FP&A Today

FP&A at $5m to $50M Companies – Jon Allen and Duke Heninger

Jon Allen and Duke Heninger, of  Utah-based Amplēo, have brought their finance game to fast-growing companies which are between $5m and $50m in revenue. They are “fractional CFOs” – that is experienced finance professionals advising these companies on a part-time basis. For instance, one business they work with, Korean barbeque restaurant Cupbop, appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank and got $1million from Mark Cuban in 2022. Other companies they advised include Burt Brothers (a tire and services company). Collectively Amplēo helped more than 3000 companies.But they always find the same story when they look at financials at such companies.
 “It’s always the data”, says Duke Heninger, Financial Partner at Amplēo. “It’s getting things put in a way so that people can understand what they’ve even spent. Most of my clients are on a very simplified accounting system. They aren’t classifying anything in separate departments. So it’s breaking it out, trying to understand who owns what, where should it go, and ultimately everybody just sandbags just so that they don’t trip a budget”.
In this episode of FP&A we meet Jon Allen Managing Partner, Finance, and Duke Heninger, finance partner at Amplēo.They provide a masterclass on the value of FP&A at fast-growing companies, revealing:
Our worst budget experiences
Our journey through finance to CFO 
What we wish we had known earlier in our career 
Restaurants in COVID Times – how we used FP&A to help businesses 
The powerful value of FP&A in restaurants
Why FP&A is a superb career choice
Founding companies as finance leaders 
Teaching FP&A at University 
Why great FP&A must lead to actions and decisions
How FP&A can become good business partners 
Reporting vs forecasting 
The importance of choosing a great finance leader to work for early in your career
Getting out your chair and talking to people
The last things we asked ChatGPTFollow Duke Heninger:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dukeh/Follow Jon Allenhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jonnyallen/
Amplēo provides business professionals, such as CFOs, CMOs and CHROs, to companies on a fractional basis in order to help them achieve their full potential. https://ampleo.com/

AI: An extension of the FP&A Brain: Didi Gurfinkel Co-Founder and CEO of Datarails

There are two different directions for AI in finance, says Didi Gurfinkel, Co-Founder and CEO of Datarails.You can use AI to extend your hands.
Or, your brain. 
He says: ”Using AI to extend your hands involves automating processes, making everything faster, reducing headcount shortening time to deliver, which is amazing. But it’s not a life changer. In this situation maybe you can reduce the gap between 10 employees to five employees but this will not be what will save your business or ultimately make it successful.
“The more interesting part is to look at AI as an extension to your brain. Here, I think this is a life changer. Letting the CFO or the FP&A manager have a tool that can be like an extension to the FP&A brain. If you take your analysis or approach to analyze your business, the AI can run it at scale with all your historical data, internal data and external data.”
In this episode Didi Gurfinkel talks about setting up Datarails, the FP&A the AI-powered Financial Planning and Analysis platform for Excel users and the multiple challenges and learnings along the way.
He reveals:
Starting his career at Cisco the biggest IT company in the world (“I imagined that everything will be automated end of month – I was wrong”)
Setting up Datarails in 2015 and the challenges of getting traction for an initial concept of “connecting organizational spreadsheets into one centralized database”
Four years of trying (and How he finally found product market fit) 
Understanding the power of Excel as core to finance allowed us to focus on finance
How FP&A use cases are the classic consolidation challenge because every FP&A process starts from collecting data from multiple sources in different structures, different shapes, and  different systems. 
Our capability to transform semi-structured data into structured data landed a very strong competitive edge,
Our “SaaS wake up call” – how we learnt to grow at the same pace with 50% less expenses  
AI is either an extension of your head vs AI as an extension of your brain and why the latter is the real game-changer
From a good CFO to an amazing CFO with AI
My expectations as a CEO from my finance team
Why ChatGPT is amazing at text but the challenges come with replicating this with accurate numbers
My favorite Excel function
Surprising fact you wouldn’t know about me 
Didi was previously a GM at Cisco. He has extensive senior management experience with a focus on growth and innovation. Didi oversees business, strategy and operations. He holds a B.Sc in economics and computer science, and an MBA in business management.
Follow Didi Gurfinkel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/didigurfinkel/

FP&A Vs Finance Business Partners – Tunc Tezel, VP Group FP&A at Ontex

Tunc Tezel has managed FP&A at companies including Ontex, Pladis, British American Tobacco, Procter & Gamble, and Gillette. He has lived and worked in 11 different countries including the UK, Iran, Sub-saharan Africa, Turkey, Latvia, BelgiumNow, Tezel is VP of global FP&A at Ontex, a publicly listed leader in private label manufacturing baby care, feminine care and adult care products for stores including Walmart, Aldi, Lidl,Tesco and Carrefour.In this episode provides his takeaways from a career at the cutting edge of FP&A:
What do you do with your company’s budget when overnight interest rates hit 3000%. And the Turkish lira was devalued by 60% overnight 
How FP&A powers private label manufacturing vs working at big brands
How we coped with the pandemic and the shift to economically challenged consumers trying private labels 
Moving from brand ambassadors to product ambassadors
How FP&A is supporting ESG
Business supporting finance managers – should you call them FP&A Managers or
Finance Business Partners (and why it matters)
The challenges of data in FP&A work 
FP&A as co-pilot in a rally car
Secrets of bringing the numbers to life Cooking and seafood 
Why I would have loved to meet Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic
The last thing I asked Google/Chat GPT about my finance work Episode NotesConnect with Tunc Tezel on LinkedIn.Tunc Tezel: Banking CIO Outlook: FP&A Vs Finance Business

A new roadmap for FP&A – with Jack Alexander

Jack Alexander was our second ever guest on FP&A Today and it remains one of our most downloaded episodes. Here he returns to exclusively launch his new book (published January 2024): Financial Management: Partner in Driving Performance and Value (Wiley Finance)
His new book is a  post-pandemic and typically practical take on performance management, planning, forecasting, business valuation, mergers, acquisitions, and capital investment.
He says: “I wrote (my original book) Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management. Then the pandemic occurred, the Great accelerator, the great disruptor. And I was getting a different set of phone calls and requests.
“Most people hadn't really been through some of these experiences before. Scenario analysis and planning, business transformations and restructuring liquidity management and scenario planning through various liquidity scenarios. There was a need for FP&A and finance to look outside the organization at major external forces and events that are happening around the world as the greatest threats and opportunities emerged from outside such as hyperinflation and  geopolitical events.”
In this episode Jack talks:
Why my first budget was a disaster
From financial accounting manager to CFO at EG&GMentoring as a path to CFO and CEO
Financial Leadership in the 21st century inspired by the pandemic and post pandemic environment.
The essentials of value creation for a finance team
Return to the Principles of a “Top Gun” CFO
What’s changed - and what hasn’t in 45 years of FP&A
How audit and transaction experience got me first promoted to CFO
Health and finance
Follow Jack Alexander at https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-jack-alexande

Winning the Super Bowl of FP&A – with Cayla Pingel

Cayla Pingel has led FP&A in sports, gaming and entertainment at companies including Warner Bros, Fox Sports and most recently, 2K Games, a global video game company. At Fox Sports she financially quarterbacked the full P&L for the biggest sporting events including the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the NFL Baseball World Cup.The senior Director, Finance at 2K describes her approach to business partnering as more like a “sports agent” (“like Jerry Maguire but more calm” says Pingel).
Pingel says “I tell my business partners to think of me as your agent. I’m going to go out and negotiate this for you from a financial perspective. Tell me what you need and let me help sell this so that we can make the case and do it.”
In this episode:
Being at Fox Sports when live sports came screeching to a halt during COVID
Show me the Money – managing the superbowl of FP&A at Fox Sports, Warner Bros and 2K and the power of ratings for finance
How blowouts affect financial performance
Uncovering the differences between Accounting vs FP&A at Fox Sports
Why I chose the FP&A direction rather than a COO role
Most important metrics in sports businesses
Heavy fixed costs and the challenges of live broadcasting
Huge tech, streaming and viewership changes in media/sports and entertainment – and how to forecast the future of the game for finance pros
Metrics in game playing: and finance discussions about whether to put new features in a game
Leading the Los Angeles chapter for women in sports and events
Flying out to Prague six weeks into a new job at Warner Bros to fix a mess and the strategic resolution 
March Madness ‘Budget Season’ Challenge at Fox Sports – and why the  loser has to do the waterfall charts
Follow and contact Cayla Pingel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cayla-pingel-410a1a73/

My first year as a first-time CFO – CJ Gustafson, CFO, PartsTech

“I last came on FP&A Today before I started my new CFO gig, and I was pretty nervous. I was talking a lot in theory of what I thought it would be, and now I can tell you a little bit more of the reality. So it's been quite the ride.”
Returning guest CJ Gustafson–master of the hugely popular Mostly Metrics newsletter–delivers in his custom funny and frank style the lessons from his first year as CFO and the practical lessons for anyone in finance (and particularly FP&A).
His worst budget experience - working six months on an operating plan  thrown away within a week during COVID (and the surprising conclusion)
Getting stamps on my finance passport getting me to CFO
The biggest lessons on being a CFO-as removing blockers and letting an organization go faster.
CFO as chief psychologist, chief contract signer, and chief risk officer
How I prioritized my finance hires
Views of FP&A as a CFO 
How knowing numbers better than anybody else projected me to CFO
Why BI was put under the CFO function (“it’s like putting data insights on steroids and you combine FP&A and BI”)
Why ARR per employee is my favorite SaaS metric
CAC payback period as the golden SaaS metric 
How I (painfully) learned about the power of the “meeting before the meeting” 
Creating a category for yourself as CFO
Sign up for the Mostly Metrics Newsletter from CJ Gustafson: https://www.mostlymetrics.com/
Check out Run the Numbers hosted by CJ: a weekly podcast about financial metrics and business models, designed for ambitious people operating tech startups https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/run-the-numbers-startup-finance-strategy-and-operations/id1704418764
Follow CJ or get in touch with him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Or Twitter https://twitter.com/cjgustafson222

How to win at FP&A with Psychology, Strategy and Tradeoffs

Taylor Otstot is VP of Finance at Dashlane, and former Senior Director of Finance at GoDaddy. He joined GoDaddy a year before their IPO and was there for eight years as the domain registrar and web hosting company scaled from $1.5 billion to $4 billion revenue. “By the time I left I was supporting about a billion and a half of that revenue and I was running a team of about 14", Taylor says. "So not only was I part of a business that was going through a lot of growth, but personally had to go through a lot of growth.”
In this episode Taylor reveals the psychological skills and strategy he uses to win in his career.
Insights from this episode:
Printing Excel files (aka the worst budget he has ever experienced)
Why every conversation in finance is really a conversation about tradeoffs.
Letting go of what “made you great” when managing an FP&A Team
Psychology learnings that have transformed my finance career and how you can apply them to your career
Eight Lessons Learned the Hard Way, Reflection from Eight Years at GoDaddy.
How a hard experience showed him that in finance “ titles unlock doors, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be invited in”
Why I am a big fan of decision frameworks and breaking out of your “normal default positions”
Burritos vs tacos and finance decision-making (with lessons for business reviews and business partnerships)
Why the “safe choice” isn’t normally the right choice in finance 
Secrets to building a high performing team 
The big Sales comp revelation
Noteshttps://taylorotstot.com/
Follow Taylor on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorotstot/
Creativity Inc, Ed Catmull
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
Reflections from 8 Years at GoDaddy

Your 12 Biggest FP&A Questions from 2023 Answered

We have an all-star panel getting into the Christmas and New Year spirit. Howard Tunnicliffe, Head of FP&A, The Economist, and Brett Hampson, Director of Finance, AllState, joinin host Paul Barnhurst, The FP&A Guy in this special edition of FP&A Today. They tackle the 12 most burning questions asked on reddit.com/r/FPandA in 2023. Mid-way we give you the end of year results of the top 5 Favorite FP&A Function for FP&A Pros, based on our 80 episodes!
Let us know your thoughts on your thoughts on these questions, what you want a panel to answer for 2024 (and of course any Excel Function shamefully omitted from our top 5). 
Special guests:
Howard Tunnicliffe, Head of FP&A, The Economist https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardtunnicliffe/
Brett Hampson, Director of Finance, AllState
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-hampson/
12 Questions Answered on this special Holiday episode:
How difficult is it for someone to switch industries in FP&A? 
Do you need a CPA to get an FP&A job?
How easy is it for someone or hard to break into FP&A that has a non-traditional background?
Any advice on how you run/lead the annual budgeting process? 
How do you get your first VP of FP&A role? 
How do you develop KPIs from scratch? 
How do you decide on when you should upgrade to an FP&A tool?
BONUS!!! The results of Favorite Excel Function (from 80 episodes)
What advice would you give about management reporting in a turnaround situation?
 Can you explain how the headcount process works for budgeting? How have you typically seen it work?
 If someone knows nothing about FP&A, any advice you’d offer on how to teach it or learn it? Where do you start?
Is FP&A certification actually worth it? 
How do you de-stress, especially during budget season?
Join Brett Hampson's new weekly email newslettter, Forecasting Performance at https://forecasting-performance-2.ck.page/62f28563e1

How CFOs build a Goldilocks “just-right” budget – Jeff Epstein ex-CFO of Oracle

Jeff Epstein is an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners leading its CFO Council where he helps CEOs and CFOs at their 200- portfolio company share best practices. Epstein, one of the most famous names in finance, is former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Oracle, with a market value of over $200 billion. Prior to joining Oracle, Jeff served as CFO at public and private companies, including DoubleClick (acquired by Google), King World Productions (acquired by CBS), and Nielsen’s Media Measurement and Information Group. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker at The First Boston Corporation. 
In this episode:
From Wall Street to first-time CFO 
Running finance at Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and Oprah-TV hitmaker King World
The skills needed to be a top CFO
The 3 routes to CFO: Auditors, Wall Street or FP&AWhat Andy Gove OKR setting can teach us about budget setting 
What is the right percentage of time to hit budget goals?
Balancing between Elon Musk (Papa Bear) and Charlie Munger (Mama Bear) in setting targets 
Giving people the opportunity to overachieve 
Best case/worst case/base case at Oracle strategy 
The delicate balancing act of Wall Street guidance 
Using a stagger chart 
Why FP&A is so critical; how  the biggest strategic decisions involve FP&A adviceRevisiting the  processes as Oracle bought Sun Microsystems
Merger integration strategy worked on our sales compensation
Truck drivers and sales commission – a must-listen to story
How in 1983 at the Washington Post I learned from Warren Buffet and ended up scrambling to buy 4 shares of Berkshire Hathaway. Guess much it’s worth now?
Show notes 
Forecasting 101 and how to build a Stagger chart
Jeff Epstein: How CFOs build a Goldilocks “just-right” budget
Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon
Winston Churchill: My Early Life 
Andy Grove: High Output Management

Why and How I built an FP&A Center of Excellence at Verizon - Ed Hyer

Ed Hyer, as VP FP&A at Verizon, built one of the most ambitious centers of excellence (COEs) undertaken in finance. 
Put simply, a center of excellence centralizes similar types of work into a single entity. While relatively common for payroll functions or “back-end transactional work”, FP&A presented an altogether bigger challenge for the COE concept. 
The creation of Verizon’s Center of Excellence at the  $134 billion revenue 118,000 employee company counts as one of the most audacious challenges undertaken in FP&A–ultimately comprising 175 professionals, took more than a year to complete and fanning through 24 different waves  transformation to take effect. Though the impetus from the beginning was on proving the concept could work, Verizon's FP&A COE has now transformed the business in impactful and unexpected ways.
“I remember one case, where someone showed there were 16 different processes here. He said he could  get it down to two, and I've just saved myself six hours on workday one. It didn't require any new tools or technology.
In this must-listen to episode Hyer reveals the secret of Verizon’s FP&A transformation:In this episode:
How my passion for FP&A was lit compared to other finance work
Leading FP&A for some of the biggest US companies including Hertz and Verizon
The “why” of creating an FP&A CoE - and it is not just about cost saving
The lessons of building a Center of Excellence
How COE-building places finance teams at the vanguard of automation
The  oh-crap moment when building the COE
Heretical answer on his favorite Excel function‼
Ed Hyer/LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-hyer/
Paul Barnhurst LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguy/Datarails LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/datarails