FP&A Secrets

Ten leader roles you can find in Finance. Which leader role have you worked in or for? Credits to Anders Liu-Lindberg follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ---- Ten leader roles you can find in Finance. Which leader role have you worked in or for? In Finance, there are many leader roles. Here are ten of the most common roles: CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Key Focus: Strategic oversight of the company's financial health. Responsibilities: Develops financial strategies, manages investor relations, oversees risk management, and advises the executive team on financial decisions. CONTROLLER Key Focus: Accurate financial reporting and internal controls. Responsibilities: Manages accounting operations, prepares financial statements, enforces internal controls, and supports audit processes. TREASURER Key Focus: Managing liquidity, investments, and financial risk. Responsibilities: Oversees cash flow, manages banking relationships, handles debt, and mitigates financial risks (e.g., FX, interest rates). HEAD OF FP&A Key Focus: Strategic financial planning and analysis. Responsibilities: Leads budgeting and forecasting, provides financial insights, and supports executive decision-making with analysis and modeling. HEAD OF INTERNAL AUDIT Key Focus: Ensuring compliance and risk management. Responsibilities: Conducts audits, assesses internal controls, reports on compliance, and recommends improvements to financial processes. HEAD OF TAX Key Focus: Managing tax compliance and optimizing tax strategy. Responsibilities: Ensures tax compliance, develops tax strategies, liaises with tax authorities, and monitors tax legislation for impact. HEAD OF BUSINESS FINANCE Key Focus: Financial support for business units. Responsibilities: Provides strategic financial insights to business units, supports budgeting, and drives profitability through analysis and partnership. HEAD OF COMPLIANCE AND CONTROL Key Focus: Regulatory compliance and internal control standards. Responsibilities: Develops compliance policies, enforces internal controls, monitors regulatory changes, and manages financial audits. DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL SYSTEMS Key Focus: Managing and optimizing financial systems. Responsibilities: Oversees financial technology, ensures data integrity, leads system upgrades, and provides training on financial software. HEAD OF SHARED SERVICES Key Focus: Centralizing and optimizing back-office finance. Responsibilities: Manages accounts payable, receivable, and payroll; improves efficiency through standardization and automation; oversees service quality. Are there any leader roles missing? ---- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

5 Steps to Speeding up the Accounts Payable Process Credits to Christian Wattig, follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ---- 5 Steps to Speeding up the Accounts Payable Process #1 Standardize Processes and Procedures #2 Consider Automation Tools #3 Adopt E-Invoicing #4 Implement Early Payment Discounts #5 Conduct Regular Audits and Reviews Let’s dive in: 📌#1 Standardize Processes and Procedures This standardization helps reduce confusion and minimizes the risk of errors. That said, employees may resist changes to established processes. Resistance can arise due to a lack of understanding, fear of new systems, or comfort with current methods. To prevent this problem, engage employees early in the process by involving them in the development of new procedures. 📌#2 Consider Automation Tools By leveraging technology, organizations can handle higher volumes of invoices with fewer errors and faster processing times. However, automation tools that do not integrate well with existing systems can create additional complexities instead of solving problems. So, select tools that are compatible with your current systems. For example, Mercury, the sponsor of this post, allows you to categorize your bills and expenses within the bank account and easily sync with a variety of accounting software systems, including QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Xero. 📌#3 Adopt Electronic Invoicing (E-Invoicing) This method offers numerous advantages in terms of speed, accuracy, and efficiency. Invoicing involves the electronic exchange of financial data, which can be vulnerable to security breaches. Protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access and cyber threats is crucial. Mercury also lets you pay bills directly from your account to eliminate the middleman and optimize your cash flow. 📌#4 Implement Early Payment Discounts They are incentives offered by suppliers to encourage buyers to pay their invoices before the due date. However, taking advantage of early payment discounts can strain cash flow if not managed properly. Ensuring that there is enough liquidity to make early payments without impacting other financial commitments is vital. So, regularly update forecasts to reflect current financial conditions and ensure there is always sufficient cash available to take advantage of discounts. 📌#5 Conduct Regular Audits and Reviews This helps organizations identify areas for improvement and prevent fraud. At the same time, frequent audits can lead to audit fatigue among staff, resulting in reduced effectiveness and lower morale. To prevent that, plan audits at reasonable intervals, balancing the need for oversight with the need to maintain staff morale and clearly communicate the purpose and benefits of audits. ---- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

4 Stages of Forecasting…from BEGINNER to ADVANCED Credits to Josh Aharonoff, CPA, follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ----- 4 Stages of Forecasting…from BEGINNER to ADVANCED Which stage are you at🪜? Every month, I meet with founders who are looking for help around their financial model. I rarely see a company working with a level 4 forecast… and oftentimes, founders don’t realize how much more value can be unlocked with just a few tweaks. Let’s go over each stage, and what to think about as your company scales 🪜 LEVEL 1 - CREATE A REVENUE BUILD (Beginner) This is where most founders start with a forecast. This will oftentimes suffice for an early-stage company, as the focus here is simply on the business model and the details behind the blueprint for how the company plans to scale The key here is to think about these 2 things: 1️⃣ How will INPUTS result in OUTPUTS (eg: an investment in sales reps results in more sales) 2️⃣ What are the SOURCES of your revenue (eg: existing customers vs customers in your pipeline vs new customers) 🪜 LEVEL 2 - ATTACH A PROFIT & LOSS (Beginner / Intermediate) Your revenue build is important, but it's not the only area of your business you need to think about. At this stage, you start to introduce other costs. It's here where you'll also want to attach a dynamic headcount build, showcasing the details behind who is on your team, and who you will hire in the near future. 🪜 LEVEL 3 - INCLUDE A BALANCE SHEET & CASH FLOWS (Intermediate / Advanced) Most companies report on the accrual basis, especially as they scale. Under the accrual basis, the amounts reported on your profit & loss won't equate with your cash flows. It's here where you'll want to implement a 3 statement model showcasing the movements in your Balance Sheet, allowing you to dynamically showcase cash. 🪜 LEVEL 4 - INCLUDE HISTORICAL DATA AND DASHBOARDS (Advanced) This stage involves you importing your existing data around your financial statements, allowing you to understand where you have been, and where you are going, all in one view. With this data in place, you can refresh your forecast each month, allowing you to tap into limitless dashboards for any business case. === So...which stage are you at with your forecast? It’s never too late to climb the rung and add more value to your company 🪜. What else would you add? ----- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

"I’m building a finance team, but we’re not seeing results." Credits to Aleksandar Stojanović, MSc., follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ----- "I’m building a finance team, but we’re not seeing results." If this is you, you have a role alignment problem. You can’t just assign general finance tasks and expect your CFO, Financial Analyst, and Accountant to deliver results on all fronts. Sure, you might see some small wins here and there… …but the majority of the impact comes when each role focuses on its specific expertise. I’m talking about leveraging your CFO for strategy, your Financial Analyst for projections, and your Accountant for reconciliations. And the surprising part? 99% of the time, this simple alignment makes all the difference. Earlier this year, I consulted with a company where just redefining roles led to a significant boost in efficiency. As long as you’re assigning tasks intentionally, I promise your team’s strengths will shine. They’re working. Waiting for the right focus. Building a solid foundation. Until one day, they’re each contributing to growth in their own way. So please … rethink how you’re using each role. Success in finance isn’t about piling on tasks… …it’s about refining each role so your team can drive impactful results. Give your team clarity. ----- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

A good Finance Professional takes care of the cash of his company. Credits to Nicolas Boucher, follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ----- A good Finance Professional takes care of the cash of his company. Here are 9 levers you can use to make an impact on cash 👇👇👇 1️⃣ Sales: -Improve payment terms with clients (negotiate down payments and short payment terms) -Accelerate the lead time to close deals 2️⃣ Procurement: -Avoid down payment -Push the payment terms as far as possible 3️⃣ Project: -Compute cash balance of each project -Plan your cash in and cash out and monitor it 4️⃣ Collection of overdues: -Automate the dunning process -Escalate significant issues to management & key account manager 5️⃣ Inventory: -Monitor level of inventory against forecasted sales -Reduce lead time, -Optimise stock buffer, -Reduce delays 6️⃣ Finance: -Automate reporting -Improve understanding of cash flow statements -Bring transparency to management -Escalate collection issues -Use factoring to accelerate cash payment from receivables 7️⃣ Sales administration: -Optimise the process between a cash milestone achievement and the issuance of the debit note to your client 8️⃣ Management: -Translate cash objectives in team & individual objectives -Put cash on the management reviews agenda -Follow up cash as KPI -Delay investments 9️⃣ Culture: -Communicate, explain, repeat: it’s a culture shift ----- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

Analyze a business with just a Balance Sheet 🧐 Credits to Josh Aharonoff, CPA , follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ---- Most people think all 3 Financial Statements are created equally… But to me, there’s one statement that is SUPREME to all the others And that’s the Balance Sheet ➡️ What’s so special about a Balance Sheet? Perhaps a better way to look at this would be what are the limitations of the other statements… 1️⃣ The Profit and Loss isn’t connected to any other reports It’s an independent report that show’s you how much you earned in income and how much you incurred in expenses… But it leaves you clueless as to what you OWN, and what your obligations are to creditors + owners 2️⃣ The Statement of Cash Flows does not contain any unique data What do I mean by that? The Statement of Cash Flows just pulls from your Income Statement and Balance Sheet It doesn’t show you new information that you can’t find on those 2 statements and it’s pretty easy to generate on your own - Note: This is mainly in regards to preparing information using the indirect method, which is the most common To sum it up…the Balance Sheet contains data from your Profit & Loss…as well as unique data you won’t find elsewhere ➡️ How can you analyze a business with just a Balance Sheet? A few ways… 1️⃣ Calculate net income by taking the ▲ in Retained Earnings 2️⃣ Create a cash flows statement by taking the ▲ in all balance sheet accounts, other than cash 3️⃣ Analyze key ratios Here are 5 that you can review ▪️Current ratio → compares current assets to current liabilities ▪️Debt to Equity ratio → Compares total debt to shareholders equity ▪️Return on Assets → Compares net income to total assets ▪️Operating Cash Flows ratio → compares operating cash flows to total debt ▪️Return on Equity → measures net income as a % of shareholders equity That’s my take on how to analyze a business with just a Balance Sheet What would you add? ---- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

Financial Statement Green Flags Credits to Bojan Radojicic, follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ----- Financial Statement Green Flags: Income Statement ✅ Net Margin > 17% + ✅ Gross Margin > 40% + ✅ EBITDA Margin > 20% + ✅ Interest Coverage Ratio > 5 ✅ Revenue Growth Rate > 15% ✅ Direct Costs Growing Slower than Sales ✅ Cash From Operations higher Than Operating Profit Balance Sheet ✅ Quick ratio 1+ ✅ Debt to Equity Ratio < 1 ✅ Asset Turnover Ratio > 3 ✅ Goodwill in Assets < 10% ✅ Inventory Grows Slower than Profits ✅ Receivables Growing Slower than Sales ✅ Current Assets 2x Higher than Current Liabilities Cash Flow Statement ✅ Cash Flow to Debt > 1 ✅ Capex of Net Income < 15% ✅ Free Cash Flow Increasing by 10% ✅ Operating Cash Flow to Sales 15%+ ✅ Free Cash Flow Higher Than Net Income ✅ Stock-based Compensation of Net Income < 5% ✅ Operating Cash Flow grows faster than Operating profit ----- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

Four budgeting methods. Which one would you choose? Credits to Anders Liu-Lindberg follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ---- Four budgeting methods. Which one would you choose? 1. Traditional budgeting 2. Zero-based budgeting 3. Rolling budgets/forecasts 4. Beyond budgeting 89% have a budget for 2024. 59% have implemented rolling forecasts. Let's look at the pros and cons of each of them... 𝘛𝘙𝘈𝘋𝘐𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕𝘈𝘓 𝘉𝘜𝘋𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝗣𝗿𝗼’𝘀 Simplicity: Easy to implement and understand. Historical data: Relies on the past as a starting point. Stable: Provides stability in budget planning. 𝗖𝗼𝗻’𝘀 Rigidity: Doesn't adapt to changing circumstances. Potential for inefficiency: Leads to wasteful spending. Not strategic: Limits innovation or cost reductions. 𝘡𝘌𝘙𝘖-𝘉𝘈𝘚𝘌𝘋 𝘉𝘜𝘋𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝗣𝗿𝗼’𝘀 Cost-consciousness: Forces a review of all expenses. Aligns with goals: Drives a focus on strategic objectives. Flexibility: Can adapt to changing business conditions. 𝗖𝗼𝗻’𝘀 Resource-intensive: Requires analysis of all expenses. Time-consuming: It can be labor-intensive to implement. Possible short-termism: May cut long-term investments. 𝘙𝘖𝘓𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘉𝘜𝘋𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘚/𝘍𝘖𝘙𝘌𝘊𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘚 𝗣𝗿𝗼’𝘀 Continual planning: Ongoing planning and forecasting. Flexibility: Adapts to changing circumstances more readily. Alignment with strategy: Better support of strategic goals. 𝗖𝗼𝗻’𝘀 Resource-intensive: Needs ongoing overview and changes. Complexity: This may be challenging to maintain. Short-termism: Risk of overemphasis on short-term results. 𝘉𝘌𝘠𝘖𝘕𝘋 𝘉𝘜𝘋𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝗣𝗿𝗼’𝘀 Agility: Adaptive and responsive financial planning. Empowerment: Employee empowerment and motivation. Focus on value creation: From output to outcomes. 𝗖𝗼𝗻’𝘀 Cultural shift: Requires a significant cultural change. Lack of control: Challenging to relinquish control. Measurement challenges: It doesn't fit normal KPIs. Which of these four methods is your favorite? Any other methods that you would like to add? ---- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

The Five Phases of Annual Budgeting Credits to Christian Wattig, follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ---- The Five Phases of Annual Budgeting A well-run Annual Budgeting process has five phases: 1. Pre Kick-Off 2. Joint Planning 3. Consolidation 4. Iteration 5. Final Alignment 📌 Pre Kick-Off Phase Tasks: 1) Review the Previous Year’s Plan - Process - Actual results - Learnings 2) Create the Planning Roadmap - Timeline - Deliverables - Ownership structure 3) Implement Process Improvements - Speed - Accuracy - Trackability 📌 Joint Planning Phase Tasks: ➣ Business teams create the Bottom-Up. ➣ FP&A creates the Top-Down. ➣ Together, FP&A and business teams compare plans and discuss variances. ➣ Teams assess risks and opportunities and prepare a joint plan for the department 📌 Consolidation Phase Tasks: ➣ The Finance team collects bottom-up inputs from various departments and adds them up to create a consolidated P&L and, in some cases, also a Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement. 📌 Iteration Phase Tasks: ➣ Most of the time, the first iteration of bottom-up plans is too conservative and doesn’t meet leadership expectations. Finance has to communicate this to business teams and ask for revisions and new submissions. 📌 Presentation & Final Alignment Phase Tasks: ➣ Finance schedules review meetings with the leadership team to present the plans and gain their approval. ---- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis

How to Create a Statement of Cash Flows 💸 📄 Credits to Josh Aharonoff, CPA, follow him for more practical finance content. Here's the original post ---- How to Create a Statement of Cash Flows 💸 📄 It’s SO SIMPLE - you just need 2 ingredients! I’ve been on a mission to spread financial literacy… and understanding how to read financial statements may be the biggest foundation to financial literacy. Many people understand at a high level what the 3 financial statements are… but do you know how they are CONNECTED? Well…if you know how to produce a statement of cash flows, you pretty much understand it all. Here…let me show you ➡️ THE PROFIT & LOSS This statement is designed to just tell you one thing: How much PROFITS…or LOSSES you are generating. You really just need one line item here to produce your statement of cash flows: NET INCOME This line showcases all income accounts, less all expense accounts. Now…teeeccchhnniiicaallly you can also feed in depreciation & amortization since those are non cash accounts… but don’t worry about that for now, because we’ll instead pull those values from the Balance Sheet ➡️ THE BALANCE SHEET This statement tells you about the POSITION of your company… and is separated by ASSETS → LIABILITIES → OWNERS EQUITY Unlike the Profit & Loss, this statement shows you values on a CUMULATIVE basis. And net income from the P&L FLOWS into Retained Earnings… and Depreciation & Amortization FLOWS into Accumulated Depreciation / Amortization. ➡️ THE STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS This statement shows you the movements of just 1 account: your CASH. The reasons for this statement are obvious - cash is the most important asset and is the lifeblood of your business. But here’s the deal…here’s what many people simply don’t realize… your statement of cash flows is really just another way of looking at your Balance Sheet. Only instead of taking the CUMULATIVE values (as shown on your Balance Sheet)… you take the NET CHANGE in each account EXCEPT for Cash. Think about it…if Assets = Liabilities + Owners Equity… Then the net change in Assets from one period to another MUST = the net change in Liabilities + Owners Equity from one period to another… So by taking the net change in all accounts EXCEPT for cash…you have your plug for how your cash must have either increased or decreased. === There’s a lot more to be said about how to produce a statement of cash flows… and technically, this is all under the indirect method - there’s also the direct method which is much more difficult to produce, but more insightful…. and I wish I could talk about all of that, but my 3,000 character limit on this post is coming up! Check the comments for a full tutorial on how to build a statement of cash flows👇 ---- Follow our page FP&A Secrets to grow your career in Financial Planning & Analysis