FP&A Today

By Sarah SchlottBusiness Management

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Typical duration
59 min
per episode

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FP&A Today episodes

December 17, 2024Managing 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/
36 min
December 10, 2024 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
57 min
December 03, 2024Nord 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/
48 min
November 26, 2024The Chief Forecaster will See You Now-Nate Kaemingk
Nate Kaemingk is Chief Forecaster for BetterForecasting.com, where he has built a financial forecasting AI for mid-market finance teams. Previously he has been a Fractional CFO for two Montana based companies. Nate started his career as a mechanical engineer using inferential statistics to model chemical reactions in Diesel engines! Later, during his MBA, he applied an inferential statistics background to forecasting and scenario analysis. Nate has had the opportunity to apply these methods in roles with multiple Fortune 500 companies, including Cummins, and subsequently as CFO and Chief Forecaster at Better Forecasting.
Episode links: www.BetterForecasting.com
Connect with Nate (LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathankaemingk/
On this episode:
Probabilistic Forecasting, small (not big data) and inferential statistics
Rolling Forecasts vs Annual Budgets explained
Importance of not skipping out on the fact you need to update your plan
Why are we resistant to changing the budget?
The advantages of a rolling forecast
Using Leading Market Indicators
DSO (Day Sales Outstanding) as a powerful forecasting example
How long range forecasting reveals structural issues in a business
Building a driver-based model – and why it’s hard
Renting an RV and touring the country for 3 years
Favorite Excel function
55 min
November 19, 2024More than just Star Wars: the FP&A vision at the Lucas Museum – Michael M. Landman-Karny
A $1billion new museum which is the vision of film director, George Lucas, is providing A New Hope for FP&A. Michael M. Landman-Karny, Interim Controller at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art , reveals the finance context at the Los Angeles project set to open in 2026 (and how he got the job).
Landman-Karny says: “George Lucas has a vision for the museum. It’s really centering the power of storytelling through visual media."
But Melody Hobsonthe museum’s co-founder [co-chief executive officer of the asset management firm Ariel Investments] and wife of George Lucas “is very hands-on” says Landman-Karny.
He explains: “Melody’s view of FP&A has really characterized the ability to provide strategic insights that drive decision-making beyond traditional financial reporting and budgeting. She’s a big believer in data analytics, a believer in leveraging real-time information to forecast trends and value creation, and corporate type FP&A and even Wall Street type forecasting within nonprofits.
“Melanie’s a big believer in automation and technology, streamlined processing, enabling faster, more accurate reporting.”
Beyond the galaxy of the museum, Michael talks about his FP&A career including Experian, in aerospace, and the worst budgeting experience of his career
In this episode:
The financial vision of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Nonprofit vs corporate FP&A
My worst budget experience (aka doing it from scratch) at Davidson Associates
My opportunities and challenges at Experian FP&A including a 75-page book analysis and 60-hour weeks
23 acquisitions in 12 years and financial integrations and what they taught me
My experience of aerospace and FP&A and how they focus on the wrong things (book profits at the cost of cash flow)
Being a critic at rhttps://stageandcinema.com/ and meeting Judy Dench, Barbara Streisand, and Liza Minnelli
Further Reading from Michael M. Landman-Karny:
Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) for the Aerospace and Defense Industries: A comprehensive guide to best practices
From Legacy to Leadership: Upgrading Accounting and FP&A in Acquired Entities
Comparing and Contrasting Popular FP&A Tools
Follow Michael M. Landman-Karny on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/interimcontroller/
49 min
November 13, 2024Brent Dykes: People Hear Statistics, But they Feel Stories
In this episode we are joined by Brent Dykes, the bestselling author of Effective Data Storytelling (Wiley, 2020), founder of Analytics Hero, and Forbes contributor. He has helped thousands of finance leaders at companies including Microsoft, IKEA, Nike, Sony, and Pfizer, enhance their data storytelling, visualization, and interpretation skills. “I strive to ensure analytics is always aligned with business priorities and maximizing business value.“

In this episode Brent Dykes says: “One of the things that I saw quickly was that a lot of people struggled to communicate their findings and, and their insights, uh, around data. And I would go to conferences and I’d see people present data, and I’d be horrified by what I’d see. It’s just overwhelming,data dumps. And that really flagged for me in my mind that there’s a real opportunity here to do better.”
Early college days choosing between marketing vs accounting as my focus
The aspects of humans that AI and machines can’t replicate
Business consultant at Adobe for 12 years and Domo
Effective Data Storytelling
The evolution of data
Evolving perspective of finance and analytics
Value AI vs Humans
Lessons from coaching and mentoring companies on their story
Challenges of data storytelling in large and small companies
The biggest challenges in data storytelling
What do you do when your story is contradictory to what their bosses want to hear
Recommendations for tools and systems to up your data maturity
Why Excel’s a great starting point
https://www.effectivedatastorytelling.com/contact
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentdykes
Effective Data Storytelling (Wiley, 2020)
1 hr 2 min
November 05, 2024Budget Battles, Politics, and AI: CFO Anna Tiomina
Anna Tiomina has faced multiple FP&A challenges in a 15-year finance career. This has included budget nightmares, all-nighters, and the stark realization that “politics” is central to any FP&A or finance role.
The former CFO of Sandoz, a huge pharmaceutical company, describes her move to finance chief at Softeq, a smaller IT and consulting firm. Most recently she has pivoted to become a fractional CFO with a passion to help finance professionals bridge the gap between “curiosity and confident AI adoption”. In this honest and frank interview, Anna describes
The challenges for anyone in a full time finance role when you don’t have enough time to look at new things
Structuring FP&A in a big company vs a smaller one
Comparing and contrasting FP&A at a large and big companies
Budget war stories
When your key accounting person… is not an accountant
Ensuring a higher level of agility in budgeting
Using AI in a safe way in FP&A

Connect with Anna at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-tiomina/
https://blend2balance.com/
Subscribe to her insights at: https://balancedai-newsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe
1 hr 1 min
October 30, 2024A bird’s-eye view of FP&A from a top fintech VC – Saaya Nath
Saaya Nath is a partner of Jump Capital, a VC firm specializing in investments in software and infrastructure (their portfolio includes treasury software to products helping companies visualize and understand their cloud bills).
In this episode talks to Glenn about:
How the CFO’s Office can automate workflows around finance and AI
The most common complaint talking to finance teams
Main focus of AI for finance teams we are seeing and rates of adoption
Spend management, finOps, cloud cost management, and cash flow management opportunities
How well are SMBs served by the proliferation of CFO Tech stack tools?
Regulatory challenges in founder pitches
Ways to begin in a low risk way for AI in finance
Case study from Glenn on finance automation challenges in a manufacturing finance team
How Jump Capital chooses the companies and early stages in an era of change vs FOMO and bubbles
Favorite Excel function
Follow Saaya Nath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saaya-nath-12ba82a3/overlay/about-this-profile/
57 min
October 22, 2024Business Partnering from Maersk to Lego: Christian Franz Hansen
Christian Franz Hansen is a seasoned management consultant and finance thought leader. He’s made it his mission to bridge the gap between strategic decision making and data analysis with a background that includes roles at EY and a finance consultant helping big-names including General Motors, Lego Group, and Maersk. He’s now a member of the Business Partnering Institute, where he’s revolutionizing how finance professionals approach their roles.
In this episode:
From Excel Wizard as a stepping stone to career growth (“ I still love the beauty of a well designed Excel model”)
From EY to a change-oriented consulting company at Finance Business Partnering Institute
Top ways to elevate the finance professional
Partnering, communication, influencing stakeholders, problem solving and understanding the value drivers
Working with 500 business professionals at Maersk to turn the finance ship around from bean counters to business partners
Meeting Anders Liu Lindberg and starting the Business Partnering Institute
Outcomes vs Outputs in finance
Allocating finance hours to not drown in tasks
Resistance against our “soft skills” training and how to overcome it in your finance team
Top down communication
One piece of advice to make daily finance easier
PowerQuery in Excel
Connect with Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frantzhansen/
45 min
October 15, 2024Top Senior Data Scientist on AI and Future proofing FP&A
Tobias Zwingmann is an ex-Senior Data Scientist-turned managing partner of RAPYD.AI - which is empowering companies from B2B SaaS startups to leading financial institutions towards a unified AI strategy. His data insights are shared in his books including “AI-Powered Business Intelligence” (O’Reilly 2022) and “Augmented Analytics” (Co-author, O‘Reilly 2024) as well as weekly newsletter “The Augmented Advantage” read by 4,500+ business leaders from brands like Amazon, Mercedes-Benz, Gucci, and Santander.
In this episode:
My rise in data science
Did the latest changes to Co-Pilot actually make it good?
What finance can learn from other departments using AI
Consolidating reports and augmenting processes using AI
Let’s talk forecasting and analytics and regression analysis
Leveraging Excel and Power BI to enhance their data analysis capabilities
Getting to “data progressive” and “data active” in your organization
Augmented Analytics Explained
Clean (but not tidy) data in finance
Two ways to make data tidy in ChatGPT
Connect with Tobias Zwingmann on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias-zwingmann
58 min

About FP&A Today

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FP&A Today is the podcast for Financial Planning and Analysis. The weekly show dives into the challenges and opportunities within the world of FP&A, interviewing FP&A leaders, CFOs and…