FP&A Today

Daniel Sousa-Lennox: How Microsoft is using AI to win at forecasts and help their FP&A team

How is Microsoft using AI to reach up to 99% accuracy in some forecasts? In this episode of FP&A Today, Daniel Sousa-Lennox, a data scientist at Microsoft with deep experience of financial analysis, reveals all.
The Microsoft’s finance team – about 5000 people – saw its first foray into machine learning in forecasting. The team developed FINN (or Microsoft Finance Time Series Forecasting Framework) says Sousa-Lennox who sits within the finance organization, providing software engineering and data science expertise. Using machine learning and creating AI finance tools (such as FINN which has been open-sourced) Sousa-Lennox says the Microsoft finance team has replaced burdensome forecasting and Excel heavy lifting.  "The tool has helped, for instance, this one team in terms of accuracy to get the revenue that they were trying to forecast for an Azure product (the cloud computing platform run by Microsoft) to 99% accuracy".  But Sousa-Lennox adds that it is important to remember that AI is not "magic" and "wont lead to 99% in every single forecast" and the quality of data is paramount.
Nevertheless the results are transforming financial forecasting at the $2trillion company.
FINN alone provides access to 25+ models supporting Microsoft’s daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly forecasts, transforming the approach of FP&A.
Sousa-Lennox says: “It takes on average for a forecast used run using our tool, it takes about an hour to an hour and a half, which is significantly less than a week [previously]. It is also an hour and a half where you don’t have to be actively doing anything.”
In this episode Daniel Sousa-Lennox shares:
Similarities and differences between FP&A in US and Panama (and banking vs Microsoft)
Getting  an internship to full-time career at Microsoft
How he trained in Data science and technology
How to evangelize finance teams into adopting AI
How Microsoft is transforming its forecasting and FP&A
Despite its success why AI is not a “magic bullet” for finance
The two most powerful lessons in presenting AI to finance teams
The biggest advice for anyone starting in FP&A
Last thing finance thing I Googled ChatGPT’d
My favorite Excel function
 
Links
Follow Daniel Sousa-Lennox: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsousalennox/
FINN (Open-sourced by Microsoft): https://microsoft.github.io/finnts/

The FP&A Guide to Winning at Cloud Financial Management – Jeff Duresky at AWS

Worldwide spend on cloud infrastructure hit a staggering $169 billion in 2022 with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) combined, accounting for 62 percent of the cloud market share. In its first quarter of this year revenue from AWS totaled $21.35 billion, representing almost 17% of Amazon’s overall revenue. What lessons can we learn from within AWS about effective cloud financial management? How can FP&A teams better understand this complex line item? We are joined by Jeff Duresky, Senior FinOps Commercial Architect, Amazon AWS. He is a finance leader who supports the cloud leader’s largest and most strategic customers – and has also held strategic FP&A roles at companies including Capital One.
“As a finance professional the more you understand cloud, the better the insights you’ll be able to drive” – Jeff Duresky
In this episode
Jeff’s worst budget experience (aka professional service accrual releases).
The link between cloud financial management and FP&A
trading fixed expenses in cloud 
Smart decisions related to cloud expenditures and management 
Common cost language – how to get it right 
Secrets to cloud forecasting 
Promoting the best finance and engineering team conversations around the cloud 
Finding reductions in costs for cloud users
Core metrics to assess and unit costs (cost per gigabyte, cost per instance)
First steps to begin forecasting cloud costs
My biggest finance strategic moment 
The last finance thing I googled
The importance of taking notes in a career in FP&A
Notes
How to establish and drive a forecasting culture 
How to talk about cloud with a non-cloud audience (business partnering)
The Key to AWS Optimization
Follow and connect with Jeff Duresky on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffduresky/
FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails, Datarails is the AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform.  Keep your own Excel financial models and spreadsheets and benefit from AI for data consolidation, reporting and planning.

FP&A that’s through the Woof: with Chewy Director of Finance Matthew Herbert

The market for pet brands is enormous. Two-thirds of American households own a pet and collectively spent $136.8 billion on them in 2022. In this market, Chewy is winning the hearts of owners. The pet-food, health, and supplies company is famous for providing portraits, gifts, free food, and handwritten notes that delight pet owners. In this episode, Matthew Herbert, Chewy Director of Finance, reveals the FP&A undercoat that keeps this Fortune 500 favorite purring.
 
Herbert says customer service at the company is in “my opinion the strongest moat within the organization…it has its own finance arm, and it has the backing and support of technology and other resources to make it successful because we really believe that we’re here to provide a delightful experience for our customers. Pets are part of the family, and we want our customers to know that we view them that way.”
In this episode:
How Chewy does FP&A
What KPIs does FP&A manage at Chewy and how its set up
Using data to help tell the story at Chewy
How Matt overcame adversity, such as being laid off and team conflicts faced
Leading FP&A at the fortune 500 high growth eCommerce company (i.e. Chewy)
Secrets to effective business partnering
Insights from 15 years of Investment Banking, Programming, Retail, Consumer Products, and eCommerce experience
The impact of being a self-taught programmer on a career in finance
Why finance remains the best role for strategic impact supporting C-Suite Executives
His brand-new training courses (https://biztrix.us/) based on best-in-class Excel, PowerPoint, Word, SQL and VBA experience
Links
Follow Matthew Herbert on LinkedIn
Matthew’s training course at https://biztrix.us/

Paul competes at the Excel World Cup - with Ajay Patel and Andrew Grigolyunovich

What happened when two highly-skilled Excel leaders took on the "best of the best" in the sport? Paul Barnhurst reveals the inside story when he pitted his FP&A-based Excel wits in the The Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC). Taking the ultimate test alongside him is fellow-first timer “Excel Ninja” Ajay Patel, who teaches thousands of subscribers advanced Excel.
Giving his opnion on the two Excel jousters is Andrew Grigolyunovich, FMWC Founder and CEO of AG Capital. The trio talk Excel-at-speed, improving skills, and the functions they can't live without.
Getting to know Andrew Grigolyunovich: From being a CFO at 21 to founding the Financial Modeling World Cup
Ajay Patel (aka the Excel Ninja) a fifth degree black belt in Tang Soo Do talks his favorite Excel functions and his FMWC ultimate test
Optimization planning and Analysis vs FP&A
The inside story of Paul and Ajay’s grueling FMWC experience
Secrets to creating classic Excel use cases 
Advice for getting started in competitive Excel 
Best advice to improve your Excel skills 
Guests:
Andrew Grigolyunovich, Financial Modeling World Cup: Founder & CEO of AG Capitalhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewgrig/
Ajay Patel, The Excel Ninja, Founder of the Excel Dojohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/theexceldojo/
 
FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails,the AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform. Keep your own Excel financial models and spreadsheets and benefit from AI for data consolidation, reporting and planning.

“Partnering & Chill”: Netflix’s first CFO on Blockbuster FP&A

"I have been at the inception points of three companies-Intuit, Netflix and Mozilla Firefox. And now I’m just trying to give back as many lessons as possible” Jim Cook 
Jim Cook shares his front row experience as first finance hire at streaming giant Netflix. He reveals the finance business partnering lessons learned from supporting fellow co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings building the company from obscurity to one of the biggest brands in the world.
How did finance at Netflix contribute to the  design of  the first red envelopes? What are his lessons that can transform your FP&A?
In this episode:
Coping with unrealistic budgets experience at fast-growing startups
What it’s like as Finance Hire #1 at Netflix
Rebirthing the browser market at Mozilla Firefox
Lessons from M&A and IPO at Intuit  
Lessons to deliver blockbuster FP&A 
The FP&A as CEO 
The power of a “listening tour and finance partnership”
Using your voice in FP&A 
What storytelling really means for a finance professional
Two strategic finance moments that changed the game for Intuit and Mozilla
Links from the Show
Netflixed by Gina Keating (Amazon)
That Will Never Work, Mark Randolph (Amazon)
Netflix versus the World. (Full Documentary, YouTube)
Five lessons I learned from Netflix – Jim Cook
Contact Jim Cook on LinkedIn
Email jimCook@benchboard.com

Drew Murphy: Find best practices, people that make you work better, and things you enjoy

Drew Murphy nearly became a meteorologist. But he opted for a different type of forecasting, warning of impending storms as an FP&A professional. A fast-paced finance career saw him land a part role at Procter & Gamble (while studying)-his senior year saw him work 30 hours a week as a plant accountant. Following six years of FP&A at Procter & Gamble (including analysis for Gillette and Braun), he took roles at Vistaprint, Mimecraft (where he was central to their IPO) and a CFO gig. Drew then launched community FP&HEY with his co-founder Yarty Kim. The mission of FP&A Hey is to “help time starved FP&A professionals get their free time back, their personal freedom back” offering resources and mentoring for FP&A professionals.
Core to his career approach is a clear mantra: “Find best practices, find people that make you better, work on things you enjoy.” In this episode he discusses the implications of this approach to upgrading your career and work life balance in a busy finance role.
In this episode:
Drew’s worst budgeting experience in his career 
Shaving forecasting with Gillette and Braun
how to impress sales executives with quarterly sales performance analysis 
Best practice for a monthly profit forecast and team management process
Why you need to be at a place with “people you respect and admire” 
The importance of relationships in finance
How the IPO process felt like a “wedding” 
His strategic finance moment delivering (at Mimecast) growth of 40%, EBITDA expansion over time as a percentage of revenue
Why FP&A pros must learn accounting and a business model 
Links from the Show
FP&A Hey. Because they don’t teach FP&A in school. Grow your skills, networks, and careers, all while having fun.
How to impress sales executives with quarterly sales performance analysis: https://www.fpandhey.com/how-to-impress-executives-with-quarterly-sales-performance-analysis/
Contact Drew at Drew@fpandhey.com

AI in FP&A: Your Big Questions Answered

This special edition of FP&A Today saw 1,524 finance pros sign up for this LinkedIn Live session. In this episode Paul and a special panel answer all your burning questions on how Finance teams are practically using AI to advance their careers (and bring instant productivity to their businesses).
Joining Paul is Adam Shilton, Founder, Tech for Finance and a world expert on “Helping finance pros turn systems into superpowers with AI”. In addition he is joined by Sloane Kolt, Head of Datarails Labs, which recently launched FP&A Genius, an AI powered solution transforming FP&A.
Some of your big audience questions answered:
What was the last thing you used Generative AI for? 
Ethical questions in AI and Finance (eg. Do we own the model that AI built?)
What are the most common use cases for AI in FP&A, and accounting post ChatGPT?
What are the differences between AI in big vs small companies? 
How should finance leadership use AI and adapt it in their team ethos and processes?
Privacy, security, AI and Finance - what are the risks?
What are the secrets of effective Prompting in finance?
Clarifying tasks with your AI Chat 
Lessons from building a new finance AI tool 
Favorite non ChatGPT AI tools you have seen
Best advice for getting started with AI in finance
Rapid fire questions: favorite Excel function and person I would most like to meet. 
FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails,the AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform. Keep your own Excel financial models and spreadsheets and benefit from AI for data consolidation, reporting and planning.
YouTube video of the episode
Blog post and full transcript
Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn 
Follow Datarails on LinkedIn

Lessons from 25 years in Healthcare FP&A

Rick Warren, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer, Innovation Care Partners, brings lessons from more than 25 years in Healthcare Finance. This includes roles as senior finance and FP&A roles at Ascension (one of the one of the largest private healthcare systems in the United States), Banner Health, one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country, and CVS Health, one of the US’s largest retail pharmacy store chains. This is a must-listen for anyone who is interested in finance procedures in healthcare and the most important metrics in healthcare for anyone in finance.  
This episode covers: 
How finance can help transform healthcare equity –  the challenge of getting lower socioeconomic group fair  healthcare coverage
Rick Moving from a political science degree to finance and ultimately CFO
The importance of Relevance over precision in FP&A
The nightmare budget which crashed before it was saved
Lessons from Boy Scout leadership positions 
Margins for hospitals still struggling post-covid 
The fundamental healthcare financial metrics including reducing hospital expenses, admissions per thousand, ER visits vs primary health care physician, SNF nursing home days spent, revenue and expense per member per month 
The secrets to effective business partnerships in FP&A
Favorite Excel Function
FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails,the AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform.  Keep your own Excel financial models and spreadsheets and benefit from AI for data consolidation, reporting and planning.

Aarish Shah: What I learned from two decades operating as CEO or CFO

Aarish Shah is Founder of EmergeONE a Fractional CFO firm for venture backed UK tech startups and scaleups (from Seed to Series B). He has spent close to two decades operating as a CEO or CFO, and now specializes in helping startups understand and act powerfully on their numbers.  In this episode, Aarish shares his insights on financial planning and analysis (FP&A) in startups and the fundamental lessons he has learned in his career. 
His “worst budget ever” when one of his factories burnt down in Papua New Guinea
Who he would most like to meet
His Nothing Ventured podcast and key lessons talking to players in the venture ecosystem
Why he likes the constant “challenges” of Series B startups over other stage companies
The difference between "building" the playbook and "running" the playbook in startups
How to consider your finance tech stack scales pre-seed to Exit 
How FP&A should consider their tech stack
Why you need to spending your money at pre-seed 
Investing in early stage businesses in the UK
How do we go about creating a budget and forecast for a startup?
Key metrics I use to analyze startups 
How startups can cope with the drying up of cheap capital
How to get your CFO to say yes 
Favorite Excel function
How AI understanding is the one skill every FP&A practitioner needs 
Episode links:
Nothing Ventured Podcast
EmergeOne Fractional CFOs
hello@emergeone.co.uk (to contact Aarish)
FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails,the AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform.  Keep your own Excel financial models and spreadsheets and benefit from AI for data consolidation, reporting and planning.
Follow Aarish on LinkedIn
YouTube video of the episode
Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn 
Follow Datarails on LinkedIn

Ashok Manthena: FP&A at Google and GAP to AI leadership

Ashok Manthena has supported FP&A teams at some of the biggest and most well-known companies on the planet including Google, GAP, and Ingersoll Rand. This included a period at Google which was striking because of “the amount of resources available for finance” particularly when it comes to killing manual finance processes. He says there is an in-built DNA to “automate manual processes”. He says: “This bubbles up naturally when they find there is an, there is a manual process and everyone comes together and thinks about how to automate that process.” In a second career stage Ashok has been a leader in AI finance carrying out practical research, giving keynote speeches and providing practical advice on transforming businesses through the use of AI.
Rapid fire questions: Why I want to meet Gandhi – to doing Doing sensitivity analysis in ChatGPT 
Why we should all be embarrassed by the  stat that 70% of FP&A is spent on getting the data (vs only 30% on insights) 
The power of meetups meetups and the return of face to face meetings for finance learning 
What my career FP&A career at Google taught me 
The near future of automation and AI including running daily reports to the CFO 
Why data priority needs to be the #1 priority alongiside faster surfacing of data issues to leadership
How I became a leading AI finance speaker and writer and started a tech startup
Two ways AI is going to revolutionize FP&A Departments forever 
How ChatGPT will be a new interface for finance – practical examples 
The playbook for smaller finance teams and businesses to  thrive in the AI age
Advice to get started with AI in FP&A
The role of data science in the future of FP&A
FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails,the AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform.  Keep your own Excel financial models and spreadsheets and benefit from AI for data consolidation, reporting and planning.
Follow Ashok on LinkedIn
YouTube video of the episode
Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn 
Follow Datarails on LinkedIn