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA

I recently demoed 4 FP&A platforms that claim to effectively forecast 13-week cash flows using AI.

Three of the companies are dedicated planning tools. One company is a financial reporting tool. Despite them being leaders in the FP&A space, seeing their 13-week cash flow tools left me unconvinced.

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What the FP&A tools got right?

(1) Cash flow forecasts were generated in a flash

It was remarkable to see how quickly these tools can create a direct format 13-week cash flow. It took seconds. When you're needing to update a cash flow model, taking days or weeks to refresh a rolling forecast isn't an option.

(2) Cash flow forecasts were traceable

Many company cash flow models are driven by lots of data. Auditing Excel formulas isn't a great use of time for Treasurers or FP&As. These tools make it easy to vouch back to the root data and explore the detail.

(3) Cash flows are good enough for companies that don't have to worry

Some FP&As struggle to accept that top-down forecasts may be good enough for most companies that don't have to worry much about cash flow. That's because they're flush with liquidity, have a line or credit, and aren't laser-focused or hands-on with cash. A decent forecast that isn't remarkably accurate isn't always a liability. It's can be an asset since it's a reasonable-enough snapshot in time.

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What the FP&A tools get wrong?

(4) Forecasts use past data and trends for almost all assumptions about the future

If managing cash flow for a business that's seasonal, volatile, or has cash flow issues, relying on past data and trends can be reckless and lazy. It's not that history can't predict the future. But when it comes to cash flow management, relying too much on historical trends can lead to really poor assumptions. If decisions are based on those bad assumptions, you get bad decisions too.

(5) Forecasts were mostly observational, not prescriptive

Unless you're working with a large corporation, where operations are steady and bank accounts are full, cash flow forecasts should enable thoughtful choices. That means the model should reveal operational drivers, opportunities, and scenarios. These tools don't really allow for these basic features. They're mostly just reports and data extrapolations. 

(6) Forecasts didn't capture nuance

In the example I show here, my cash flow model can quickly and easily incorporate actuals, weekly and monthly forecast periods. I'm able to hold back 20% of accounts payable. I can pay back the A/P at any rate and timing that I want. I can be aggressive with catch-up payments and early-payment discounts. It's what a company needs to be able to see, whether it's doing $20 million or $200 million in revenue.

It's not that AI can't do cash flow forecasting and modeling. It's that it can't do it as well as you'd probably hope. And that's the problem.

Cash flows are always full of nuance. AI-driven cash flow forecasts aren't great at understanding nuance.

Helping finance professionals master FP&A, Excel, data, and CFO advisory services through learning experiences, masterminds, training + community | Adjunct Professor in Data Analytics | Microsoft MVP

Great FP&A professionals don’t panic when cash flows look bad. They seek understanding through financial models about what can be done.

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💡 This is a favorite module from Excel: Learning Cash Flow Forecasting. I've made it free so you can learn these techniques.
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In this example, the CEO of a chocolate company sees that her business is going to get crushed due to increasing cocoa powder prices. Gross margins and cash flows both take such a significant hit that she'll either have to lay people off or restructure operations.

In this example:

Question 1: Cocoa power rates may climb from $5 to $8 per pound. What does it mean for the business?

FP&A Answer 1: The impact to direct costs is severe. They increase from 42% of revenue 50% of revenue. Gross margins fall from $6.2 million to $4.6 million. In other words, increasing input costs result in a direct erosion of $1.6 million. 

At the same time, net cash flow crashes from $586,000 to ($344,000). In other words, increasing input costs result in a negative hit to cash flow of $930K.

Why are they different? Largely because of the impact of working capital timing.

Question 2: What can the company do to reduce the impact of the rising input costs?

FP&A Answer 2: The offset the rising cost of cocoa powder, the company can reformulate the product. Instead of using a Dutching process, the company can use regular cocoa, thus reducing the input costs to $6 per pound versus $8.

Question 3: Can the company can increase prices without losing customers?

FP&A Answer 3: While a 15% price increase puts the company in great financial shape, there's a risk in turning off price-sensitive customers. A 10% price increase partially offsets margin erosion but isn't so offensive that it loses customers.

These options all help address the margin issues but further work is needed on cash flows.

Question 4: Can the company improve its cash position by working with customers on accelerating collections and with vendors through less-aggressive terms?

FP&A Answer 4: The company can incentivize customer to pay more quickly by offering early-pay discounts, favorable terms on bulk purchases, or activating automated payments. And the company can negotiate with suppliers by offering a willingness to pay higher rates if payment terms are more reasonable.

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Business modeling in FP&A isn't the same as financial statement modeling in investment banking. We're not using macro-level assumptions to arrive at P&Ls, balance sheets, and statements of cash flows.

No. We're partnering with sales, operations, product development, and treasury to examine the feasibility of our options. We model those options and use financial analysis to determine the best way forward.

It's FP&A's responsibility to understand, not only which levers can be pulled in the business, but also quantifying the impact of those changes.

Conducting sensitivity analysis of key variables in Excel

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