Wharton Online

About the Program:

➣ It’s an 8-week cohort-based online program

➣ Upon passing the exam, participants earn a certificate in FP&A from Wharton.

➣ Learn everything you need to transition into FP&A or grow your career: 
- Planning
- Forecasting
- Analysis
- Modeling
- Business Partnering
- Reporting and Storytelling
- Using cutting-edge tools like AI and Machine Learning

➣ Learn technical FP&A skills from the faculty of Wharton and real-world practical skills, delivered by FP&A practitioners.

➣ For FP&A beginners and seasoned professionals who want to learn best practices.

Explore the program here:
https://wallstreetprep.wharton.upenn.edu/financial-planning-and-analysis-certificate/

Director - FP&A Certificate Program

FP&A Prep

Managing Director & Lead Instructor

WHAT I DO: 

I help finance teams develop their FP&A skills through customized in-person and virtual training. 

HOW IT WORKS: 

I provide tailored FP&A training programs that delve into the breadth and depth of planning, business partnering, financial storytelling, and analysis, with a strong emphasis on your business context.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY:

➢ The accounting and advisory firm Wiss hired me to train their 22-person FP&A advisory team.
    
”Thank you for facilitating a great training session with the team! The content, Q&A sessions, self-study component, and individual learning lessons were all excellent and exactly what we were looking for.This was a very successful training for our team. Happy to be a reference for you in the future.”
    
    -Travis Miskowitz , Partner  at Wiss.com
    
➢ The education company Chegg engaged me to train their 25-person global FP&A team.
    
“Thanks for running the workshop this week. The feedback was OVERWHELMINGLY positive - it was a home run! Great job.”

-Roberto Leao, VP of Finance at Chegg Inc.

➢ The gaming company Take-Two Interactive Software enrolled their 13-person FP&A team in my training program.
    
“This program was extremely informative about many aspects of FP&A. The different platforms used (Kahoot, breakout rooms, case studies) kept everyone engaged.”
    
 - Mary B., Senior Manager, FP&A at Take-Two Interactive

Learn more about FP&A Corporate Training here:

https://www.fpaprep.com/training

FP&A Corporate Training for Finance Teams

WHAT IT IS:
FP&A Bootcamp is a live online course where you'll learn FP&A best practices together with a group of peers. In six workshops over two weeks, you’ll learn via exercises, small group discussions, and guided brainstorming sessions.

We cover best practices on:

➢ Financial Storytelling
➢ Business Partnering
➢ Budget Management
➢ Planning & Forecasting
➢ Financial Modeling

WHAT MY STUDENTS SAY:

“The course takes you through a practical approach to FP&A and you walk away with ideas and strategies you can begin to utilize in your business right away.”

-Anthony L., VP of Finance at Smokey mos BBQ

“If you are new to FP&A, or have been doing it for years, this is a great course to ensure you are on the correct path. The time commitment isn't so much that you take too much time away from work, but enough that you feel you are getting plenty of resources to take back to your job.”

-Sara B., Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at Mosaic

“This is both a good refresher for seasoned professionals and a good introduction for individuals with less experience. Time went by very fast as it was an enjoyable course.”

-Steve D., CFO at WAFLA

Learn more about FP&A Bootcamp here:

https://maven.com/fpaprep/fpa-bootcamp

FP&A Bootcamp - live online training for individuals and small teams

WHAT IT IS:

Get your message in front of my 20,000+ audience. You can sponsor a text-based ad in the “FP&A Tuesday” newsletter.

And we can organize a webinar together where Christian shares educational content and promotes the webinar to his 90,000+ LinkedIn followers and email subscribers.

WHAT CLIENTS SAY:

“As the Head of Marketing at E78 Partners, I have had the pleasure of working with Christian Wattig through various sponsorships. Our experience has been nothing short of outstanding!

FP&A Tuesday has served as an invaluable resource, providing insightful and engaging content, and E78 has seen tremendous results from our sponsorships. 

Whether we're promoting an event or sharing valuable insights, the newsletter consistently drives high-quality engagement and fosters meaningful connections with our target audience. In short, FP&A Tuesday has been a game-changer for our marketing initiatives.”

-Scott Raspa, Head of Marketing at E78 Partners

Learn more about becoming a sponsor here:

https://www.passionfroot.me/fpa-tuesday

For Advertisers: Newsletter Ads & Sponsored Webinar

WHAT IT IS:

A free weekly newsletter with insights and actionable advice to build your Financial Planning & Analysis skills. 

Join 20,000+ finance and accounting professionals and receive:

-3 insights from me

-2 ideas from others, and

-1 FP&A infographic

… every Tuesday.

WHAT READERS SAY:

“Excellent information. Easy-to-read format. One of the best emails I get each week.”

-Josh B., Director of Finance at Spire

Sign-up to the newsletter here (free):

https://www.fpaprep.com/fpa-tuesday

Newsletter: FP&A Tuesday

WHAT IT IS:

 You’ll learn the T.A.C.T. framework to improve your forecast accuracy, navigate budgeting with ease, and have more impact as a finance professional.

HOW IT WORKS:

It’s an online course with 45 short lessons covering budgeting, metric selection, forecasting techniques, and reporting frameworks. It includes case studies and hands-on exercises so you can anchor your learning. We cover forecasting for revenues, expenses, headcount, and cash flow.

WHAT MY STUDENTS SAY:

“This is a goldmine for me. I have been through a significant amount of budget processes. I have picked from here a lot of the challenges we experienced. This information would improve our budget process tremendously. The questions and answers provided is excellent”

-Ernestina L.

“Great approaches to both the planning and forecasting process that I can take back to my company.”

-Tom I., VP of Finance at Slingshot Aerospace

“Even if you aren’t in FP&A, getting a baseline for the forecasting process will help in other parts of the business. Having more people understand the forecasting and planning processes will help everyone make better-informed decisions. And this class will certainly help with that.”

-Dan D., Financial Analyst at Perform CB

Learn more about “The Art & Science of Forecasting” here:

https://forecastingmastery.com/

The Art & Science of Forecasting - self-paced online learning

Datarails

Create and lead professional development training programs, externally for customers and internally for employees.

Head of Training

Lead a team of FP&A experts who consult customers on process improvements and implement automation projects.

FP&A Solution Architect

Squarespace

- Lead Financial Planning and Analysis for Marketing and Growth

- Partner with the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Creative Officer, and VP for Business-to-Business sales

Financial Planning & Analysis Lead

Maven

I was selected to join the Maven Course Accelerator. It's a six-week intensive program to learn how to build cohort-based courses under Wes Kao.

Maven Course Accelerator

Unilever

- Lead financial planning and analysis for the North American freight and warehousing operations

- Partner with Senior Leadership in Logistics, Procurement and HR to provide visibility on risks and opportunities

- Lead a team of seven direct reports, managing their daily tasks and professional development plans

Senior Finance Manager - FP&A Logistics North America

- Lead financial planning and analysis for marketing investments company-wide for the US business.

- Partner with Senior Leadership in Marketing and Procurement to provide visibility on risks and opportunities in Marketing budgets, including 3rd party vendor budgets.

- Lead a team of five direct reports, managing their daily tasks and professional development plans.

Finance Manager - FP&A Marketing Finance & Analytics

- Responsible for financial planning and analysis for the global Hair business of Family Value Brands

- Lead innovation business case development and analysis

- Lead a direct report, managing their daily tasks and professional development plans.

- Lead a team of three to develop and present trainings on Productivity Management and MS Excel for the North American Finance team.

Finance Manager - FP&A Global Hair Care

- Supply Chain innovation analysis for the Beverage category in North America

- Close collaboration with Supply Chain, Procurement, R&D, Engineering, Plant Finance and Brand Marketing across time zones

Associate Finance Manager - FP&A Supply Chain Refreshments

Avon

- Management reporting, month-end accounting and process optimization at the global headquarter. Temporary assignment.

Senior Financial Analyst - FP&A North America Marketing (Consulting)

Procter & Gamble

- Recommended strategic product, pricing and promotion changes in close collaboration with cross-functional team. 

- Financial analysis for new product initiatives. Analysis of sensitivities on net present value, gross margin, revenue & profit via creating financial models to consolidate inputs of all functions.

FP&A Financial Analyst - Fabric Care Middle East & Africa

- Management reporting and financial analysis for all P&G categories in Switzerland

- Partnered with sales teams to deliver on joint goals with major Swiss customers.

Customer FP&A Financial Analyst

📌 Struggling to Master FP&A? You’re Not Alone.

FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) is one of the most challenging areas in finance to break into or excel at—especially if you’re learning on the job or stepping into a new leadership role.

Books and videos alone can’t teach you the real-world skills that matter most, like financial storytelling and effective business partnering. That’s where I come in.

With 15+ years in FP&A leadership roles at Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Squarespace, and Datarails, I’ve developed a deep understanding of what works—and I’m here to pass those insights on to you.

Over 1,000 mid-career finance professionals have enrolled in my online FP&A training programs.

I’m also the director of the Wharton School's FP&A certificate program. 

And I regularly get hired to uplevel the FP&A skills of teams in top companies such as Lowe's, Merck, Google, and many others.

In fact, Google hired me to train 96 Googlers across four FP&A workshops. 

This was their feedback:

“We were initially hesitant about piloting a portion of Christian Wattig's FP&A skills program. However, after experiencing the workshops, we found that his core content and delivery were indeed strong.
We would recommend Christian as a corporate trainer. He possesses a strong foundation in FP&A, excellent content development skills, and a clear ability to facilitate engaging sessions.”

 David Mitchell, Finance Academy Manager at Google


📌 How I Can Help You

I offer FP&A training through four avenues:

1️⃣ Free Newsletter: Subscribe to “FP&A Tuesday” and join 30,000+ Finance and Accounting pros for actionable advice on budgeting, forecasting, and more.
👉 Subscribe here: FPAprep.com

2️⃣ Self-Paced Learning: Explore my engaging and exercise-based online course portfolio.
👉 Learn more here: courses.fpaprep.com/portfolio

3️⃣ Live Online Bootcamp: A six-session program covering Financial Storytelling, Business Partnering, Budgeting, Planning, and Financial Modeling. Perfect for individuals and small teams.
👉 Learn more here: maven.com/fpaprep/fpa-bootcamp

4️⃣ Corporate Training: Tailored workshops for larger teams (10+), offered virtually or in person.
👉 Email hello@fpaprep.com to learn more.

If you are interested in a marketing collaboration, email hello@fpaprep.com.

Most FP&A teams spend hours on variance analysis and still miss the $2M problem hiding in plain sight.  

After 15+ years at P&G, Unilever, and Squarespace, I've seen brilliant analysts calculate every variance perfectly - yet fail to spot the warning signs that matter.  

The difference? They're doing math. Not detective work.

The ARCTIC Framework changes that:  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 1: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁

Start by identifying what actually happened. Compare actuals to forecast at the right level of detail. Too granular and you're drowning in data. Too high-level and you miss critical insights.  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝘆

This is where most teams fail. They stop at "sales were down 10%." But WHY were sales down? Was it volume or price? New customers or retention? One product line or across the board?  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 3: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 

Connect the variance to business impact. A 10% sales miss might be fine if it's timing-related. It's a crisis if it signals a competitive threat.  

The three-step framework in the infographic breaks this down into actionable workflows - and ARCTIC helps find the crucial "So What" (see below).

Now, what separates good FP&A from great FP&A?  

Great teams don't just report variances. They prevent future ones by understanding root causes and adjusting forecasts accordingly.

Variance analysis becomes your early warning system - spotting trends before they hit the P&L.

The attached framework shows you how to build this capability step by step.

Which step in the ARCTIC framework has been most insightful for your team? Drop it below 👇 

-Christian

𝗣.𝗦. Black Friday is here, and I'm offering $503 off Inside FP&A Academy - my complete FP&A training program. 

You'll master variance analysis plus forecasting, modeling, business partnering, and financial storytelling. 

The same frameworks I teach at Wharton, now available online.

Grab the deal: https://lnkd.in/eCu7s8U5

Christian Wattig

Director, Wharton FP&A Program | Founder, Inside FP&A | On-site FP&A training at your offices (US & CA) and self-paced online learning

After interviewing dozens of FP&A candidates, I kept seeing the same costly mistake.

Smart candidates with solid technical skills would freeze when I asked: "Tell me about a time you worked with someone particularly demanding."

Or: "Describe when you had to complete a lot of work against tight deadlines."

Silence. Then scrambling. Then a vague, unconvincing answer.

The pattern was so consistent that it became predictable.

These weren't weak candidates. They had the Excel skills. They understood variance analysis. They could build complex models.

But they hadn't prepared specific examples for behavioral questions.

And in FP&A interviews, behavioral questions aren't just icebreakers. They're deal-breakers.

Why? Because FP&A in junior roles is 50% technical skills and 50% managing stakeholders, tight deadlines, and competing priorities. In more senior roles, it skews even more to interpersonal skills.

When you can't articulate how you've handled demanding CFOs or impossible deadlines, interviewers question whether you can handle the reality of the role.

The fix is simple: 

Before any FP&A interview, document 5-7 specific situations using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Cover the basics:

• Demanding stakeholder situations
• Tight deadline scenarios
• Data quality challenges
• Cross-functional conflicts
• Process improvement examples

Real examples. Real numbers. Real outcomes.

Because when the interviewer asks about that demanding stakeholder, you want to confidently share how you managed the CMO who wanted three forecast revisions in two days - and still delivered.

That's what separates candidates who get offers from those who get polite rejections.

-Christian

P.S. Want to ace your FP&A interview prep? I've compiled my top 10 most popular FP&A one-pagers covering all six pillars of FP&A to get you interview-ready. 

The same frameworks my Wharton exec ed students use to land roles at Fortune 500s: https://lnkd.in/eZt8u_Ar

Most finance professionals treat AI like Google Search.

4-5 words. Hit enter. "AI doesn't help me much."

I discovered this during a recent 3-day on-site FP&A training when I included an AI segment for the first time. I asked the team to use ChatGPT for writing a tricky Excel formula. 

The results shocked me.

They entered prompts like "calculate variance" or "forecast model Excel."

Then concluded AI was useless for finance work.

But when I showed them how to write highly-specific prompts with just the right amount of context, everything changed. AI suddenly became their secret weapon for financial modeling, variance analysis, reporting, even business partnering.

That moment opened my eyes:

Finance professionals now have access to enterprise-grade, secure AI at work.
But nobody's teaching them how to use it effectively for FP&A tasks.

That's why I created 𝘈𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘗&𝘈 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺.

The carousel shows 10 ways AI transforms FP&A work - from prepping for CMO meetings to running ARIMA forecasts in Excel. Each with the exact prompts that actually work.

Real examples:

• Challenge budget assumptions diplomatically
• Predict board meeting questions before they're asked  
• Transform boring reports into executive-ready insights
• Build 3-year P&L models from basic assumptions

After training Fortune 500 FP&A teams for 15+ years, AI is the biggest shift I've seen.

Yet most finance professionals are still typing 4 words and giving up.

AI for FP&A Academy takes you from AI novice to turning it into a high-level financial analyst. 10 modules of beginner-friendly applications. Real templates and prompts you can use immediately.

Launch discount: Get 50% off (expires Friday, December 5th)

Learn more about 𝘈𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘗&𝘈 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺:
https://lnkd.in/exhPeUNq

Which of the 10 prompts are you excited to try? Drop it below 👇

-Christian

10 Ways to Use AI in Finance

Stripe offered $1.2 billion to acquire Airwallex. Guess how the founders responded?

They said no.

This was in 2018 - Airwallex was making just $2 million in revenue then.

Fast forward to today: 

Airwallex just raised $330 million at an $8 billion valuation (30% jump in 6 months) led by Addition and with participation from T. Rowe Price, Activant, Lingotto, Robinhood Ventures and TIAA Ventures.

They just hit $1 billion ARR (90% growth). Doubled transaction volume to $235 billion. Launched in 12 new countries. And they're opening a second HQ in San Francisco with a $1 billion investment to take on Stripe directly.

The business model that made them worth betting on themselves?

They spotted a simple inefficiency in global payments that traditional banks ignore:

With traditional banking: You earn USD → Bank converts to your home currency → You pay supplier → Bank converts back to their currency.

Two conversions = Two FX fees = Money lost both ways.

Airwallex lets businesses hold 20+ currencies in one account. Money never converts until YOU decide. This alone saves companies 3-6% on every international transaction.

And while opening a bank account in a new country traditionally takes weeks or months, requires local presence, and tons of paperwork, with Airwallex you can do it in 60 seconds. From your laptop.

No wonder McLaren Racing, Canva, Arsenal Football Club, Navan, Qantas, Brex and Deel use them.

The founders could have taken the $1.2 billion and walked away. Instead, they bet on solving a real problem that affects every global business.

𝗦𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼 𝘁𝗼 $𝟭.𝟮 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 $𝟮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗼.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘈𝘪𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘹, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵.

👉 Check out how Airwallex handles global payments here: https://lnkd.in/e98KetVM

Brand partnership • Director, Wharton FP&A Program | Founder, Inside FP&A | On-site FP&A training at your offices (US & CA) and self-paced online learning

The 26 skills you need to succeed in FP&A

When I interviewed FP&A job candidates, I looked for examples of how they demonstrated each of these skills:

Technical Skills

1/ Financial Modeling
2/ Accounting
3/ Financial Controls
4/ Budgeting
5/ Forecasting
6/ Excel
7/ Root Cause Analysis
8/ Budget Management
9/ Reporting
10/ Presenting
11/ Identifying Risks & Opps
12/ Industry KPIs
13/ Data Science (basics)

Interpersonal Skills

1/ Communication
2/ Influencing up and across
3/ Relationship Building
4/ Managing tough conversations
5/ "Leadership"

Self-management skills

1/ Attention to Detail
2/ Discipline
3/ Structured Thinking
4/ Quantitative Affinity
5/ Time Management
6/ 80/20 Orientation
7/ Growth Mindset
8/ Bias for Action

👉 Which skills would you say gain importance in the age of AI? Comment below. 

Would you like more help with landing your FP&A dream job?

Prepare by reading my top 10 most popular FP&A One-Pagers. They cover the same principles I teach at Wharton (free for a limited time):

https://lnkd.in/eZt8u_Ar

-Christian Wattig
________________________________________________

𝗜'𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗣&𝗔 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 𝗣&𝗚, 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲.

I have trained 1,000+ professionals at companies like Google, Merck, and Lowe's. 

Here is how I can help you:

🚀 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗙𝗣&𝗔 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆:
My comprehensive online course. 

🤖 𝗔𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝗣&𝗔:
A crash course on the future of finance. 

🏢 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴:
On-site workshops for your team.

🔗 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.

26 FP&A Skills (2)

After managing $1B+ budgets at P&G and Unilever, I have one non-negotiable for a VP FP&A role:

Getting a modern FP&A tool.

See, when I was an FP&A Analyst at Procter & Gamble, we were doing everything in Excel. Monthly reports and visualizations. Variance analysis. Consolidating forecast inputs.

Doing these repetitive tasks again and again wasn't just boring - I was also constantly afraid of making a formula or copy-paste mistake without realizing it and submitting a report with wrong numbers.

Because in FP&A, you don't get points for submitting correct reports - you only get in trouble when there are issues.

But I thought that was a regular part of the job.

It was only when I ran into a wall at Unilever that I changed my mind.

I was promoted to lead the Marketing Finance Analytics team.

What I saw in my first week on the job shocked me: 

My team had to consolidate the inputs to the marketing forecast every month. By collecting 15 Excel files with 10 tabs each. 

For a budget of 1.2 billion dollars.

A nightmare with days of number crunching, reviewing formulas, and trying to keep track of numerous last-minute updates.

I immediately went to convince our CFO to give me a budget for implementing an FP&A tool.

And the difference was night and day.

What used to take 3 days now took 3 hours. Marketing teams got their answers in minutes, not weeks. And that constant fear of formula errors? Gone.

The consolidation happened automatically in the cloud. Reports that compared different versions to each other also just appeared on our screens.

And the best thing?

After some initial reluctance to learn a new tool, even our marketing colleagues loved it.

They were able to get whatever cuts of the data they wanted without having to ask us for it - simply by manipulating the easy-to-use dashboard themselves.

That experience taught me that the right FP&A tool isn't a nice-to-have - it's the difference between strategic finance and spreadsheet management.

So when finance leaders ask me today which tool I recommend, I point them to 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗰𝘂𝗺.

Why?

Because it's the most full-featured FP&A tool I’ve seen.

Learn more about it here:

https://lnkd.in/ec-CfZiD

And check out my one-pager for more reasons to move from Excel to a modern FP&A tool.

What's your FP&A horror story? Drop it below. I bet it involves Excel 👇

Most FP&A teams manage $100M+ decisions with models held together by duct tape.

After 15 years at P&G, Unilever, and Squarespace, I've watched brilliant analysts crash and burn because their financial models became unmanageable beasts.

The worst part? It's preventable.

The difference between the analysts who thrive and those who barely survive comes down to three fundamental practices I've refined over thousands of modeling hours.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟯 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴:

✅ Prepare Sensitivities Before You Need Them
✅ Separate Inputs from Outputs (Always)
✅ Document Assumptions Like Your Job Depends on It

Because it does.

I've seen careers made when someone could answer the CEO's curveball question instantly.

And careers stalled when "let me get back to you on that" became the default response.

The carousel breaks down exactly HOW to implement each tip - with the specific tactics that work in real boardrooms, not textbooks.

Which modeling challenge costs you the most time? Drop it below 👇

-Christian

P.S. Want my complete Financial Modeling Template with 46 best practices built in? It's the same framework I teach at Wharton. Free for my LinkedIn followers: https://lnkd.in/eBAmSF_6

3 Tips To Effortlessly Manage Large Financial Models

Ever lost an afternoon reconciling "Budget_Final_v9_reallyFINAL.xlsx"?

After 15+ years in FP&A at P&G, Unilever, and Squarespace, I know that pain intimately. 

One late change to pricing, and suddenly half your model is out of sync. You're auditing formulas instead of analyzing trends.

Excel's flexibility is both its superpower and its kryptonite for budgeting.

That's why JustPerform from insightsoftware caught my attention. Their demo shows an Excel-like interface we're all comfortable with - but with all data living in one connected system.

No more version chaos. No more broken links between files.

What stood out from the demo:

• Budget assumptions flow directly into forecasts without manual exports

• Built-in AI flags anomalies that are easy to miss in manual reviews  

• Consolidation happens automatically across departments

The promise? Less time reconciling spreadsheets, more time pressure-testing growth drivers.

See if it fits your planning process:

https://gofyi.ly/20800ECF

#ad, #InsightsoftwareInAction, #JustPerform, #insightsoftware, #EPMSolution, #FinancialConsolidation, #PlanningAutomation, #PredictivePlanning, #FinancialClose, #FinanceAI

Headcount planning in Excel is where good FP&A analysts go to cry.

You've got HR data in one tab, bonuses in another, new hires in a third. One wrong VLOOKUP and your CEO thinks you're hiring 500 people next quarter.

After 15+ years in FP&A, I've built every workaround imaginable:

• Color-coded tabs for each cost center
• Password-protected sheets (that everyone still edits)
• Macros that break when someone adds a row
  
The real nightmare? Permissions. 

Marketing shouldn't see Sales comp. Regional managers need their data only. You end up maintaining 47 versions of the same model.

JustPerform from insightsoftware tackles this differently. Their demo showed how it pulls HR data directly and lets you adjust variables (start dates, bonuses, promotions) with the impact flowing through automatically.

But what caught my attention: role-based permissions that actually work.

Since it handles budgeting, close, and reporting in one platform, you set governance once. Not three times across three systems. The AI flags unusual patterns—like when that new hire's comp is 2x market rate.

The result? Fewer "why don't these numbers match?" meetings and more time analyzing whether you actually need those 500 hires.

Check if it solves your headcount headaches:
https://gofyi.ly/20800ECF

#ad #InsightsoftwareInAction #JustPerform, #insightsoftware, #EPMSolution, #FinancialConsolidation, #PlanningAutomation, #PredictivePlanning, #FinancialClose, #FinanceAI

Still rebuilding forecasts line by line every month in Excel?

You know the drill: 

• Monday: Update actuals for 200 SKUs

• Tuesday: Adjust pricing across 15 regions

• Wednesday: Layer in new discount rates

• Thursday: Find the formula error that's overstating EMEA by 40%

• Friday: Present stale insights from data that's already a week old

Manual forecasting is where good intentions meet broken formulas.

After 15+ years in FP&A, I've seen every forecasting disaster.

The worst?

When someone "helpfully" adds a row and breaks every SUMIF in the model. You discover it during the board presentation when numbers don't foot.

The real cost isn't the errors—it's the opportunity cost.

While you're rebuilding the same forecast structure monthly, your competitors are running scenarios and finding growth opportunities.

JustPerform from insightsoftware takes a different approach. Their demo showed driver-based planning where you update the inputs (units, price, discounts) and the model cascades automatically. 

The AI catches unusual patterns before they corrupt your forecast.

Key difference: the forecast logic stays intact month after month.

No rebuilding from scratch. No broken links between regional models. And since it's integrated with close and reporting, your assumptions flow through without manual exports.

For teams drowning in monthly forecast rebuilds, this could free up a full week per quarter for actual strategic analysis.

See if driver-based planning fits your process:
https://gofyi.ly/20800ECF

#ad #InsightsoftwareInAction #JustPerform, #insightsoftware, #EPMSolution, #FinancialConsolidation, #PlanningAutomation, #PredictivePlanning, #FinancialClose, #FinanceAI

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Christian Wattig's Linkedin Analytics

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