FP&A Today

I speak with Anna Talerico, the CEO of CFI, a powerhouse provider of training and productivity tools for finance and banking professionals (serving 2m finance professionals, offering 5,000 on-demand lessons and 200 courses) including the famous – including the famous Certified Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) accreditation. She is also CEO of Macabacus, a top  enterprise productivity add-in on for finance teams.  In this episode: why anyone can be a world class financial analyst  leveraging technology to democratize education at CFI.  Giving finance leaders “Desk Ready Skills” from financial modelling to AI cryptocurrency and risk management (and what’s hot right now) CFI acquiring Macabacus and the opportunities and challenges of being a dual CEO over 2 companie How Excel remains the backbone of finance  Are you losing sleep over the AI revolution in finance? Basics of coding in finance  Best courses to stay relevant in finance and ride the wave of AI

“I transitioned into FP&A when I realized that it wasn’t just about crunching the numbers, it was more about telling a story and trying to influence the future. Working with Fortune 100 companies has given me the fantastic platform to leave transformative projects in finance, procurement, and supply chain. I saw firsthand how FP&A acts as the strategic backbone of any type of organization” – Enrique Rodriguez, Finance Director, Walgreens Boots Alliance   Enrique Rodriguez is a multilingual finance director and business leader. With more than 15 years of experience in Fortune 100 companies, he has worked collaboratively with global functions directing FP&A, accounting and treasury teams. He’s headed finance departments overseeing $7 billion in annual spend and managing operational budgets of up to $750 million in billion dollar business units and is a passionate believer in Zero Based Budgeting revealing how he implemented this – despite challenges. My background in Guatemala  When I realized it is not just about crunching the numbers  FP&A as the backbone of the institution  Main financial metrics bio biopharmaceutical companies, medical devices, and healthcare companies How FP&A departments are set up at the companies you worked for – and the philosophy and the outputs expected from FP&A producing outputs like dynamic scenario planning and  specific KPI dashboards  guiding decisions at the highest level. Zero based budgeting – the why and how of our experience  Biggest challenges I have seen in budgeting in my career – managing budgets during a turnaround How finance business partnering has changed in my career  The problem solving aspect of FP&A The opportunities and challenges of fast-growing technology  Saving $8million on inventory write-off in a country on a health product  Financial Executives International (Chicago) The power of a great mentor and books: Hit Refresh Satya Nadella (Microsoft) and Shoe Dog (Joe Knight) supporting a procurement organization in, in an early level of maturity – my toughest challenge  Index Match – more flexible and scalable for complex analysis  Connect with Enrique Rodriguez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enrique-a-rodriguez/

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/

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