Fire Drills, Fractional Work, and AI Reality Check: Carl Seidman
As a fractional CFO and financial advisor, Carl Seidman, a returning guest, has worked with finance teams at some of the world’s most recognized companies, helping them strengthen forecasting, cash flow management, and strategic decision-making. He also teaches several top-rated online courses including the FP&A Mastery Signature Program.
My first fire-drill, creating a cash flow in one week
The under $50m revenue opportunity for fractional CFOs
The power of an advanced (live) FP&A course
Expectations and reality for AI in your finance career
The catastrophe if AI gets something wrong
What I learned about Copilot in Excel developing a LinkedIn course
The Power of LET
--------
52:39
--------
52:39
Secrets to a Simple Model: Peter Lynch
Peter Lynch is the founder of ASimpleModel.com and serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Stephen Gould. He has worked in private equity for most of his professional career at Rabobank, JP Morgan, Argenta Partners and Hilltop Holdings. But he’s perhaps best known for turning complex financial concepts into clear accessible lessons through ASimpleModel.com.
JP Morgan in Buenos Aires
Crazy models during the financial crisis
Capital allocation strategy at Stephen Gould
How a Simple Model took off
Most common mistake in building a financial model
Clarifying private equity
Incorporating AI into everything I do
--------
52:32
--------
52:32
From Big Four CPA to Building a Lean Finance Function Driving 500% Growth – Andrew Polito
Andrew Polito is VP, Controller at Go HQ which provides a suite of back office services, including recruiting to delivery companies. The Fort Worth-based company provides back office support for transportation and logistics, seeing 500% growth in five years, earning a spot on the Inc 5,000 list of fastest- growing private companies in America.
In this episode:
From audit to shifting to a private company finance team
Building FP&A from the ground up
Power of the 13 week cash forecast
How I introduced automation in an initial two-person finance team
How our finance tech stack delivers the data and insights to succeed
--------
54:27
--------
54:27
$300 and a Suitcase to AI-Powered Finance: Mariya Guttoh
Mariya Guttoh is Director of FP&A and Treasury at PayJoy, a global FinTech company expanding credit access through smartphones to underserved customers in emerging markets. Celebrating 10 years this year , the company has served over 15 million customers and is on track to reach $650 million in revenue and $110 million in profit by the end of 2025.
In this episode Mariya traces her steps from cosmetic marketing in Ukraine to arriving in the US with $300 and working three jobs while earning her MBA to becoming a finance leader.
My finance journey working three jobs to pay for my MBA
Becoming an advocate for AI in finance
Two finance camps– “excited but clueless” and “cautious but clueless”
Using AI to automate vendor reporting across 10 countries
Identifying high impact AI wins (forecasting)
My ideal magic FP&A solution
How I turned myself into a self-created extrovert
Offset in Excel
--------
45:18
--------
45:18
Top Quant Akhil Khunger on what FP&A teams are missing
Akhil Khunger, VP Quantitative Analytics, Barclays, has more than ten years of experience in the field. Akhil develops statistical models to forecast balance sheets, revenue and probability of default. He has experience with time series modeling, statistical modeling, machine learning and building implementation frameworks using Python and other programming languages. Akhil, who has a master’s in Financial Engineering from UC Berkeley and London School of Economics, has worked in CCAR and Bank of England stress testing and know the Basel III/IV framework, SR 11/7, SR 15-18, and SR 15-19. He also has experience managing junior model developers.
In this episode:
The worst year for modeling?
Diving into models
Working with big datasets
Getting to the real reasons behind trends and data
The power of stress testing
What human judgement can bring to the table
The AI component in forecasting
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 other finance pros in order to give you the freshest insights and takeaways. Each week our top guests provide actionable advice about financial planning and analysis – from career goals to navigating challenges, and powerful Excel tips.
Our weekly show provides unrivalled insights for navigating FP&A.
FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails.
Datarails is the AI-powered Financial Planning and Analysis platform for Excel users.
Ireland