Excel at AI in Finance | CFO, FP&A, AI Tools, Claude, Microsoft Copilot

Excel at AI in Finance | CFO, FP&A, AI Tools, Claude, Microsoft Copilot

By Mike Dion | Finance Leader, AI ExpertBusinessEducationHow To
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Excel at AI in Finance | CFO, FP&A, AI Tools, Claude, Microsoft Copilot episodes

  • AI Tools Took the Entry-Level FP&A Job. Who Trains the Next CFO?

    If AI does the junior analyst work, where do junior analysts learn?

    Who becomes the senior person on your team five years from now?
    How did you learn to spot a wrong number?

    HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE
    Companies are hiring far fewer entry-level finance pros, because AI tools now handle the slow, boring work a new hire used to spend years on. That work was also the training. You learn to spot a wrong number by making a few hundred of them yourself, so Mike asks who becomes the experienced person on your team five years from now if nobody starts at the bottom. His answer is good news for anyone who already put in those years: your experience just got more valuable. If you're a CFO or FP&A lead, passing it down is now part of your job.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:
    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you’re ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it’s time to invest in AI for Finance.

    14 min
  • AI Tools Build Power BI Dashboards in Minutes. Should FP&A Still Learn It?

    If AI can build the dashboard in minutes, why learn Power BI at all?

    Who tells the AI what "revenue" means on your team?
    What happens when the dashboard looks right and the numbers are wrong?

    HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE
    Mike has spent the year showing AI tools build his Power BI dashboards, so finance pros keep asking whether Power BI is still worth learning. His answer is yes. AI can draw the charts in minutes, but it only gets the numbers right after a person tells it what each number means, and for FP&A teams that definition work is still the job. The guy who kept saying "replaced" is now explaining what's left, and he closes with three things he'd do about it.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:
    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you’re ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it’s time to invest in AI for Finance.

    16 min
  • Your Auditor Will Ask About AI in Finance. Here’s What CFOs Need Ready.

    Your AI tools got the number right. Can you show how?


    If your auditor asked who checked the AI's answer, who would raise their hand?


    Do you have a record of what you asked the AI to do?

    HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE
    Most finance teams now use AI tools to help produce their numbers, and most of the time the tools get it right. Then the auditor shows up. Most teams can't answer, because nobody kept a record of what the AI was asked or who checked the answer before it went into the report. Mike walks CFOs and finance pros through the three things an auditor will ask and what to have ready for each, so you can keep using AI and still enjoy a boring audit.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:
    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you’re ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it’s time to invest in AI for Finance.

    13 min
  • AI Tools Saved Your FP&A Team Hours. So Why Is Everyone Still Here at 8pm?

    AI saved you two hours this week. Where did they go?

    If your AI tools are working, why are you still at your desk at 8pm?
    What would your FP&A team do with an hour nobody else gets to claim?

    HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE
    AI tools save finance pros real time every week, and the research backs it up. The catch comes after. About a third of those saved hours get refilled with more work, so the time never makes it home. Mike uses AI so his team spends the day on the thinking and still leaves on time, and he wants every CFO and FP&A lead listening to decide what a saved hour is for before somebody else decides it for them.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:
    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you’re ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it’s time to invest in AI for Finance.

    13 min
  • Are AI Tools Worth It for FP&A? Most CFOs Can't Prove It

    Can you prove what your AI tools paid back this year?

    Who asked for the last AI project your team built?

    Why has the same payback problem shown up in surveys since 2007?

    HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE

    Are AI tools worth it for FP&A? Mike asks the question most companies skip. He tells the story of a client team that built six AI projects a week, and when he checked, almost all of them paid back nothing and nobody had asked for them. The problem is older than ChatGPT. The people who build these tools have reported it in a survey since 2007. CFOs and finance pros already know the fix: write down the starting number, then come back and check.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:

    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you're ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it's time to invest in AI for Finance.  

    13 min
  • Are Humans Optional in AI in Finance? The 3 Gates Every Finance Team Needs

    Ever opened a deck your AI Tools built and found the numbers went wrong three steps back?

    Watching every AI pilot on your FP&A team stall out before anything ships?

    Tired of being the only person in the room asking who actually checked this?

    Mike came back from his yearly AI conference with a pattern he did not expect, because talk after talk was about AI not working, and the reason kept tracing back to the same thing: nobody checking the information going in. He fixes it the way companies approve big spending, with named people at set points who can each stop the whole thing. He calls them gates. Every AI process needs three. Built for finance pros and any FP&A team putting AI Tools into real work. He goes to that same conference every year.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:

    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you're ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it's time to invest in AI for Finance.

    15 min
  • Windows Broke Claude Overnight. The AI Tools Backup Plan Every FP&A Pro Needs

    What happens to your workflow when an update you never asked for installs itself overnight?

    Should one AI tool ever be allowed to run your entire day in finance?

    What's your backup plan if Claude, Microsoft Copilot, or any AI tool goes down tomorrow?

    A routine Windows update broke the daily workflow Mike runs his finance work through, and he spent the whole morning rebuilding what one overnight glitch had wiped out completely. Work stopped cold. Offices already have a rule that no critical job rests on one person; Mike had let Claude become that person without meaning to. He still uses Claude every day. He just wants FP&A teams to build a backup before their own version of this morning finds them. Windows never did ask permission first.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Contact -> [email protected]

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:

    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you're ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it's time to invest in AI for Finance.

    14 min
  • AI Tools Are Automating Excel. You Have to Be Technical with AI in Finance to Survive.

    AI Tools Are Automating Excel. You Have to Be Technical with AI in Finance to Survive. 


    What breaks if you took two weeks off right now?
    How many times has someone come to you before making a decision, instead of just running the numbers themselves?
    Can you explain what AI actually did for you to someone who'd push back on it?


    Excel was the bottleneck for twenty-five years, and standing in it was the whole job. AI tools now do what used to earn a promotion, which means the exports, the cleanup, the deck nobody wanted to rebuild every month, the part FP&A got rewarded for owning, is finished, and what's left is a choice between going technical, staying close to the business, or using AI to cover the technical so you can do both. Bill never touched a mouse.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast
    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    Instagram -> @f9finance
    TikTok -> @f9finance
    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:

    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/
    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/
    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you're ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it's time to invest in AI for Finance.

     

    14 min
  • Claude and Microsoft Copilot Giving You Garbage? Check Your Brief!

    Tried AI on real finance work and got back something you would never send?

    Can you point at an example of good, or can you only describe one?

    Ever written off a tool on the strength of one bad Tuesday?

    HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE

    The first time I opened Microsoft Copilot for Excel I gave it three months of revenue data and one sentence, asking why a line wasn’t working, and when it handed back something unformatted and generic I decided the tool was junk and didn’t open it again for two months.

    I was the problem.

    A new analyst gets weeks of context before anyone judges the work, and I gave the model a sentence. This episode is the three things missing from that handoff: context, standards, and the job you picked. Adding context took my output up about 80%. Attaching one report my leadership had liked took it to 95%.

    If you work in FP&A and AI has burned you once, this is the fix, and it takes about 10 minutes.

    This episode’s sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast

    Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Instagram -> @f9finance

    TikTok -> @f9finance

    Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Next Steps:

    Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/

    Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

    Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you’re ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it’s time to invest in AI for Finance.

    15 min
  • Impressive Finance Report? Be Careful! Your AI Tools Might Fail Next Month.

    What if the AI win you keep bragging about isn't actually finished?

    Why can a 30% drop in your exception count mean nothing got fixed at all?

    What happens when your AI tools quietly stop working, and your CFO finds out before you do?

    Eighty percent took minutes. The rest took weeks.

    I'm sharing how I built an AI-assisted reconciliation that looked finished in eleven minutes, then broke the moment I tried to run it again, and what it actually took to make that automation hold up under a CFO's scrutiny.

    If you're an FP&A team already bragging about your AI win, this is the test to run before you promise anyone a repeat performance.

    This episode's sponsor is Finance AI Lab. Members who finish their first four roadmaps get about seven hours a week back. Fifty-nine dollars a month, cancel anytime. https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

    • Podcast -> https://www.f9finance.com/podcast/
    • Connect -> Finance AI Lab, the private community for finance pros learning AI: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/
    • Instagram -> @f9finance
    • TikTok -> @f9finance
    • Resources -> https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

      • Next Steps

      Step 1: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance/

      Step 2: Get a free set of ready-to-use AI prompts and templates for finance work with the AI Library: https://www.f9finance.com/ai-library/

      Step 3: Ready to launch your finance team into AI? Join the Finance AI Lab: https://www.f9finance.com/lab/

      Excel at AI in Finance is for the finance pro, executive, and CFO looking to take their work to the next level. Mike is a senior finance leader breaking down AI tools like Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and beyond to reduce hours and prevent burnout. If you’re ready to break free from burnout in corporate finance and FP&A, it’s time to invest in AI for Finance. 

      18 min

    About Excel at AI in Finance | CFO, FP&A, AI Tools, Claude, Microsoft Copilot

    From the publisher's feed

    Corporate finance is breaking people. Twelve-day closes. 9pm Sunday spreadsheets. The slow drip of falling behind while every other post on your feed warns that AI is coming for your job. That's the spot most finance pros are stuck in right now, and it doesn't get better by working harder.