FP&A Today

“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

Jack McCullough: Rock Star CFOs and Psychopath CEOs

“The male prison population in the United States is about 15% psychopaths. So if, if you’re a warden and you work all day with prisoners, and then at the end of the day you go to some award ceremony honoring local CEOs, you’re probably interacting with a similar number of psychopaths at each event." Jack McCullough – President of CFO Leadership Council and 26-time CFO.
Jack MCcullough’s background gives him an unprecedented perspective on financial leadership. Having started hist career at Big Four audit firm KPMG, he subsequently served as a CFO for 26 different companies, often in a part-time or interim role, working with about 35 CEOs. In his words “several geniuses, a handful of lunatics, and two or three who were both. But I learned from each person and became a more effective leader.”
In this episode Jack McCullough reveals:
How to work with Psychopath CEOs 
Mental health and finance and overcoming difficult leaders 
The importance of personal brand-building for CFOs and FP&A analysts
How Jack invented the phrase “CF-No” in 1984
Why FP&A professionals and CFOs need to build their brand today
The things that CFOs most want from their FP&A leaders
His most strategic finance moment – or how COVID transformed his  business
Mentoring in finance and the power of being mentored by Gen Z talent 
Why he headlines his finance conferences with Guns n’ Roses and AC DC 
Who would he most like to meet 
 His most manual processes ever
The surprising two traits that CFOs must achieve today to have any chance of success 
How to become a CFO
Episode Links
Books by Jack McCullough:
The Psychopathic CEO: An Executive Survival Guide: Jack McCullough
Secrets of Rockstar CFOs: Jack McCullough
The CFO Leadership Council
Watch on YouTube
Follow Jack McCullough on Linkedin
Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn 
Follow Datarails on LinkedIn

Robin Kiziak: There’s nothing funny about Finance

Robin Kiziak is Financial Controller and Finance Business Partner  at VF Corporation (home of outdoor brands Vans, North Face and Timberland). Previously he has been a finance business partner at Hotel Chocolat and UK home improvement leader, Wickes. He also runs the website, There’s Nothing Funny About Finance which aims to move finance away from stereotypes (think Dr No or Beancounters). In this episode Robin reveals how he has used humor to disarm tension in meetings and become a finance business partner  trusted by his colleagues 
In this episode: 
Robin’s Favorite Finance Joke
How to be a finance business partner (“with a part of the business that don’t want you  there”).
The negative stereotypes of finance and how to overcome them
The power of soft (or human) skills 
The distribution metrics behind Vans and Timberland’s finance successes 
Costs vs service as the “holy grail” in retail 
How to start off in a new finance role – which financials to look at first 
The biggest financial surprise  you found
Snagging an unsung hero award
Biggest advice to an aspiring FP&A professional 
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.
Links – There’s Nothing Funny About Finance
Follow Robin Kiziak on LinkedIn 
YouTube video of the episode
Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn 
Follow Datarails on LinkedIn

Tom Hood: FP&A and Accounting: “The Great Join”

Tom Hood is one of the most influential leaders in accounting. The Executive Vice President, Business Growth and Engagement, at American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA has been named the Second Most Influential Person in Accounting since 2011 by Accounting Today Magazine (only pipped to the post by AICPA CEO Barry Melancon). In giving him their award the publication cited his “legendary energy, imagination and ability to foresee the future, and focusing them specifically on management accountants, helping them reimagine “the Future of Finance.” On Linkedin  Tom has 780,000 followers and the platform recruited the accounting leader as one of their Top Voices. His passion for technological innovation in accounting has been evident since the early days of VisiCalc to Excel and ChatGPT. This combines with his rigorous enforcement against bad actors in the profession, and optimism about the future. 
In this episode Tom Hood describes one of the biggest shifts in accounting as “The Great Join between accounting and FP&A”. Hood says: “We need accounting to make sure the numbers are right and to maintain our stewardship and trust. But we also need the financial viewpoint, which we saw big time in the pandemic. This is needed to reimagine what’s next in the profession.”
Hood also reveals his passion reflecting accounting’s role as one of the most fundamental tenets of business- and wider society“Accounting is a language of business. It is a language that many people‒dare I say most people‒don’t truly understand. You become the value interpreter of everything about a business.”
In this episode discover: 
Tom’s career trajectory from to CFO at  to Maryland Association of CPAs to EVP  at the (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) 
The merger between the AICPA and CIMA (UK-based) and the global power base this provides the accounting profession
The Great Join between FP&A and Accounting 
His  passion for accounting tech as continuing to revolutionize business – from the dawn of VisiCalc to ChatGPT today 
His role in stamping out unethical accounting practices 
The changing up the CPA Exam and what it means for you
How AI has already changed the game for accountants and how companies are transforming accounting  
How he got into accounting as a way of getting into the FBI and why that didn’t work out 
YouTube video of the episode
Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn 
Follow Datarails on LinkedIn

FP&A For Startups - with Jake Luerkens and Connor Frischmeyer, Auxo Partners

 
Jake Luerkens and Connor Frischmeyer are co founders and partners at Auxo Partners, a finance advisory firm that helps startups make better decisions and grow strategically. 
 
They have been in "the sidecar" as companies scaled from $2m to $50m, providing internal finance, FP&A, capital markets advisory and SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) support.
 
In this episode: 
 
When should startups think about bringing  in fractional FP&A services
The rise and fall of SPACs (including a rap about SPACs)
Why investors are focused on a clear path to solid business models 
How FP&A can help companies *not* blow their fundraising 
The most typical problems companies face in raising money 
Why Excel is the most flexible tool for finance
Biggest Excel nightmares
How to get started in FP&A
 
YouTube video of the episode
Transcript of the episode 
 
Connect with Jake Luerkens and Connor Frishchmeyer on LinkedIn
 
Connect with Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn 
 
Follow Datarails on LinkedIn
 
Links from the episode
 
Auxo Partners
 
Spac Dream By Cassius Cuvée featuring Mags Lionne