Is your budget process stuck in 1993 ❓ Every FD and CFO want their finance teams to: ✅ build relationships ✅ turn data [WHAT] into INSIGHTS [SO WHAT] ✅ bring numbers to life But then they continue to lead a budget process that: ❌ takes 6-9 months to complete ❌...
The Blog
Is this the best speech Boris ever made?
Love him or hate him, his latest speech is a masterclass in influence. And is Boris the only politician in the World who can pull it off this technique❓Imagine if finance had written it... "In 2019 we traded £2.4 billion with Australia with average tariffs of...
Imagine if finance had written JFK’s speech?
Imagine if finance had written JFK's speech... "We choose to travel 238,855 miles at 25,000 miles per hour to the second densest known satellite with which we are in synchronous rotation" Inspired? Me neither. He actually said: "We choose to go to the moon" We'll...
7 ways you know you’re a real FBP
Top 10 tips to be a better FBP
This simple tip could transform your influence
Email is great for admin. It is terrible for all the things a FD or CFO wants to do: ❌ Building relationships ❌ Influencing people ❌ Communicating so people listen & act ❌ Focussing on the most important things ❌ Being...
Try this the next time you present the month end results
Ask any marketeer and they’ll tell you the worst way to bring numbers to life…is to use a table of numbers. Why? Any more than a handful of numbers creates immediate noise and potential confusion. Too many numbers means your key message is diluted or even lost. Many...
5 alternative to a boring table of numbers
Improve your finance reports and presentations with these 5 charts.. Ask any marketeer and they’ll tell you the worst way to bring numbers to life…is to use a table of numbers. Why? Any more than a handful of numbers creates immediate noise and potential confusion....
Is this the best way to show variances to budget and last year?
What's the best way to bring variances to budget to life? Stop using boring tables of numbers and try this instead… My favourite finance chart is simple text, click here’s for that video. My second favourite chart is the gap chart. I think it’s the best way to show...
Bring your numbers to life with a video results presentation in just 10 minutes
Are video financial presentations only for Coca-Cola, Apple & Samsung? Actually if you’ve got 10 seconds spare here’s how you can do it too… I pulled together this presentation in about 5 minutes. Then it took me about 10 seconds to turn it into a video. It’s a...
Did you know there are 3 ways to present the same number?
Did you know there were 3 ways to present the exact same number? The one you pick is more important than you think... £30m This round number is great for impact and simplicity, but it could look like you made it up. So you’re more likely to be challenged on it....
Stop trying to drive performance, it’s killing your influence!
Stop talking about driving performance. It may sound good, but it's killing your influence. And here's how. Finance don’t drive performance. Sales, marketing, and operations do that. If you want to drive it, go and work in one of those. Finance’s role is to help...
Is this the brutal truth about FP&A and FBP?
80-90% plus of what FBPs do is not finance business partnering. Why? Because it’s reporting, forecasting or budgeting. Which are FP&A activities. Soon to be largely taken over by robots. The future of FP&A is not business partnering. The future of FP&A is...
The fallacy of forecasting
As finance people we probably already know that focussing on the future is more important than reporting on the past. After all we can’t change the past. The problem is that finance focussing on the future often means forecasting it. And trying to get better at...
What is finance business partnering?
What is finance business partnering? I used to be a finance director, then I became a sales director, and I'll show you everything I learned in sales that I wished I'd known when I worked in finance. Finance business partnering is about three things: Number one,...
Will robots take your job?
One of the questions I'm asked the most is: will robot takes our jobs? And I always reply with: it depends whether you're dealing data or insight. Watch the video to find out more. And if you want to future proof your career and prepare for the finance revolution,...
Why the pursuit of happiness is the most important thing in CFO & FD coaching
I spent much of my finance career chasing job titles. When I was a finance analyst I wanted to be a finance manager. Then a senior finance manager. Then I wanted to be a head of finance, and a finance controller. As soon as I was a financial controller I wanted to be...
How to build rapport with anyone, fast
When worked in finance, I thought it was all about the numbers. Show people the numbers, take them through the logic, and surely I'll be able to influence them. The thing is, sometimes the numbers worked for me. But other times they didn't. It wasn't until I moved...
Smash your next interview and land your perfect job
You go for a job, and you don’t get it. The feedback is something like, we didn’t think you had enough experience running big projects. And you think, &£@“ I’ve had loads of experience doing that! It just didn’t come up in the interview so I didn’t get a chance to...
It’s true, KFC didn’t really run out of chicken!
It’s true, KFC didn’t really run out of chicken! “We definitely can’t operate without gravy” Ever said something and then wished you hadn’t? When KFC ran out of chicken last week, Iceland took to social media to advertise their frozen chicken dinners. KFC replied...
How much does the Snapchat CEO owe Kylie Jenner?
How much does the Snapchat CEO owe Kylie Jenner? In 1985 Coke was loosing share to Pepsi. So they took away original Coke and gave us new Coke, based on extensive market research and consumer testing. There was public meltdown and 3 months later the old recipe came...
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