FP&A Today

The perfect formula for FP&A and Beer – Pavels Cvetkovs at Carlsberg

Grab a beer and listen to this special episode. We are joined by Pavels Cvetkovs FP&A director at Carlsberg Group who reveals the formula of FP&A at the famous brand. Carlsberg was founded in 1847, has 140 brands, and 30,000 employees – and FP&A is core to their success, says Cvetkovs.
In this episode:
How my career in the Big Four (and audit) served as “finance military school” 
Moving from business controller to FP&A
The essence of Carlsberg – innovation in brewing and sustainability 
Distinct shareholder structure at Carlsberg run by Carlsberg foundation 
What’s so special about the beer and beverage industry and our FP&A practices 
Power of inventory management, sales seasonality, and supply chain and cost planning in brewing 
Forecasting and planning and achieving highest levels of collaboration 
FP&A set up and management of 10-20 KPIs at Carlsberg 
Business partnering as a mindset at Carlsberg 
Visiting sites in operations at Carlsberg 
Biggest challenges overcome in budget season
Refining my financial modeling skills
Follow and connect with Pavels on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavels-cvetkovs-471b231a
 

Lies, Bias, and ESG in the finance function – Prof Alex Edmans

Alex Edmans is a professor of Finance, non-executive director, author, and TED speaker. He is regularly interviewed and writes for WSJ, Bloomberg, BBC, CNBC, CNN, ESPN, Fox, ITV, NPR, Reuters, Sky News, and Sky Sports. He was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.
 In this episode we talk to Alex about his new book “May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About.  He is also a co-author of the classic text book,  “Principles of Corporate Finance” and top business book (his first book) Grow the Pie, How Great Companies Deliver both purpose and Profit. His Ted Talk on what to trust in a post truth world has alone been viewed nearly 2m time.
So many thought-provoking takeaways for anyone in FP&A! 
Leaving Morgan Stanley to become a professor of finance
Why I give Ted Talks rather than just publishing research 
How CFOs and FP&A leaders can think about purpose 
Is ESG a tick-box exercise for finance?
How FP&A and finance leaders can check their biases 
How you can control your addiction to bias
Silicon Valley Bank and why financial models were affected by bias 
Follow Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aedmans/
Links to Alex’s new book:
May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases―And What We Can Do about
TED: What to trust in a “post-truth” world

From Philadelphia Eagles to Sports FP&A

Over the last 12 years, Jason Hershman led financial planning & analysis at successful, hyper-growth companies in the sports arena. 
But his career started as a ballboy at the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a  job he spent months pursuing at 14 years old. This experience taught Jason a key lesson. He says: “things that seem out of touch, out of reach are not, it just takes a little hustle, a little effort.”
This attitude has stayed with him as he has led multiple finance teams and embarked on everything from redesigning the chart of accounts, owning  the month-end close, building financial models from scratch, raising millions in equity, renegotiated debt, to IPOs.
Finance highlights included leading the $400 million sale of Appetize, a B2B SaaS business in the sports industry (Appetize is the software provider for all of the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL stadiums as well as theme parks such as Six Flags, Disney, and SeaWorld).  After this, Jason launched his own fractional CFO business, Point FP&A, providing FP&A to some of the most exciting companies in the sports industry. He has the luxury of turning down clients who are not in the sports world.
In this episode:
The Philadelphia Eagles as a ballboy for 5 years – things that are out of touch are not 
Learning accounting and FP&A on the job in my first online retail startup in New York – which eventually became public 
Getting hired at sports startup Appetize (B2B SaaS)- combining my passions for sports and finance + getting to exits 
The power of rebuilding a financial model as central to my career 
Going to market as a sports FP&A fractional CFO at  Point The ideal balance and differences between accountancy and FP&A
Secrets to rebuilding the financial model 
Being honest on my journey with AI and FP&A
Connect with Jason on LinkedIn
Check out Point at www.pointfpa.com 

Finance and passion always in fashion for 175-year old company

Evgenia Elezova, Head of Regional Finance, Lindström joins us to talk about FP&A and finance transformation at the 175-year old textile giant.  Helsinki-based Lindström is one of Europe’s leading textile service companies employing over 5000 people in Europe and in Asia with turnover of 496€ million in 2022. Elezova herself has transformed the finance function during 14 years, during which time she’s driven M&A initiatives, to leading finance projects. Highlights include a two year development program for business controllers at Lindström, designed to move finance from back office roles to strategic co-pilots for management. 
In this episode: 
Being responsible for M&A Due diligence and integration 
Experience in successful M&A
Business Partnering at Lindstrom
Focusing on future scenarios  
HowControl assists strategy at Lindstrom 
Our two-year long finance training Lindstrom Finance Business Development Program
Moving from back office in finance to having impact on business 
Lindstrom’s approach to budgeting/target setting 
Core KPIs in a global textile company 
Seeing change in controller work 
Coaching finance leaders
Connect with Evgenia at https://www.linkedin.com/in/evgenia-elezova-513ba12/

FP&A as Fuel for Innovation – Lessons from Apple, Facebook Google and JFrog

Jarad Backlund is VP of FP&A at JFrog, a DevOps platform streamlining software development and delivery. In this episode Jarad provides frank insights and lessons from over 18 years of experience in FP&A spanning Apple, Google, and Facebook (as well as at bootstrapped startups). From overseeing multi-billion dollar capital projects to leading finance at cutting edge startups, he reveals his secrets to  building top quality FP&A teams, bringing strategic insights and creating a builder mentality.
In this episode: 
My journey from failing as an architectural major to FANG FP&A 
Canned reports vs the ability to create new processes and systems 
Facing an “impossible” project at Facebook/Meta
The skill needed to win an interview for FP&A at a FANG company
From Bootstrapped FP&A to billion dollar companies 
Raising the cap on Apple Care Products helping it become a $2billion+ business
Clean data and analytics  
LLMs contextual awareness and FP&A
Skills and education in the age of AI 
Becoming a builder in finance
How VLookUp almost cost me a job 
Connect with Jarad Backlund: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaradbacklund/

CEO of CFI: Become a World Class Financial Analyst

I speak with Anna Talerico, the CEO of CFI, a powerhouse provider of training and productivity tools for finance and banking professionals (serving 2m finance professionals, offering 5,000 on-demand lessons and 200 courses) including the famous – including the famous Certified Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) accreditation. She is also CEO of Macabacus, a top  enterprise productivity add-in on for finance teams. 
In this episode:
why anyone can be a world class financial analyst 
leveraging technology to democratize education at CFI. 
Giving finance leaders “Desk Ready Skills” from financial modelling to AI cryptocurrency and risk management (and what’s hot right now)
CFI acquiring Macabacus and the opportunities and challenges of being a dual CEO over 2 companie
How Excel remains the backbone of finance 
Are you losing sleep over the AI revolution in finance?
Basics of coding in finance 
Best courses to stay relevant in finance and ride the wave of AI

FP&A as the Strategic Backbone: Enrique Rodriguez, Walgreens Boots Alliance

“I transitioned into FP&A when I realized that it wasn’t just about crunching the numbers, it was more about telling a story and trying to influence the future. Working with Fortune 100 companies has given me the fantastic platform to leave transformative projects in finance, procurement, and supply chain. I saw firsthand how FP&A acts as the strategic backbone of any type of organization”
– Enrique Rodriguez, Finance Director, Walgreens Boots Alliance  
Enrique Rodriguez is a multilingual finance director and business leader. With more than 15 years of experience in Fortune 100 companies, he has worked collaboratively with global functions directing FP&A, accounting and treasury teams. He’s headed finance departments overseeing $7 billion in annual spend and managing operational budgets of up to $750 million in billion dollar business units and is a passionate believer in Zero Based Budgeting revealing how he implemented this – despite challenges.
My background in Guatemala 
When I realized it is not just about crunching the numbers 
FP&A as the backbone of the institution 
Main financial metrics bio biopharmaceutical companies, medical devices, and healthcare companies
How FP&A departments are set up at the companies you worked for – and the philosophy and the outputs expected from FP&A
producing outputs like dynamic scenario planning and  specific KPI dashboards  guiding decisions at the highest level.
Zero based budgeting – the why and how of our experience 
Biggest challenges I have seen in budgeting in my career – managing budgets during a turnaround
How finance business partnering has changed in my career 
The problem solving aspect of FP&A
The opportunities and challenges of fast-growing technology 
Saving $8million on inventory write-off in a country on a health product 
Financial Executives International (Chicago)
The power of a great mentor and books: Hit Refresh Satya Nadella (Microsoft) and Shoe Dog (Joe Knight)
supporting a procurement organization in, in an early level of maturity – my toughest challenge 
Index Match – more flexible and scalable for complex analysis 
Connect with Enrique Rodriguez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enrique-a-rodriguez/

Managing a remote FP&A Team to Big wins

Lindsey Martens, VP Finance at fintech company, Valera (Formerly PSCU/Co-op Solutions) talks about her transition from accounting to finance- and how she manages a remote FP&A team that has business partnering and storytelling at its heart. “Business partnering is my favorite thing about FP&A” Martens says, “I love being the translator. I think of myself as taking all this data, accounting data, and then all these other sources that come into it, and I’m packaging it up in a way that is very digestible by the rest of the organization, especially the leaders who are making decisions.”
In this episode:
Making the pivot to FP&A – why and how 
Starting off in coding and the link to FP&A 
My career at Valera (ex Co-Op solutions)- a fintech leader with clients that are credit unions 
Opps and Challenges of managing a remote FP&A Team 
Small talk at the beginning of meetings (not so small) 
Using rolling forecasts at Valera 
Challenging budget experiences 
Why business partnering is my favorite part of FP&A
My biggest FP&A success: rooting out the source of at “rise” in profits
Storytelling in finance 
My biggest mentors and what they taught me about management
My biggest mistake and how it still leaves me shaking 
Favorite Excel Function
Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseymartens/

DNA of A Digital Finance Function from PepsiCo’s Tariq Munir

In more than 12 years at PepsiCo Tariq Munir, has held roles including FP&A Manager, Head of Integrated Business Planning, Head of Finance Supply Chain, and more recently APAC Finance Transformation Lead (based in Australia) delivering Financial Planning process simplification. This included founding the first-ever APAC Finance Digital Academy to build a digital mindset and culture. Tariq is sought out as an international keynote speaker and is a regular columnist for CFO Magazine ANZ, sharing insights on digital trends, strategies for digital resilience.
In this episode:
• Running digital transformation at large companies• The opportunities and challenges in your data• Core problems faced by finance teams including transactions• The big headache AI is causing for finance teams• M&A and AI Transformation• retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and plugging into external data source for your organization• Framework and governance for digital transformation

Nord Security’s $3B Growth: The FP&A Vision

Laurynas Zabulis, CFO at Nord Security, is playing a starring role at one of Lithuania’s most famous success stories. Cybersecurity unicorn, Nord Security, went from being bootstrapped to a $3billion valuation in 12 years. Laurynas became CFO after a stint at Surfshark (which  merged with NordVPN in 2022). His achievements at NordSecurity include leading the first funding round for $100m – technically a “seed” round he says  (unusually the bootstrapped enjoyed revenues of over $100m when it approached investors). Laurynas is also building a purpose-driven finance team of 90 talented people across the department to deliver a “forward looking finance function” that propels growth at the leading startup. Laurynas has set out a powerful mission for FP&A whose vision to “earn respect from stakeholders at the company”, “have a seat at the decision-making table”, and use data and detailed knowledge of growth drivers to “make strategic decisions that drive our business”.
In this episode:
Moving back to my home country of Lithuania, from London. after success in investment banking (and not listening to those who tried to talk him out of it) 
Battling the “negative connotations” of VPNs when talking to investors and and building conviction around the management and culture of the company 
Bringing finance to strategic decision-making at the company including  a CFO tech stack focused on “availability of data and of analytics in a more timely fashion”
Investing in building finance relations with stakeholders in the company (from engineers to product development)
Building a finance team of 90 people based on data, tech, and stakeholder engagement
FP&A analysis powering painful decisions to sunset certain products 
Our FP&A team structure at Nord Security and the results we expect
Benefit of working with founders and the culture this provides
The Lithuanian tech ecosystem and finance opportunities 
Connect with Laurynas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurynas-zabulis-0206333/