FP&A Today

Glenn Hopper
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FP&A Today

FP&A Today is the podcast for Financial Planning and Analysis. The weekly show dives into the challenges and opportunities within the world of FP&A, interviewing FP&A leaders, CFOs and other finance pros in order to give you the freshest insights and takeaways. Each week our top guests provide actionable advice about financial planning and analysis – from career goals to navigating challenges, and powerful Excel tips. Our weekly show provides unrivalled insights for navigating FP&A. FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails. Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models. Get in touch at www.datarails.com

  1. 15 HR AGO

    Brent Dykes: People Hear Statistics, But they Feel Stories

    In this episode we are joined by Brent Dykes, the bestselling author of Effective Data Storytelling (Wiley, 2020), founder of Analytics Hero, and Forbes contributor. He has helped  thousands of finance leaders at companies including Microsoft, IKEA, Nike, Sony,  and Pfizer, enhance their data storytelling, visualization, and interpretation skills. “I strive to ensure analytics is always aligned with business priorities and maximizing business value.“In this episode Brent Dykes says: “One of the things that I saw quickly was that a lot of people struggled to communicate their findings and, and their insights, uh, around data. And I would go to conferences and I’d see people present data, and I’d be horrified by what I’d see. It’s just overwhelming,data dumps. And that really flagged for me in my mind that there’s a real opportunity here to do better.” Early college days choosing between marketing vs accounting as my focus  The aspects of humans that AI and machines can’t replicate Business consultant at Adobe for 12 years and Domo  Effective Data Storytelling The evolution of data  Evolving perspective of finance and analytics Value AI vs Humans  Lessons from coaching and mentoring companies on their story  Challenges of data storytelling in large and small companies  The biggest challenges in data storytelling What do you do when your story is contradictory to what their bosses want to hear Recommendations for tools and systems to up your data maturity  Why Excel’s a great starting point https://www.effectivedatastorytelling.com/contact https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentdykes Effective Data Storytelling (Wiley, 2020)

    1h 1m

  2. 5 NOV

    Budget Battles, Politics, and AI: CFO Anna Tiomina

    Anna Tiomina has faced multiple FP&A challenges in a 15-year finance career. This has included budget nightmares, all-nighters, and the  stark realization that “politics” is central to any FP&A or finance role.The former CFO of Sandoz, a huge pharmaceutical company,  describes her move to finance chief at Softeq, a smaller IT and consulting firm. Most recently she has pivoted to become a fractional CFO with a passion to help finance professionals bridge the gap between “curiosity and confident AI adoption”. In this honest and frank interview, Anna describes The challenges for anyone  in a full time finance role when you don’t have enough time to look at new things Structuring FP&A in a big company vs a smaller one Comparing and contrasting FP&A at a large and big companies Budget war stories When your key accounting person… is not an accountant  Ensuring a higher level of agility in budgeting Using AI in a safe way in FP&AConnect with Anna at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-tiomina/https://blend2balance.com/Subscribe to her insights at: https://balancedai-newsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe

    1h 1m

  3. 30 OCT

    A bird’s-eye view of FP&A from a top fintech VC – Saaya Nath

    Saaya Nath is a partner of Jump Capital, a VC firm specializing in investments in software and infrastructure (their portfolio includes treasury software to products helping companies visualize and understand their cloud bills).  In this episode talks to Glenn about: How the CFO’s Office can automate workflows around finance  and  AI  The most common complaint talking to finance teams  Main focus of AI for finance teams we are seeing and rates of adoption Spend management, finOps, cloud cost management, and cash flow management opportunities How well are SMBs served by the proliferation of CFO Tech stack tools? Regulatory challenges in founder pitches  Ways to begin in a low risk way for AI in finance  Case study from Glenn on finance automation challenges in a manufacturing finance team How Jump Capital chooses the companies and early stages in an era of change vs FOMO and bubbles  Favorite Excel function  Follow Saaya Nath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saaya-nath-12ba82a3/overlay/about-this-profile/

    57 min

  4. 22 OCT

    Business Partnering from Maersk to Lego: Christian Franz Hansen

    Christian Franz Hansen is a seasoned management consultant and finance thought leader. He’s made it his mission to bridge the gap between strategic decision making and data analysis with a background that includes roles at EY and a finance consultant helping big-names including General Motors, Lego Group, and Maersk. He’s now a member of the Business Partnering Institute, where he’s revolutionizing how finance professionals approach their roles. In this episode: From Excel Wizard as a stepping stone to career growth (“ I still love the beauty of a well designed Excel model”) From EY to a change-oriented consulting company at Finance Business Partnering Institute Top ways to elevate the finance professional Partnering, communication, influencing stakeholders, problem solving and understanding the value drivers  Working with 500 business professionals at Maersk to turn the finance ship around from bean counters to business partners  Meeting Anders Liu Lindberg and starting the Business Partnering Institute  Outcomes vs Outputs in finance  Allocating finance hours to not drown in tasks  Resistance against our “soft skills” training and how to overcome it in your finance team Top down communication One piece of advice to make daily finance easier  PowerQuery in Excel  Connect with Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frantzhansen/

    45 min

  5. 15 OCT

    Top Senior Data Scientist on AI and Future proofing FP&A

    Tobias Zwingmann is an ex-Senior Data Scientist-turned managing partner of RAPYD.AI - which is empowering companies from B2B SaaS startups  to leading financial institutions towards a unified AI strategy.  His data insights are shared in his books including “AI-Powered Business Intelligence” (O’Reilly 2022) and “Augmented Analytics” (Co-author, O‘Reilly 2024) as well as weekly newsletter “The Augmented Advantage” read by 4,500+ business leaders from brands like Amazon, Mercedes-Benz, Gucci, and Santander.  In this episode: My rise in data science Did the latest changes to Co-Pilot actually make it good? What finance can learn from other departments using AI Consolidating reports and augmenting processes using AI  Let’s talk forecasting and analytics and regression analysis  Leveraging Excel and Power BI to enhance their data analysis capabilities Getting to “data progressive” and “data active” in your organization  Augmented Analytics Explained  Clean (but not tidy) data in finance Two ways to make data tidy in ChatGPT Connect with Tobias Zwingmann on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias-zwingmann

    58 min

  6. 8 OCT

    An Excel MVP walks into a podcast

    George Mount is an Excel MVP and author of Modern Data Analytics in Excel (he describes it as a guide to becoming a data analyst in Excel). His latest book, Advancing into Analytics: From Excel to Python and R could be subtitled “becoming a data scientist in Excel. As founder and CEO of Stringfest Analytics, he provides analytics education and upskilling including works with finance departments at the top ten banks. In this episode he answers how someone in FP&A – killing it in Excel – can go further in their career while using Excel as home base. In this episode:  Two books and the ROI you get as a finance professional from reading it  Using Excel as your home base for FP&A When to use Excel vs Python  citizen data scientists (or citizen data analysts) in Python  Using low code/no code tools Excel, copilot and Python as a new “trinity” for FP&A Getting your data house in order before getting to AI A surprising Excel favorite befitting an MVPConnect with George Mount on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gjmount/Further Reading George Mount: Modern Data Analytics in Excel: Using Power Query, Power Pivot, and More for Enhanced Data AnalyticsGeorge Mount: Advancing into Analytics: From Excel to Python and R

    46 min

  7. 1 OCT

    Soaring Through FP&A: How Bruno Oliveira is Helping Swissport Take Flight

    This year Bruno Oliveira got promoted to CFO, flying up the FP&A route at Swissport, the world’s leader in airport ground services and air cargo handling, active at 286 airports in 60 countries. In this must-listen episode: FP&A in the trenches from banks, to automotive, agriculture and aviation at Swissport How to cope without control on demand in aviation Financial planning three to six months ahead  Structure of FP&A at Swissport  Factoring in safety as the most important aviation metric, direct labor and fleet management costs  How our FP&A Team works together with our data analytics team  Cross functional relationships piloting Swissport success  Walking through the business budget planning at Swissport   Instead of  dreaming  of a new technology (such as AI) use the specific blade of a swiss army knife for your business   Why PowerQuery is mandatory for FP&A Getting to fifth place in Latin America in the Financial Modeling World Cup Follow and connect with Bruno  on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bosilva/

    43 min

  8. 24 SEPT

    IBM CFO’s powerful lessons for getting FP&A into Owner Mode

    Forget “Founder Mode”. For those in FP&A your CFO expects Owner Mode. “In rugby, if you observe, a player often clings on to the ball, not letting it go out of his hands until the goal is scored. That’s how we need to handle things. Own it — cling onto it — achieve the goal,” says former IBM India CFO Ravikumar Ramanan, author of the brilliant book: The CFO Lens, how to Thrive in the Fast Changing World of FinanceHe tells Glenn Hopper: “The expectation of a finance partner is not to stop at the sign off and say, okay, I have now committed $10m in company money. You then need to get  involved in the execution of the strategy. I changed my role from just being the person who signed off and asked for periodic reports to actually going out into the field and starting to talk and feel like an owner.”In this masterclass episode Ravikumar reveals The Bigger business context we are living through that finance cannot ignore The failures when strategy projects are not being tracked by finance  How to feel really that the results are yours Storytelling and  influencing secrets from the finance seat  Good and bad costs  Balancing short term and long term in your finance role My biggest advice for people to succeed in a finance role at any stage of their career  My favorite Excel Function (even corporate legends get asked) Further reading Ravikumar Ramanan: The CFO Lens: How to Thrive in the Fast-Changing World of FinanceMade to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath:Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

    56 min
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About

FP&A Today is the podcast for Financial Planning and Analysis. The weekly show dives into the challenges and opportunities within the world of FP&A, interviewing FP&A leaders, CFOs and other finance pros in order to give you the freshest insights and takeaways. Each week our top guests provide actionable advice about financial planning and analysis – from career goals to navigating challenges, and powerful Excel tips. Our weekly show provides unrivalled insights for navigating FP&A. FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails. Datarails is the financial planning and analysis platform that automates data consolidation, reporting and planning, while enabling finance teams to continue using their own Excel spreadsheets and financial models. Get in touch at www.datarails.com

Information

  • Creator
    Glenn Hopper
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2022 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    FP&A Today

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