I train Finance Teams at Soft Skills | Corporate Training Facilitator | Course Instructor | Keynote Speaker

You can build the best reports…
and still struggle to make people care.

(I know because I used to do that, even as FP&A Manager)

I could spend weeks preparing the reports and the deck
only to see eyes glaze over when I presented them.

My “storytelling” looked like this:
- 40 slides
- 200 KPIs
- 0 engagement

Then… silence
No decisions. No alignment. No impact.

The reality check hit me when the CFO told me
"Soufyan, bring me the story. People I will present to need more than tables and graphs"

And he was right: If leaders don’t understand the story,
they can’t act on it, no matter how accurate the numbers are.

That moment changed everything.

I stopped trying to impress, and started trying to connect.

→ I simplified the narrative
→ I turned variance bridges into business stories
→ I built frameworks to help others do the same

A few years later, I was training entire finance pros.
Then entire teams.
Then CFOs started calling.

Today, I run The Finance Circle,
where I help FP&A teams, controllers, and CFOs
turn reports into stories that drive decisions.

Here’s how it works:

• The Finance Stage  for teams
• Financial Storytelling Program — our flagship training for professionals
• Coaching programs — for CFOs and Leaders
• Workshops on AI, Copilot & Storytelling

I’ve trained teams at Holcim, Deloitte, Bauer Media, Ansell, and Proximus.
Different industries, same goal: make Finance heard.

Because the best insight in the world means nothing
if no one remembers it after the meeting.

Ready to make your next presentation land?
Send me a message — let’s make your story stick.

Soufyan Hamid

Your words are killing your presence

12 ways to know if you’re doing it:

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲:

“Maybe we should…”
“I may be wrong, but…”
“Can I ask a dumb question?”
“Just thinking out loud here…”
“Hopefully this makes sense…”
“This might be overstepping…”
“Does that sound okay to you?”
“I’ll try my best to get that done…”
“I’m no expert in operations, but…”
“I just wanted to share this update…”
“I’m not sure if this adds value, but…”
“Would you mind if I add something?”

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞:
“Here’s the key shift”
“The numbers suggest…”
“Here’s what the data is signalling”
“Here’s one scenario worth testing”
“Here’s how the pieces fit together”
“There’s a financial implication here”
“Does this align with your priorities?”
“Here’s an insight that could shift things”
“You’ll have the updated model by Friday”
“Let me build on that from a financial angle”
“Here’s how this flows through P&L and cash”
“Help me understand how this connects to targets”

In FP&A, your presence depends on what you know

but also on how confidently you deliver it

➟ Your analysis stays the same
➟ Your credibility doesn’t
➟ Strong language creates strong leadership

Which phrase are you eliminating first? 👇

Insight Communication for Modern Finance Teams (Storytelling Done The Right Way) | EMBA Lecturer | Keynote Speaker

"Let’s improve our financial storytelling"

Translation: Let’s argue about whether we should use pie charts or PowerBI

There's a problem that very few want to admit in FP&A:

Most "financial storytelling" advice will just help you make your data dumps a bit more sexy

But, it’s not actual storytelling

If you want financial insights to cross the door of the (virtual) meeting room after the monthly review and drive real decisions

Stop obsessing over the dashboard tools and start here

You need to answer these 10 questions before opening a single slide:
1️⃣ Audience: Who are we presenting to and what keeps them up at night?
2️⃣ Alignment: Are we on the same page about the problem before we present the data?
3️⃣ Business Insight: What do these numbers actually mean for the operation?
4️⃣ Message: What is the single core takeaway they must leave with?
5️⃣ Value: How does this narrative demonstrate value creation or risk mitigation?
6️⃣ Structure: What is the logical flow that leads inevitably to our conclusion?
7️⃣ Visuals: Is the data clear and engaging, or just a noisy spreadsheet screenshot?
8️⃣ Delivery: How will we present this to ensure it lands with impact?
9️⃣ Outlook: Don't just look back. What is next?
🔟 Action: (The most important one) What should we do differently tomorrow because of this data today?

Nail these 10?

You’ve got financial storytelling that makes people react

Ignore them?

You’ve just got another 90-page deck that will be forgotten by lunchtime

♻️ Repost if you've ever sat through a meeting that ended with zero clear action items

Reporting vs Explaining vs Influencing
Where would you put your team?
(PDF on https://lnkd.in/e9m42D9Y)

It's important because you can't change anything with reporting

But today, most teams I've seen are still blocked there

It could still work 10 years ago (and even so...) 
- gathering the different data sources
- cross-checking to verify the accuracy
- setting them in a usable report/dashboard

But the problem has always been that the rest of the company expects more from our job

Even 10 years ago, our stakeholders thought: "and now what?"

Leaders push back because they still don’t know what to do with what you showed them

So there's only one thing to do: move from hindsight to foresight

When you move your partners from the rear mirror to your windshield 

You become a finance business partner

If you want a simple way to diagnose where your team stands (reporting, explaining, or influencing) I’ve put together a visual that breaks down the differences with business impact included

It’s the framework I use in my workshops when teams want to raise the level of the conversation inside the business

If you want the full version, I’ve made it available as a free PDF

👉 https://lnkd.in/e9m42D9Y

Do you prefer to be respected or liked?

I want to be LOVED, and I'm telling you why 👇

Because until proven otherwise, we work with humans (not sure it will last long, but in the meantime, let's keep that hypothesis)

And people still prefer to be nice with people they love

Attention: I'm not pretending that by being "lovable", you can neglect to be competent ⚠️

In a workplace context, a "competent jerk" will more likely get more "task" collaboration than a "lovable fool"

But when it comes to influence situations (let's say, randomly, a budget nego), being likable will help you more because:
- you ask a lot of efforts
- you often bring bad news
- you have to challenge pushbacks

So, besides your mastery of models, also bring that to your toolkit
1️⃣ You make people feel heard
2️⃣ You challenge by asking questions
3️⃣ You stay calm
4️⃣ You're accountable and share credit
5️⃣ You have solid principles
6️⃣ You're fair in how you treat people
7️⃣ You deliver what you promise (always)
8️⃣ You bring solutions
9️⃣ You absorb stress
🔟 You equally support and challenge

I remember having had that discussion some time ago with some fellow finance leaders

Often the answer was that "respect" was more important

But what if you're both "respected" and "liked"?

When you see these 10 points, that doesn't seem the end of the world

Right?

I’ve trained 1.254 Finance Pros in Storytelling | EMBA Lecturer | Keynote Speaker

Only 17%* of FP&A teams say their data is truly “best in class”

Meaning 83% still struggle to reach that level.

And it’s not hard to see why:
• Endless time spent on reconciliations and manual files
• Insights arriving too late to influence anything
• CFOs running after reports instead of steering the discussion

That’s when finance starts spinning its wheels

Effort is higher than progress, and strategy fades into the background

The shift from the daily activities to strategic ones doesn’t happen overnight

It’s a gradual clim

You begin with standardization
→ One consistent process that removes the chaos

Then move to automation
→ Eliminate the repetitive busy work

Next comes measurement
→ Track what truly matters and make it visible

After that, continuous improvement
→ Weekly tweaks that quietly build long-term strength

And finally, innovation
→ When finance starts shaping the business

I’ve seen this path in every transformation I’ve worked on and in all the CFO roundtables I participated to

It would be great to be able to jump to the nitty gritty at once 

But a steady path works much better

📎 Share it with your CFO.
💾 Save it for when your team needs a boost.
⚙️ Use it as a roadmap to build a future-ready finance function.

* Source: 2025 FP&A Trends Survey

Want to dig deeper? Here are a few ways to start:

📘 Grab the free Financial Storytelling Starter Pack → https://lnkd.in/eadSXhKp
 🎥 Subscribe to my Youtube channel → https://lnkd.in/eDkW4xxC 
🤝 Or book a chat if you’d like to explore options for your team → https://lnkd.in/eKTff5s2

Analysis <> Storytelling, Ying and Yang of Finance

And you can learn to do it with AI, if you have 2 specialists together

That's what Nicolas Boucher and I did yesterday for Forge Connect even in Antwerpen organised by the wonderful team of Rydoo 

Together with 60 Finance pros, we explored how we can use AI to help us do our job

From data analysis to storytelling in 8 steps
1️⃣ Gather all data from different emails thanks to Copilot
2️⃣ Consolidate them into one single file
3️⃣ Run the analysis and create a report
4️⃣ Outline the presentation in a story
5️⃣ Create the slides to use during the presentation
6️⃣ Challenge the content and brainstorm for backup
7️⃣ Rehearse and get feedback on it
8️⃣ Have it delivered by an AI avatar (if you don't believe it can be done, look at Klarna's latest earnings 😉)

We don't do one or the other, we must do them all

That's why it was so great to collaborate with Nicolas on this

Like Melle Eijckelhoff said, we're the ying and the yang of what finance pros must do and we're complementary

Except when Nico stresses me by adding a totally new functionality in the presentation...

 ... 20 minutes before we start 😄 (look at the last photo, but don't worry, it eventually went great)

Jokes aside, this is the perfect workshop if you want your teams to get the best of AI in Finance

From to A to Z, they'll learn how to be efficient and do what's expected of them

Bring more human in finance 😉

Insight Communication Prompts for Finance Leaders
Get the high-res PDF on https://lnkd.in/e_p6FgKP

At the gates of 2026, you can't ignore AI in your work

And even more if you're a busy CFO or FP&A Leader who has to deliver insights after your team has worked on the analysis

So here are my ChatGPT/Copilot/Gemini prompts for Finance leaders

I built this reference sheet with the 8 domains where finance leaders can drastically increase their impact:

1/ Month-End Commentary
2/ Financial Storytelling
3/ Business Partnering
4/ Board & Executive Communication
5/ FP&A Insight Generation
6/ Leadership Presence
7/ Process Improvement
8/ Decision Support

You know it by now, your influence won't come from more slides

It comes from better communication of the insight that matters

So, if your main stakeholders are executives

Use these prompts to generate
- direction
- importance
- action

That's why you need a repeatable system your team can use every single week to:
• Frame insights like a senior leader
• Move faster from data to decision
• Build trust in tense moments
• Present with authority instead of hesitation
• Turn performance reviews into business conversations
• Strengthen the relationship with every stakeholder you support

These are the prompts I use when I train FP&A teams, CFOs, and business partners across Europe and the US.

Now they’re yours too

—

What would you add to the list?

Repost ♻️ if you want more finance teams to communicate with impact

P.S. I’m Soufyan Hamid — I help finance teams turn insights into decisions

I started to learn public speaking with TED talks

No, not all applies to our job, but CFOs can learn by listening to some

To be precise, 10 of them

These TED Talks reveal something every finance leader eventually realises:
👉 The job isn’t just numbers (it starts to be understood)
👉 The job is perception (still difficult to believe)
👉 The job is influence (rarely acquired)

Because when you sit in the CFO seat, nothing is “just finance” anymore:

Pressure
Ambiguity
Expectation
Risk
Human decisions
Organizational tension

You can’t eliminate any of it

But you can learn to navigate it

Here are 10 TED Talks every (future) CFO should watch (and the one insight you can apply today)

1️⃣ Margaret Heffernan — “Dare to Disagree”
Takeaway: Build productive conflict. It saves millions
💡 Ask before decisions: “What are we missing?”

2️⃣ Simon Sinek — “Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe”
Takeaway: Psychological safety makes data better
💡 Start your next finance meeting with a 3-minute check-in

3️⃣ Amy Edmondson — “How to Lead in a Crisis”
Takeaway: Replace fear with forward motion
💡 After risks, ask: “What small step moves us now?”

4️⃣ Dan Gilbert — “The Psychology of Your Future Self”
Takeaway: Long-range planning is guesswork
💡 Audit your 5-year assumptions: which ones will age poorly?

5️⃣ Nina Nesdoly — “How to Relieve Stress When You’re Overwhelmed”
Takeaway: You can’t outthink stress
💡 Before a board meeting: inhale 4, exhale 6, drop shoulders

6️⃣ Rainer Strack — “The Workforce Crisis of 2030”
Takeaway: Talent drives performance more than numbers
💡 Review workforce planning with the same rigour as your P&L

7️⃣ Ruth Chang — “How to Make Hard Choices”
Takeaway: Hard choices define identity
💡 Ask: What type of organisation do we want to build?

8️⃣ Tom Wujec — “Got a Wicked Problem? First, Tell Me How You Make Toast”
Takeaway: Visuals simplify what words complicate
💡 Turn your next messy process into a one-page visual map

9️⃣ Linda Hill — “How to Manage for Collective Creativity”
Takeaway: Innovation is a team sport, even in finance
💡 Run one “improvement sprint” per month with FP&A

🔟 Matt Abrahams — “Think Fast, Talk Smart”
Takeaway: Structure reduces anxiety
💡 Use: What? So what? Now what?

TED talks are motivational

But I see them more as a toolbox

The CFOs who inspired me the most are the ones who invest in how they think, how they communicate, and how they lead under pressure

Which one are you watching first? 
Are there others you would recommend?👇

The TED talks CFOs should look at or listen to

You are 1.000.000s to master Excel

You are unique at being YOU

That's why your soft skills are your competitive edge

Because at some point, everyone learns the formulas, the models, the systems

There are, of course, signatures but all these have to follow a set of rules to be applied correctly

But not everyone learns how to 
- influence a decision
- deal with adversary situations
- communicate a tough message

And since organisations are like pyramids, there are very few spots at the top

If you want to reach it, you need to differentiate

That differentiation won't come for skills you share with 1.000.000s of people

That will come from how you make them matter

Work on your soft skills

Future you will thank you for that

I get it, it's easy to talk for myself

But what if others talk about what storytelling did for them?

Over the last four years, I’ve taught the Financial Storytelling Program in companies, workshops and in a self-paced format

I can tell you why it works

But it’s easier to let others speak

“From this course, I learned excellent techniques to enhance my financial presentations, starting from the basics in graphics to tips on how to be prepared to answer difficult questions. [...]”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Carlos Rodriguez, CFO at Fracttal 

“Soufyan has prepared a great storytelling course that is very well structured, with an interactive mixture of theoretical concepts with great practical training and exercises that were catered to our industry[…] ”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Jasmeet Vasir, CFO at CMA CGM Inland

“The course was extremely comprehensive, structured and really well prepared… It really helped me organize my thoughts and offered significant knowledge on the subject”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Christos Kolokotronis, FP&A Business Partner 

“Soufyan is a great coach who comes to us well-prepared and provides very relevant examples to make the learning more valuable to us. His sessions are very engaging and interactive, filled with games and activities to make learning enjoyable and effective”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rong Mo, FP&A Director at Upwork

“What I like about the program is that Soufyan gives what companies normally pay a lot of money for. You have practice, exercises and training, all that in a single individual program”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nicolas Boucher, Founder at Nicolas Boucher Online 

This is what matters to me: not just that people “liked” the training, but that they left with a way of presenting that changes how their message lands

If you’re in FP&A, controlling or finance business partnering and you want your work to have that kind of effect, check the other testimonials and see what can happen when finance learns to tell a story

And whenever you're ready to make the step, join today with the Black Friday Offer
- reduced price ($147 instead of $247)
- bonus 1: live masterclass AI for Financial Storytelling 
- bonus 2: personal review of your slides and feedback

https://lnkd.in/dqNTTeBD

Testimonials of real people who learned to tell stories

The worst moment in your process is presentations

Because that’s the moment where:
– your credibility is visible
– your nerves become data
– and your story meets reality

But let me reassure you:

You don't have to be a born presenter

Everyone can learn to be one

But the finance world doesn’t teach this enough

That’s why I put together this resource inspired by the biggest learning I got on public speaking

These are the techniques I wish I had earlier in my career

When I was still thought my "spoke for itself"

A few that change everything:
🔹 The 5-5-5 Rule
Your eyes tell the room you’re in control, even before your voice does

🔹 The Power Pause
Nothing signals confidence more than giving silence space to work for you

🔹 The 3-Part Open
A clean opening does more than engage. It sets the agenda for how people interpret your numbers

🔹 The Lighthouse Method
Anchor points keep the audience from drifting, especially when slides get heavy

🔹 The Callback Technique
One well-timed reminder can turn a deck into a story

Use them as tools

And like all tools, don't use a screwdriver to break a wall

Determine which one works when

Because people need to feel your conviction to trust you

And once they feel it, they follow it

The biggest performance killer in FP&A isn’t in the tools

It’s the myths we keep believing about planning

These myths quietly shape how teams work.

They create stress, confusion, and unrealistic expectations long before the numbers are even discussed

If you’ve ever wondered why planning cycles feel heavier than they should, it usually comes back to one thing:

Teams start from beliefs that were never true in the first place

Here are some of the myths holding finance teams back (and the facts that actually move planning forward):

———

1/ The plan must be 100% accurate
I’ve watched teams obsess for hours over a decimal point.
Accuracy matters, of course, but planning is a process of direction, not perfection.
Great teams focus on directional guidance.

———

2/ More detail means a better plan
Granularity feels safe but in practice, it slows you down and clouds judgment.
What leaders need is decision-level visibility, not transactional noise.

———

3/ Planning happens once a year
Every FP&A leader knows that the world doesn’t wait for your calendar.
Everything moves, shifts and evolves.
Continuous planning is the only way to stay aligned with reality.

———

4/ FP&A owns the plan
It took me years to understand this one: we don’t own the plan. The business does.
Our real job is to facilitate the thinking, challenge the assumptions, and orchestrate the alignment...and play with Excel

———

5/ Forecasts should mirror the org chart
This myth creates silos, political debates, and disconnected plans. 
The business doesn’t operate in perfect boxes.
Neither should your model.

———

6/ Variance analysis is a blame game
In high-performing teams, it becomes a learning loop.
A space to understand what really happened and how to adjust.

———

7/ Tools will fix your planning problems
No matter which new fancy tool you choose, technology helps, but it won’t solve weak processes.
Discipline comes first.
Then tools amplify it.

———

Every planning cycle exposes the same truth: the real challenge is in the mindset

When you let go of the old myths, planning becomes lighter, sharper, and far more aligned with how the business actually works

Stop trying to plan harder and start planning smarter

♻️ Repost if your team needs that for next planning season

Would you rather spend $50k on:

A - licenses and bots to automate a month-end process nobody fully understands

B - a workshop with the process owners, a wall of brown paper, and a pizza stack

Serious question, there is no right or wrong

Except if you answer A then you are definitely not right

OK, I admit, I joke

Automation is tempting, I know

Vendors promise 75% saved time
Your backlog is long
Headcount is limited 

The idea of “it's done by itself” sounds great

Before you do, here is my advice:

DO NOT AUTOMATE BROKEN PROCESSES.

ONLY automate what you would proudly run manually once, start to finish

If you automate a messy workflow, guess what?

You just pay to make the mess move faster

That is a really expensive way to hide problems.

Here is what we do instead in FP&A and finance partnering:
1️⃣ Map the steps and the owners: everything included in the process
2️⃣ Remove duplicates and rework: in a manual process, there sure are
3️⃣ Define the single source of truth
4️⃣ Pilot the clean process for one full cycle: measure time & errors
5️⃣ Then, automate, and only then

A quick example from my past (way before AI):

I was in a company where Finance was in love with cubes (I will not say the name of tool, just to be fair)

Whenever an idea came to mind, the first reflex was to call the [tool] team and start building the process with the cube in mind

Long story short, almost every "new" cube had a lifetime of less than a year

Because it could easily be tested, iterated or brainstormed in Excel and with that, we would have noticed what wouldn't work correctly

When I had the opportunity (and power), I started to ask for a POC before anything could be set in a cube

It changed everything.

My lesson here is: automate your best version of the process

Your best version that drives the results you want:
- Shorter close
- Less manual inputs
- More understandable reports
- Happier teams
- More time for scenarios and storytelling

Bill Gates said it well. “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency”

I just saved you a budget line and a few weekends

You are welcome 🙂

They keep saying every story needs a hero

But have you ever tried to use that in a finance presentation?

It’s… ridiculous

I’ve heard dozens of “storytelling experts” tell CFOs and FP&A teams to follow the Hero’s Journey

Problem: our world doesn’t work like that

No one in the boardroom is waiting for a hero

They’re waiting for clarity, impact, and decisions

So I tested it

In this week’s video, I actually built a “hero-style” finance presentation and presented it to an imaginary exec team

Let’s just say it didn’t go well

You imagine the result?

Awkward silence, confused faces, and one imaginary exec asking me to go to the point

Financial storytelling doesn’t need heroes

In the new video, I break down:
👉 What the Hero’s Journey really is
👉 Why it fails for CFOs and FP&A professionals
👉 The storytelling structure that actually works in executive presentations

🎥 Watch it here → https://lnkd.in/eBv-SGpD

Ever been told to “make your CFO the hero”?

Tell me below: did it help your story… or kill it?

Most burnouts happen between budget and year-end

But that window is just the moment to work on recovery

Why does it happen now?

Simply because you know what you lived and you fear the next round 😫

We're not going to lie, despite all the progress made regarding automation, simplification and rolling forecasts, budgets are still an intense period in FP&A

Out of the hundreds of companies I have contacts in, maybe 2-3 go through it like a walk in the park

And the problem is: teams go out of it exhausted

But the worst is not even there yet

Right after the budget, many FP&A pros are already thinking about the next big thing

With year-end comes the stress of
- the continuous risks and opps
- the quick wins to reach the targets
- the annual closing and the reports that go with it

It's sad to admit but it's often in that period that people break

This is both due to mental AND physical breakdown

But just like a car, you must refuel if you want to keep the journey

So here are some techniques to recover mental and physical health
1️⃣ Practice breathing exercises
2️⃣ Focus on your concrete sense
3️⃣ Reset your body posture
4️⃣ Differentiate danger from discomfort

I wish I had known that back then

If for you, it's not yet too late, now is the time to do them

And if you want your teams to be fully operational in 2026, share that with them

Micro-Recoveries for Macro-Performance

I’ve always had a hard time delegating

Not because I didn’t trust my team

But because I felt responsible for the outcome

Until the moment I almost touched burnout

That’s when I realized something simple:

To trust your team, your first have to let go, no matter how they prove themselves

But even then, a tougher question came up:

👉 What should I delegate… and what should I keep?

In Finance, it’s not obvious

Some tasks look easy but require context

Others look strategic but can be shared safely

So I’m curious:

What’s hardest to delegate in Finance?
- Forecasting
- Presentations
- Stakeholder management
- Decision support

👇 Vote and share your rule for what stays on your plate vs what you let go

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

A quick note for those who asked me this week

The Black Friday offer for the Financial Storytelling Program closes tonight

It’s the full method I built after years of presenting to executives and training finance teams

And this week it includes two bonuses for the first 50 people:
✔️ The AI Masterclass for Financial Storytelling
✔️ A personalised audit of one of your slides

If this is something you’ve been wanting to work on, all the details are in the comments

Nothing more to add

I just didn’t want you to miss it

Join today

https://lnkd.in/dqNTTeBD

I believe FP&A should be more than just reporting numbers — it should drive smarter, faster, and better decisions.

By day, I lead FP&A initiatives and finance transformation projects, helping organizations connect finance with strategy and growth.

By passion, I share ideas, insights, and best practices on how FP&A teams can move beyond traditional reporting to become true strategic partners.

On this page, I focus on: 
✅ FP&A best practices
✅ Finance business partnering
✅ Finance transformation
✅ Strategic finance.

If you're a CFO, FP&A leader, finance business partner — or simply passionate about the evolving world of finance — you're in the right place.

Anna Oblakova

Many FP&A teams are stuck in reporting mode. 
If you've ever felt like you are always a step behind the business, this post is for you.

Here is my simple 3-step framework to help FP&A teams shift from reactive to proactive.

1️⃣ From reporting to insight generation

Reactive FP&A focuses on producing reports.
Proactive FP&A turns reports into actionable insights that address business problems.

- Don't stop at explaining variances, connect them to business drivers and future impact.
- Translate trends into risks, opportunities, and decisions for the business.
- Frame insights in terms of business impact: growth, risk, capacity, ROI, so that leaders see the real implications.

2️⃣ From explaining to influencing

Reactive FP&A explains performance.
Proactive FP&A drives action.

- Build trust and influence by trying, learning, and iterating.
- Partner early with business leaders to co-create plans and assumptions, rather than validating after the fact. 
- Quantify the consequences: what happens if we don’t act and what’s the cost of inaction.
- Frame choices for decision-makers, highlight implications and trade-offs.
- Focus on actionable recommendations: clearly show what decisions need to be made and potential outcomes.

3️⃣ From insight to impact

Proactive FP&A doesn’t stop at influencing.
The ultimate goal is driving results.

- Ensure recommendations are implemented: track which insights lead to business decisions and actions.
- Measure outcomes: link your analysis to actual business impact.
- Create feedback loops: learn from what worked and what didn’t to continuously improve insights and influence.

If your FP&A team is still stuck explaining the past, challenge yourselves to turn insights into influence, and influence into measurable business results.

Start small, measure impact, and iterate.

Shifting to proactive FP&A takes focus, experimentation, and persistence.
The shift is hard, but the payoff is strategic relevance.

Where is your FP&A team on this journey: reactive, proactive, or somewhere in between?

Anna Oblakova, PMP®, PhD

Passionate About FP&A | Finance Business Partnering Advocate | Driving Finance Transformation

KPIs are like kids: if you have too many, you can’t pay attention to any.
One of the biggest issues in FP&A? KPI overload.

Every function wants their metric on the dashboard.
Every project wants to be measured.
Every leader wants a “quick view” of something.

Suddenly your dashboard feels less like a management tool and more like Times Square.

Not all metrics deserve equal attention.
When everything is a priority, nothing really is.

In high-performing FP&A teams, KPIs do three simple things:

1️⃣ 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀. Highlight the levers that actually create value.

2️⃣ 𝗘𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. A KPI should trigger action. If no one changes behavior, it’s not a KPI, it’s just a number.

3️⃣ 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. Connect outcomes to operational drivers. Show what’s improving, what’s deteriorating, and what needs attention

How to start cleaning up your KPIs today:

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭. 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴
Put all KPIs in one place. No filtering yet.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮. 𝗧𝗮𝗴 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗞𝗣𝗜 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝟯 𝗯𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀:
- Decision-driving: triggers action or influences choices
- Monitoring: shows trends but rarely changes decisions
- Vanity: interesting, but not actionable

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿
Anything tagged as vanity becomes a lower-tier metric.
Move it to a monthly/quarterly view or remove it entirely.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰. 𝗧𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀
For each decision-driving KPI, define:
❓ What decision it informs
❓ Who owns it
❓ What action it triggers

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱. 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺
Weekly --> Decision-driving
Monthly --> Monitoring
Quarterly --> Strategic

Do this and you’ll see clarity emerge fast.

Focus is a competitive advantage, and finance is the function that creates it.
Your business doesn’t need more KPIs; it needs clearer ones.

Which KPI do you see most often without a clear purpose?

Finance and the business don’t disagree.
They just misunderstand each other 90% of the time.

If you work in FP&A, you’ve seen it:
Finance says one thing, the business hears something different.

It’s like British and American English:
Same words, completely different meaning.

We both say "forecast".
Finance means: latest view of performance.
Sales hears: promise written in blood.

Sometimes it’s not even misunderstanding, it’s different accents of the same language.
Posh English vs Cockney.

Finance says: operational leverage and incremental margin expansion
while the business just wants to know:
"Are we making more money or not, mate?"

Finance says: "Strategic realignment"
Business hears: "You’ve changed your mind again, ain’t ya?"

It’s a clear signal: FP&A isn’t just a reporting function; it’s an interpretation function.

Great FP&A is basically the accent coach of the whole company.

Fluent in Finance.
Fluent in Operations.
Fluent in Sales, Marketing, Product, Supply Chain.

And able to translate insights so everyone actually gets it.

Here’s how to master the accent 👇

1️⃣ 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆.
Before explaining the data, make sure everyone agrees on what a term means in their world.

2️⃣ 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲, 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆.
 "Gross margin compression" --> "We’re earning less profit for every dollar of revenue".
 "Cash conversion cycle increased" --> "We’re collecting slower than we’re paying suppliers".

3️⃣ 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗞𝗣𝗜𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀.
Sales --> growth and pipeline
Ops --> efficiency
Marketing --> ROI and retention

Each function has its own dialect. 
FP&A must be fluent in all to avoid sounding foreign.

4️⃣ 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁.
Frame everything around what it enables:
growth, cash, capacity, or decision speed.

Finance is the language of performance.
FP&A adds the accent that makes it understood.

💬 What’s one finance term that ALWAYS gets lost in translation in your company?

If I had $1 for every manual data pull, I’d probably hire someone to do the data pulls while I focus on the actual FP&A work.

Sounds familiar?

Many FP&A teams know the pain of endless Excel downloads, reconciliations, pivot tables, and “just one more report”.

Yes, some reporting is part of the job.
With ~20 working days per month, spending 1–2 days on recurring reports is perfectly fine.

But when manual pulls start taking up multiple days each week, insights and business partnering get pushed aside.

FP&A isn’t meant to be a data factory.
Our value is in turning data into decisions, insights into actions, and reports into stories that drive growth.

Here’s a simple framework that works:

1️⃣ 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻

Manual processes aren’t a badge of honor. They’re opportunity costs.
Automate repetitive pulls, reconciliations, and reporting wherever possible.
Even small wins free up huge amount of time.

2️⃣ 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮

Spend minutes now to save hours later.
Understanding where data comes from, its limitations, and how to clean it efficiently makes you a faster, smarter partner.

3️⃣ 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁

CFOs don’t want more numbers, they want answers.
Build narratives, scenario analysis, and actionable recommendations.
Tell the story, don’t just share the spreadsheet.

4️⃣ 𝗕𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿

Influence decisions, don’t just record them.
Partner with operations, sales, and other business units early.
The best FP&A pros influence decisions before numbers are finalized.

✅ Pick one repetitive task this week and automate it.
Track your time saved, and reinvest it in analysis, storytelling, or business partnering.
The compounding impact is remarkable.

How many of you are still pulling reports manually every week?

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