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

You can have a technically excellent finance team... And still find yourself making every major strategic decision alone.(I know because I’ve seen this pattern in dozens of companies)Your team spends weeks perfecting the slides, the analysis and be as complete as possibleBut when you need strategic input for an ExCo meeting, their work doesn’t give you the perspective you need to lead confidentlyThe result is like this:→ Silence in meetings→ Decisions made without financial guidance→ You, the CFO or Finance Leader, doing the heavy lifting yourselfThe problem isn't their technical skill. It’s their system.Most teams are stuck in one of three stages:1. The Reporters: Mastered accuracy, but they are "historians" documenting the past2. The Explainers: Crystal clear on the "why", but provide no actionable guidance3. The Influencers: Highly strategic, but the capability only lives in 1 or 2 "star" performersI help Finance Leaders systematize the shift from Historian to Strategic AdvisorUsing my 4-step Financial Storytelling Framework, I help your entire team:- Step 1: Prepare the Message – Identify what actually matters for the business decision at hand- Step 2: Prepare the Story – Use structures that speak to a specific audience and leads to a decision- Step 3: Prepare the Visuals – Create slides that support a recommendation- Step 4: Prepare the Delivery – Present with the confidence to handle pushback from the CEO or BoardI’ve implemented this system for teams at Holcim, Deloitte, Bauer Media, and IndeedHow we can work together:• For Teams: The Finance Stage — Systematizing storytelling across your whole function.• For Professionals: Financial Storytelling Program — My flagship training for future leaders• For CFOs: 1:1 Coaching and high-impact to change your presentationsThe best financial insight means nothing if it doesn’t change the way we work in a companyReady to de-risk your team's output and get the strategic support you need? Send me a message and let’s diagnose where your team is stuck

Soufyan Hamid

January results

How unuseful is your budget already?

Systematizing Storytelling for Finance Teams | EMBA Lecturer | Keynote Speaker

I used to think my forecasts meant I was "strategic"
I couldn't be more wrong

For years, I built forecasts that looked impressive

But when someone asked me to explain our strategy?

I’d default to looking some months ahead until year-end

That’s not strategy

Here’s what I missed:

Strategy is the choice that shapes capital allocation
It answers: Where will we play and what are we willing to risk?

Forecasting is the mechanism that tracks execution
It answers: What’s happening and how do we adjust?

Real strategy sounds like this:

“We will win in [this segment] by doubling down on [these capabilities], accepting lower short-term margins to secure long-term share”

This is a direction, a focus

The forecast that supports it:

• Translate the choice into financial objectives
• Allocate resources accordingly
• Track signals monthly
• Adjust assumptions without changing direction

See the difference?

Strategy is the wish you have
Forecasting is your execution loop

When I started with strategy first:

✅ Investment decisions became clearer
✅ Conversations with the Chiefs got to the point
✅ "Negotiations" were less political

It's not easy to change your way of thinking 

But that’s what changed how I see leadership in Finance

A forecast is not a strategy

Can you explain your strategy without mentioning a single number?

If not, start there

Financial storytelling isn’t dashboarding

These are two completely different skills

Too many finance teams still mix them up

I’ve trained 100s of pros across FP&A, controlling, and CFO offices

The pattern is always the same:
People think storytelling is about “slides”
Or “focused charts”
Or “nice formatting”

But storytelling starts long before you open PowerPoint

It starts with understanding the business
It grows through driver logic
And it becomes useful when you people remember your message after the meeting... and do something with it

Here are the 6 foundational components of financial storytelling (and why they matter):

1. Business Understanding
Knowing what’s really happening behind the numbers: the decisions, the drivers, the context
You can’t tell a story you don’t understand.

2. Driver Analysis
Breaking down what changed and why: volume, mix, price, timing, churn
This is where insight begins

3. Message Definition
Choosing the one thing people must remember
Everything else should serve that message

4. Visual Structure
Organising your flow so each slide builds on the last
Structure is what aligns with your story

5. Audience Framing
Shaping the message based on who’s in the room
- Some want direction
- Others want to analyse
- Most want impact

6. Connection
Making others feel the story through presence, tone, and attention
Trust is sensed before it’s proven

Most finance teams think storytelling is about charts

But great storytelling is about influence and impact

If you want your insights to land, your message to stick, and your role to grow

This is where it starts

 Financial Storytelling is...

90% of finance strategies fail for one simple reason

They look impressive

But they don’t change how decisions actually get made

That’s why I like the strategy house framework

It’s simple

And it’s the same structure used by firms like McKinsey & Company to turn strategy into execution

I’ve adapted it here for FP&A and finance leadership

Here’s how to read it.

1. Aspiration

This sits at the top of the house and answers one question

What financial future are we trying to build?

A clear direction for the finance function of the company

2. Vision & financial purpose

This is where strategy becomes concrete for finance

It translates ambition into a financial direction

What does success actually look like in numbers?
What trade-offs are we willing to make?
Where will we invest?

Without this layer, FP&A stays stuck explaining results instead of making them useful

3. Must-win financial battles

These are the few financial priorities that really move the business

Usually three or four and this is where finance becomes strategic

Because every priority means saying no to something else

If everything is a priority, nothing is

4. Strategic financial initiatives

This is where the real work happens:
- Rolling forecasts
- Pricing models
- Scenario planning
- Capex prioritization

Each initiative should clearly support a must-win battle

If it doesn’t connect to strategy, it has no business in your strategy

5. Enablers

These are the capabilities that make execution possible

Without this layer, your strategy stays in PowerPoint/Excel

Execution requires tools

6. Foundations

This is the base of the house

People, culture, governance, performance management...

It’s where finance earns its credibility

Because strategy only works when the organisation trusts the people behind them.

One final point that isn’t on the image:

Decisions

Strategy only matters if it changes decisions

That’s where FP&A creates real impact.


♻️ Repost if you think finance should help drive strategy
➕ Follow for more insights on how FP&A moves from reporting to influence

Your words are killing your presence

12 ways to know if you’re doing it:

-----
You want to boost your FP&A team's presence and move them from 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 to 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴
Join our next masterclass "The Financial Storytelling Maturity Model"
👉 https://lnkd.in/efjM-SCd
📅 March 09, 2026 at 5PM CET / 11AM ET
-----

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲:

“Maybe we should…”
“I may be wrong, but…”
“Can I ask a dumb question?”
“Just thinking out loud here…”
“Hopefully this makes sense…”
“This might be overstepping…”
“Does that sound okay to you?”
“I’ll try my best to get that done…”
“I’m no expert in operations, but…”
“I just wanted to share this update…”
“I’m not sure if this adds value, but…”
“Would you mind if I add something?”

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞:
“Here’s the key shift”
“The numbers suggest…”
“Here’s what the data is signalling”
“Here’s one scenario worth testing”
“Here’s how the pieces fit together”
“There’s a financial implication here”
“Does this align with your priorities?”
“Here’s an insight that could shift things”
“You’ll have the updated model by Friday”
“Let me build on that from a financial angle”
“Here’s how this flows through P&L and cash”
“Help me understand how this connects to targets”

In FP&A, your presence depends on what you know

but also on how confidently you deliver it

➟ Your analysis stays the same
➟ Your credibility doesn’t
➟ Strong language creates strong leadership

Which phrase are you eliminating first? 👇

12 Phrases Killing Your FP&A Presence

Every CFO I’ve worked with lived under pressure

Boards, markets, CEOs and Investors

And when pressure is high, behaviour changes

Simply because they can’t afford surprises

If you want to really support a CFO and earn lasting trust, don’t push harder

Change how you show up

These are 7 moves I keep coming back to with FP&A and finance teams

1️⃣ Bring them in before things are “ready”
Pressure drops when there’s no reveal moment
- Share a rough first view, even if it’s messy
- Ask what worries them most about this topic
- Frame 2–3 possible directions instead of one polished conclusion

2️⃣ Lead with the helicopter view
CFOs think in terms of risks and trade-offs before details
- Start with a short summary: risks, options, decisions
- Keep it to one page
- The deck is support material, not the main event

3️⃣ Kill surprises early
Nothing erodes trust faster than bad news in public.
- Flag sensitive points one-on-one
- Share which questions you expect from others
- Align on framing before the meeting

4️⃣ Replace recommendations with choices
Your job is to enable judgment
- Lay out 2–3 realistic paths
- Quantify impact, risks, and consequences
- Let them shape the final call

5️⃣ Clarify how they want to engage
Busy doesn’t mean disengaged
- Ask where they want to decide vs delegate
- Agree on red lines and grey zones
- Don’t guess expectations

6️⃣ Close meetings like a pro
Confusion after a meeting recreates pressure
- Restate decisions, owners, deadlines
- Call out what still needs a choice
- Follow up with a short written recap

7️⃣ Help them look strong externally
If they absorb pressure, help them redistribute it
- Anticipate what they’ll be challenged on
- Arm them with simple explanations
- Make the story easy to repeat

When you do this consistently, two things change fast: micromanagement fades and your voice carries more weight in the room

That’s what real business partnering looks like

If you’re a CFO, tell your team which one of these you want them to apply this month

They’ll know exactly how to step up

7 W>ays to Handle a Stressed CFO

Most finance teams say they want to be strategic

But few define what that actually looks like

Offsites are great but that's not how you define culture

And that's normal: you recognise culture in your daily life, not with a large slogan hanging on a wall

High-performing finance teams build it through very specific, very ordinary choices

Below are 11 finance habits that weaken your team’s influence

And what strong finance teams do instead:

Avoid: “Here are the numbers for this month”
↳ Instead: Position finance as a decision partner
↳ Example: FP&A opens with, “Here’s the business decision this data supports”

Avoid: Vague feedback like “Good analysis”
↳ Instead: Give precise, actionable feedback
↳ Example: “Slide 4 is strong. The insight is clear. Let’s simplify the visual on slide 6”

Avoid: Long meetings with no conclusion
↳ Instead: End with decisions and clear owners
↳ Example: “We agreed on the forecast adjustment. John owns the model update”

Avoid: Celebrating late-night fire drills
↳ Instead: Reward proactive planning
↳ Example: The team is recognized for flagging risks before month-end close

Avoid: “That’s not our scope”
↳ Instead: Build cross-functional curiosity
↳ Example: Finance asks Sales, “Help us understand what’s driving pipeline changes”

Avoid: Models no one understands
↳ Instead: Transparent, explainable logic
↳ Example: Analysts walk through assumptions before showing outputs

Avoid: Data without narrative
↳ Instead: Teach storytelling with numbers
↳ Example: Decks follow: Context → Insight → Decision → Action

Avoid: Surprises at executive review
↳ Instead: Ongoing alignment
↳ Example: The CFO receives early signals on risks and opportunities

Avoid: Budgeting as an annual ritual
↳ Instead: Treat forecasts as living tools
↳ Example: Rolling forecasts drive real-time decisions

Avoid: Promotions based only on tenure
↳ Instead: Promote based on business impact
↳ Example: An analyst earns a senior role after leading a pricing strategy insight

Avoid: Finance acting as the “no” police
↳ Instead: Finance as strategic co-pilot
↳ Example: “Here’s how we can fund this growth responsibly”

Your team will be much more visible and recognisable with a strong team culture that will make them feel useful

Which of these do you see your teams struggle with most?

Exception française 🇫🇷 aujourd'hui (et il y a une bonne raison)

Sur LinkedIn, je parle toujours en anglais

Mais cet événement mérite qu'on sorte des habitudes

-----
Masterclass exclusive ce 11 mars à 09h
Inscription gratuite pour les membres de la communauté sur
👉 https://lnkd.in/edMMySUN
-----

Le 11 mars, je serai à Paris pour une Masterclass exclusive au sein de Finpal, run by Qonto, la communauté des pros de la finance animée par Qonto

Et sans surprise, le sujet sera mon sujet préféré

"De la donnée à l'influence décisionnelle: la narration financière à l'heure de l'IA"

Parce qu'on a tous des chiffres, des dashboards et des reportings bien construits

Mais la vraie question, c'est : est-ce qu'ils convainquent vraiment votre CODIR ?

Ce soir-là, on va travailler ensemble sur :
→ Comment transformer vos reportings en histoires financières mémorables
→ Comment l'IA peut devenir votre allié pour gagner en influence
→ Comment passer de "bon analyste" à décideur qui compte

📍 Comet, Place des Victoires — Paris
📅 Mercredi 11 mars
👥 30 places seulement en présentiel
🎁 Des surprises pour les plus motivés 😉

Finpal, c'est déjà + de 2 500 DAF et dirigeants qui échangent sans filtre sur leurs défis quotidiens

C'est gratuit, c'est du partage pur et c'est exactement le genre d'endroit où ce genre de conversation a sa place

👉 Rejoignez la communauté et inscrivez-vous via le lien en commentaire

https://lnkd.in/edMMySUN

PS: Vous connaissez des DAF ou responsables financiers qui veulent avoir plus d'impact en réunion ? 

Taguez-les ci-dessous 👇

Most companies invest in systems, tools, and processes
High-performing ones invest in the finance leaders running them

The best organizations do both

Top FP&A leaders think about development across three levels:
1️⃣ Self
2️⃣ Team
3️⃣ Enterprise

Ignore one, and progress slows

Build all three, and performance scales without heroics, burnout, or endless firefighting

If you’re wondering where to focus first, here’s how the top 1% of FP&A leaders approach it

💪 Self-Leadership
How you operate as a finance leader

Financial Self-Awareness
↳ Know your analytical reflexes and blind spots
→ Lead with intention

Strategic Prioritization
↳ Focus on the few analyses that actually move decisions
→ Allocate effort to impact

Energy & Attention Management
↳ Protect deep-thinking time
→ Structure days around insight creation, not meeting overflow.

Emotional Composure
↳ Stay clear-headed in forecast volatility
→ Create space between pressure and reaction

Credibility Building
↳ Do what you say you’ll do, consistently
→ Match the narrative with the numbers, every month

👥 Team Leadership
How FP&A teams actually grow

Narrative Communication
↳ Create shared understanding
→ Define what “winning” means in financial terms

Decision-Driven Meetings
↳ Turn meetings into execution engines
→ Drive clear choices and next steps

Talent Acceleration
↳ Use projects as growth vehicles
→ Empower teams with context

Feedback That Elevates Thinking
↳ Give input that sharpens judgment
→ Focus on insight qualit

Accountability with Ownership
↳ Make commitments visible.
→ Review outcomes to learn

📈 Enterprise Leadership
How finance builds systems that scale performance

Strategy Setting
↳ Anchor finance around a few strategic priorities
→ Align capital allocation to value creation

Operational Excellence
↳ Reduce friction in planning and forecasting cycles
→ Improve handoffs between finance and the business

Culture Building
↳ Reward truth-telling over comfort
→ Reinforce clarity over complexity

Talent Architecture
↳ Put the right finance talent in the right seats
→ Develop storytellers

Predictable Performance
↳ Build reliable planning and review rhythms
→ Replace heroics with repeatable excellence

With this, development stops being theoretical and produces results you can count on

I'm breaking down how top finance leaders scale a storytelling mindset within their teams in a live session: 

Thursday, February 12, 5PM CET. Sign up below 👇

https://lnkd.in/efjM-SCd

Every serious FP&A issue starts small

And by the time the CFO fully sees it, it’s already costing credibility

Over the last four years working with FP&A leaders at The Finance Circle, an observation was repeated

Almost everyone has the technical ability, no question about that

What derails teams are small but key issues

The CFO expands the FP&A mandate:
– Own the forecast narrative
– Lead deeper analysis
– Interact directly with the business

On paper, that’s good news

But something structural often changes together with it

As FP&A steps up, it begins to carry the performance story day to day

- Questions from the business land there
- Context gets built there
- Explanations are shaped there

Gradually, FP&A becomes the operational center of gravity

The CFO remains accountable but no longer anchors the narrative daily

And if alignment isn’t intentionally maintained, distance is created

Here are 8 early warning signs that this shift is already hurting your team:

1️⃣ Multiple versions of truth
Different reports tell different stories 
And suddenly, no one knows which number to defend

2️⃣ Forecast fatigue
Forecasts keep changing, but no one can clearly explain why 
Ownership fades. Confidence follows

3️⃣ Ownership gaps
FP&A produces analysis, but it’s unclear who owns the metric or the decision 
So insights float. Nothing lands

4️⃣ Over-engineered models
Models become impressive artifacts instead of decision tools 
Few understand the and even fewer trust them

5️⃣ KPIs disconnected from value creation
Metrics look clean, but don’t reflect how the business actually creates value 
This is often when people start to ignore reports

6️⃣ Low stakeholder trust
Business partners challenge every insight or quietly bypass finance 
Why would they?

7️⃣ Backward-looking energy
Most energy goes into explaining the past 
Very little shapes what happens next

8️⃣ Surprises at executive level
ExCo debates issues Finance should have framed earlier.

But don't worry, it's not the end of the world

These signals are fixable when you spot them early 

But only if you’re willing to look beyond outputs… 
and address how FP&A actually works, decides, and communicates 

I’ve captured concrete ways to tackle each of these points 

If you’re leading an FP&A team today, take a look: I'm sure you’ll recognize more than one 

Which of these signs have you seen most often?

♻️ Share this with a CFO who wants to catch problems before they reach the top

8 Signs of a Dysfunctional FP&A Team

Over the past years, many CFOs I worked with were either in burnout or dangerously close to it

The pressure rarely explodes but it accumulates. Budgets, board meetings, forecasts, ExCo colleagues or your team

All of this inside a calendar with no real space to think

When a CFO is exhausted, decision quality drops

And when that happens, the business feels it in pricing, hiring, investment timing, and risk management

This is why I started looking at energy as decision capacity

Here are a few practices that (ideally) work

1️⃣ Protect the first 60 minutes of your morning

Strong CFOs do not start in email
They use that time to frame what truly matters today

2️⃣ Define 1 to 3 decisions for the day

Be explicit about the calls that require your judgment
Writing them down sharpens your thinking and your communication

3️⃣ Block deep finance time

Several CFOs I worked with reserve 90 minutes before key meetings to review assumptions and pressure test scenarios
They treat preparation as strategic work

4️⃣ Shorten meetings

End with one sentence: here is the decision and here is the owner
Over time, finance becomes associated with clarity

5️⃣ Challenge low-impact requests

If an analysis does not influence a decision, question it
Protecting your attention protects your team’s attention

6️⃣ Maintain one peer conversation

A trusted finance peer to calibrate thinking and reduce isolation can dramatically lower cognitive pressure
For that, CFO networks exist in every country

7️⃣ Protect recovery deliberately

Choose a clear stop time and disconnect properly
I know, easier said than done but a reset is necessary to protect your energy

One nuance though: this is an ideal map

No CFO is expected to implement all of it immediately

Pick one practice, test it for two weeks

Observe what changes in your days

Burnout in finance often comes more from constant switching and carrying unresolved decisions than from volume alone

Your company does not need you constantly available
It needs you sharp when it matters

Which one of these would create the biggest difference for you right now?

I love to teach Finance to Non-Finance people ❤️

Why?

Because I've made my challenge, since the start, to reduce the communication gap between us, Finance, and the rest of the company

My bet has been to take the burden on us

"We must learn to talk business instead of finance"

And that stays true...

...but that is also a lie to think that non-finance people can succeed in a company without having the basic knowledge of finance
- Understand a P&L (and mostly how to use its levers)
- Analyse a report (and detect the problems)
- Participate in budgets and forecasts
- Make decisions based on financial models

And that's why I love it 

Because, no matter what they tell you

Non-Finance people want to learn Finance

They're even excited about it

It's just a matter of finding the way to do it without transforming it into an "Accounting for Non-Finance" course

Because it's just like a car

You can learn to use and drive it...
...and leave the mechanics to the pros

That's my other way of reducing the communication gap 😉

What if you want to compare and show data over time?

A normal bar chart can't do that but...

... an dynamic one can

And unfortunately, if you keep working with Excel, you won't be able to use that

That's why, this time, I jumped to Gemini to build a bar chart that changes over time

You can use that to
- look at the evolution of your different products/customers
- follow your position in the market
- motivate sales teams by comparing their results month by month

You're only limited by your own creativity

If you want my prompt, here it is

Create a web app that shows the top 5 companies with the highest revenues in tech in the US over the last 20 years in a fun, animated way. Use a bar chart where the bars race against each other to show the ranking changes over time. And add the name of the winner in the title and change it every time the first changes

So have a try and let me know what race you created 😉

FP&A is rarely a straight jump into business partnering
Most people move through it step by step
𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 usually comes first

-----
And if you want to discover how to move your team from reporting to influencing
Join our next FREE masterclass for CFOs "The Financial Storytelling Maturity Model"
👉 https://lnkd.in/efjM-SCd
📅 March 09, 2026 at 5PM CET / 11AM ET
-----

That phase is often underestimated, yet it is where credibility starts

If the numbers are consistent, on time, and trusted, people begin to rely on the team behind them

From there, the role naturally evolves into 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀

Instead of only showing what happened, finance begins to explain why it happened

𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 changes the conversation again.

Once you work on forward views, finance is no longer describing the past

You are helping the business think about what comes next, what could go wrong, and what might create opportunity

Only after these steps does 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 really appear

At that point, finance is invited into discussions where choices are still open

Leaders ask for perspective, challenge assumptions, and test options before committing

This progression is also how I approach finance training with non-finance leaders

Starting with strategy or advisory roles rarely works

People connect first with things they already use in their day-to-day work

For some, that entry point is KPIs

For others it is operational drivers or scenario thinking

The path does not need to be rushed

Understanding one layer well creates the foundation for the next

Over time, the role becomes something much more valuable than producing reports

Finance becomes useful exactly when decisions are on the table

When I think back of my time as FP&A Manager, I have a bitter sweet memory

I was always wondering this:

Why do some peopla have a strong impact (what I wanted)…
while others don't (what I did)?

The answer was in the fact that nobody teaches you to be a leader

Or more accurately said, they expect you to learn by yourself

So I observed around, went to finance events, asked a lot

And what I observed is that it was mostly behavioural

I noticed 8 traits that transform FP&A leaders from reporters into trusted strategic partners

And once you start paying attention to them, your leadership never stays the same

1️⃣ Self-Aware

Elite FP&A leaders recognize their own bias, pressure triggers, and blind spots
They regulate themselves before emotion distorts financial judgment

2️⃣ Humble

They treat forecast misses and feedback as information
They improve the system instead of protecting their status

3️⃣ Attuned to the Business

They sense risk, hesitation, and opportunity in the room long before it appears in the variance bridge
They understand operational reality beyond the spreadsheet

4️⃣ Approachable

Bad news travels fast
Issues surface early
Truth does not get filtered on its way to Finance

5️⃣ Empathetic

They understand that every number reflects human behavior, incentives, and trade-offs
That awareness strengthens business partnership and decision quality

6️⃣ Adaptable

They adjust forecasts, capital allocation, and priorities quickly while maintaining financial discipline
Stability and agility coexist

7️⃣ Composed

In moments of volatility, they bring steadiness
Their tone influences the room
Calm thinking drives better capital decisions

8️⃣ Respectful

They challenge assumptions rigorously while protecting trust and professional dignity
Strong debate strengthens alignment

For a technical guy like me, it was weird not to train my technical skills

But that's what changed entirely how I communicated, how I approached my business colleagues and how I finally got the impact I wanted

So, the good news is that it is learnable

We develop these 8 traits inside The Finance Circle when we move teams from reporting to influencing

Which trait do you believe creates the biggest shift in FP&A performance?

Let me know below

84% of CFOs are dissatisfied with the presentations their finance team delivers

Yet 83% of finance professionals present to executives regularly

-----
And if you're in that 84%, you probably want to discover how to move your team from reporting to influencing
Join our next FREE masterclass for CFOs"The Financial Storytelling Maturity Model"
👉 https://lnkd.in/efjM-SCd
📅 March 09, 2026 at 5PM CET / 11AM ET
-----

Your team is smart. They know every number, their models are bulletproof, and their data is 100% accurate

But before the ExCo meeting, you're there, fixing headlines, connecting dots, translating the math into a business story

Again

As long as you're doing that, you're the bottleneck of your own department

After 70+ interviews with CFOs and Finance Directors, I found that most teams get stuck at one of two levels

Either they're 

🔴 Reporting (Level 1)
Your team states facts. You ask "so what?" every single time.

🟡 Explaining (Level 2)
Your team finds root causes. But problems are dropped with no accountability.

They've diagnosed the illness, but they drop it on your desk without prescribing the medication, leaving you to make the actual decision

In the ideal world, you'd want them to reach 

🟢 Influencing (Level 3)
Your team connects the dots AND prescribes the next move, helping decisions happen

In the latest group: 43% of teams are at Level 1. Only 21% reach Level 3

The gap isn't talent. It's the absence of a repeatable business methodology, and that can be installed.

On March 9th, I'm running a free live masterclass for CFOs and Finance Leaders to show you exactly how to move your team up the maturity model

✅ The Financial Storytelling Maturity Model
✅ The 3 What method to turn data into decisions
✅ The 4-Step Approach to install this in your team

🗓 Monday March 9 — CET 5PM | GMT 4PM | EST 11AM

Registration here 👇
https://lnkd.in/efjM-SCd

(If this describes your reality, repost ♻️, another CFO in your network probably needs to read this)

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

Scared Excel agents will take your job? - Don't be scared, be prepared.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭:

Agents will change the way we work in Excel forever.  

So, here is what you and your finance teams should start doing today?

1. Remember the process is human-led, AI-assisted.

2. If you are not experimenting with spreadsheet agents, pick one and start today. Do not wait, this space is moving fast.  Recommend an agent that uses Claude Opus 4.6.

3. Enhance your modeling skills because you still need to audit the model, validate assumptions, and be able to explain the model to management.  

Take a course from great resources like:

➡️ Chris Reilly
➡️ Carolina Lago
➡️ Full Stack Modeller

Earn your modeling certification from the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI)

Being a good modeler is more important than ever. 

4. Adopt/Develop a framework for when to use AI vs automation solutions like Power Query, Power Automate, etc. Gen AI is not for every use case. 
Hint: If you cannot have the answer change, look for a deterministic solution to automate the task, rather than throwing Gen AI at everything. 

5. Enhance your Excel skills - AI is going to use formulas you are not familiar with, so brush up on your Excel skills.

𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫: AI is a magnifier. If you know what you are doing, it will magnify that; if you do not, it will magnify that. 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭:

The reality is Opus 4.6 is a quantum leap forward in what AI tools can do to build spreadsheets.  A friend texted me yesterday and said it just built something that would have taken me an hour in ten minutes.  With all the innovation, dollars, companies, and tools, improvements like that will only continue.  Just look at the graphic below this space is CROWDED. 

If I can help you or your company on your journey, DM me and let us talk.

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

taplio

The Battle

Soufyan Hamid

Paul Barnhurst, The FPandA Guy

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSoufyan Hamid's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScorePaul Barnhurst, The FPandA Guy's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Soufyan Hamid

Paul Barnhurst, The FPandA Guy

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Soufyan Hamid's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScorePaul Barnhurst, The FPandA Guy's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSoufyan Hamid's LinkedIn Performance