Akshar Business Consulting Ltd

📍 Helping Finance Leaders Transform FP&A, Budgeting & Reporting | Power BI | AI-Driven Insights

Key Achievements & Impact:

✅ Accelerated forecasting speed by 75%+ by implementing connected planning solutions
✅ Eliminated manual finance processes through automation, improving efficiency and accuracy
✅ Developed single sources of truth for financial data, enhancing reporting consistency across departments
✅ Enabled real-time analytics with Power BI, driving data-driven decision-making
✅ Guided finance leaders in transitioning from traditional budgeting to xP&A models, improving agility


Leadership & Transformation Initiatives:

🚀 Led digital transformation projects to modernize FP&A functions for mid-to-large enterprises
💡 Implemented AI-powered forecasting models, reducing financial risk and improving resource allocation
📈 Upskilled finance teams in advanced analytics & automation, ensuring long-term success
🔍 Integrated disparate financial systems, improving cross-functional collaboration and financial visibility


I help businesses unlock financial intelligence, optimize decision-making, and drive sustainable growth by combining finance expertise, technology, and automation.


📞 Let’s Connect: https://calendly.com/abcltejas/30min | tejas@aksharconsulting.co.uk

Founder & Lead Consultant | Akshar Business Consulting

FP&A Strategy Consulting

Senior FP&A Consultant

The Value Creation Partnership

Supporting the Value Creation Partnership in the delivery of Financial Planning and Analysis Transformation programs.

Independent Operating Partner - FP&A Transformation

IWSR Drinks Market Analysis

Interim Head of Commercial Finance

YO! Sushi

Synamedia

• Deployed global digital reporting leveraging PowerBI, driving insights across the business while delivering 'a single source of truth'
• Supporting the implementation of Anaplan highlighting the key challenges and providing foresight to ensure maximum benefit for the organisation

FP&A Modeller

Unilever

• Lead the forecasting and month-end cycle simplification and automation while repatriating the same back to the UK reducing the headcount resource to less than half

Transformation Manager (Interim)

Currys plc

• Integrated and streamlined planning, budgeting and forecasting processes resulting to increased financial visibility and forecasting accuracy by implementing driver based budgeting
• Drove actions to improve the reporting on financial performance aligning to businesses strategic initiatives and to achieve overall business success

Financial Planning Manager - Supply Chain & Repairs (Interim)

Whitbread

• Delivered a new investment appraisal model (incl. NPV, IRR, Payback and Rate of Return calculations) for up-to-date concepts offering for any innovations. Appraised property investment and disposal opportunities in maximising returns

Investment Appraisal Manager (Interim)

Cobham Wireless

• Spearheaded major transformation project as Finance Business Partner to turnaround a loss-making business to being profitable through outsourcing, restructuring including asset impairment and strategic redirection.
• Designed 5 year and annual planning as well as monthly forecasting models for complete the financial suit (P&L, Balance sheet and Cashflow) achieving 98% accuracy. Leveraged financial modelling and scenario analysis to support management decision process.

Senior Finance Manager FP&A 

Finance Transformation Specialist | Delivering Finance Digitalisation: Efficiency & Effectiveness Improved +100% | Business Intelligence & Budgeting / Forecasting Technology | FP&A Thought Leader🌟 See recommendations⬇️

PE partners and boards don't lose sleep over spreadsheets.
They lose sleep over decisions made on numbers they cannot trust.
Manual reporting and fragmented data don't just slow you down; they directly impact valuations, delay exits, and erode investor confidence.

𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗜 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛
I partner with CFOs and Heads of FP&A at PE-backed companies to global enterprises who need robust financial processes that meet institutional investor standards, delivered within strict transformation timelines. 

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜 𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥
20+ years in strategic finance at GE Healthcare, Vodafone, Nielsen, and Unilever taught me what world-class FP&A looks like. Now I build it for others.
My team implements automated board reporting (PowerBI & Aimplan) and connected planning solutions (Vena, Prophix & Anaplan) that deliver:
• Real-time executive dashboards and investor-ready reporting
• Automated board pack generation that frees your team for strategic analysis
• Scenario modelling that supports investment decisions and exit planning
• Audit-ready forecasting processes that scale with rapid growth

𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦
 • 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿: Reduced budgeting cycle from 10 weeks to 7 days with full sign-off
 • 𝗫𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘅: Built Finance Centre of Excellence, improving accuracy and reducing manual effort by 75%
 • 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗘-𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀: Implemented investor-grade reporting that supported successful exits and improved EBITDA visibility
(Full case studies at aksharconsulting.com)

𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦
Your investors and senior leadership expect institutional-quality financial reporting. Your growth timeline demands agile forecasting. Your strategy requires bulletproof numbers.
Most finance teams are built for steady-state operations, not the demands of PE ownership or strategic transformation. We bridge that gap.

𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 & 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣
I share proven FP&A transformation strategies through: 
• FP&A Unboxed podcast - real-world case studies and expert interviews
• Insights from an FP&A Head newsletter - practical frameworks for finance leaders  

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞?
If your finance function needs to match the pace of your growth strategy, let's discuss your specific challenges.

Let’s Talk – No-Obligation Discussion
📅 Book a meeting: https://calendly.com/abcltejas/30min
📩 Message me on LinkedIn
📧 Email: tejas@aksharconsulting.co.uk
📞 Call: 07592300593

➡️Specialties

AI-Driven Budgeting & Forecasting | Integrated Reporting | Business Intelligence | Connected Planning

Tejas Parikh (ACMA, MBA)

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

Real happiness in life...

...only comes when your variance = 0

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

FP&A is not a destination

It’s a progression

-----
I just notice it's barely readable so download the high definition PDF on https://lnkd.in/eEyZfzZE
-----

Reporting
Analysis
Forecasting
Consulting

Each layer builds on the one below it

You don’t become a “strategic business partner” by declaration

You grow into it

- 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 earns trust
- 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 creates understanding.
- 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 shifts the conversation forward.

Only then does 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 make sense

Helping leaders think through options
Knowing the risks and opportunities
Make decisions with confidence

That’s also how I approach teaching finance to non-finance leaders

I don’t start at the top of the pyramid

I start where collaboration is natural

Some connect through KPIs
Some through performance drivers
Some through scenarios

And that’s fine

There’s no rush to master everything from day 1

Learn the first layer
Then the second
Then the third

Over time, you arrive at what real finance business partnering actually is:

Being useful when decisions are on the table

There are dozens of storytelling frameworks

But only some of them really work in Finance

And it's because we are not on a TEDx stage

The goal is to bring decisions to the table

And in a decision room, leaving things open-ended is a risk

That’s why I put a score on each framework in this visual

Not to rank storytelling theory

But to reflect what actually works when you sit with a CFO, an ExCo, or a board who expects direction by the end of the meeting

Over the years, I’ve used all of these.
Golden Circle ⭐⭐⭐
Driver-based storytelling ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Scenario planning ⭐⭐⭐
Bridge frameworks ⭐⭐⭐
Even Monroe (in very specific moments) ⭐⭐

They all have value
They all have limits
And they don’t perform the same in our context

In finance, the question is rarely “Is this a nice story?”
It’s “What decision does this lead to?”

That’s why some frameworks do a better job
Why some bring a real outcom
Why some help leadership move

Like the SCQA ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And yes, this is the clear winner in my heart

The one that consistently survives board pressure, time constraints, and executive impatience

But I’m curious

What frameworks have you actually used in real finance meetings?
And which one helped you land a decision when it really mattered?

I’m genuinely interested in your winner

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? 👇

Too many meetings are killing finance teams

But the answer isn’t “have fewer meetings”

It’s having the 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀, at the right altitude

Most finance leaders have a 𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺

Everything feels urgent
Every topic ends up everywhere
And by month-end, people are exhausted… but still unclear

I’ve seen this in FP&A teams, group finance functions, and ExCo rooms

Everyone is busy
Very little actually moves

What changed things for me wasn’t another productivity hack
It was a 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺

Here’s the 4-meeting cadence I keep coming back to ↴

A structure that creates alignment without drowning teams in calls.

1️⃣ Daily Team Alignment (5 minutes)
↳ A fast pulse check
↳ Priorities, workload, risks
↳ No metrics review

2️⃣ Weekly Performance Tactical (45–90 minutes)
↳ Review performance signals with the business
↳ Translate KPIs into drivers and action
↳ Leave with decisions

3️⃣ Monthly Strategic Review (2–3 hours)
↳ Zoom out
↳ Connect trends, forecasts, risks, scenarios
↳ Focus on 1–3 topics that actually move the business

4️⃣ Quarterly Business Offsite (1–2 days)
↳ Step back from the noise
↳ Pressure-test strategy and assumptions
↳ Reset priorities and direction together

When this cadence is run properly, you feel it immediately:

– Fewer last-minute surprises
– Clearer ownership
– Faster decisions
– Better conversations with leadership

Meetings stop feeling like reporting rituals
They start becoming decision moments

This is one of the simplest systems I’ve seen work, again and again, in finance leadership teams

Because it creates space for insight, focus, and direction

If you’re a CFO or FP&A leader, I’d be curious:
Which one of these meetings is currently missing, or doing the wrong job, in your organization?

In 2017, I pushed myself to the edge of burnout

Because I believed the wrong thing:

“Hard work will be enough”

It never is

At senior levels, effort becomes the baseline
What really drives recognition is everything around it:

• Your alignment with the CEO
• Your ability to shape a narrative
• How you navigate politics
• The timing of opportunities
• Your consistency when the pressure rises

I learned like many of you: by taking slaps

My work was always done but never noticed

Simply because I didn't get that people work with people

And that there is a different set of rules for that

One thing in common with all these rules

They are linked to your impact

Hard work matters

But it’s not what moves you forward

Impact does

And impact is built through presence, relationships...

...and also a bit of luck

"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

Only 17%* of FP&A teams describe their data as “best-in-class”

That means 83% are still somewhere short of where they need to be

And I’ve seen why
• Too much time lost in reconciliations and manual reporting
• Insights landing too late to influence a decision
• CFOs still chasing reports instead of shaping the conversation

That’s when finance teams stall: hard work replaces smart work and the space for strategy disappears

The truth is: moving from firefighting to impact isn’t one big leap

It’s done step by step

You start with standardization
-> One clear way of working, no more chaos

Then you add automation
-> Cut out the repetitive work

Next comes measurement
-> Focus on the right KPIs and make them visible.

Then, layer in continuous improvement
-> Small weekly fixes that compound into resilience

Only then are you ready for innovation
-> Shaping finance

That’s the journey I’ve seen across my career (and still this week at a CFO event organised by KPMG)

It’s not glamorous (no hero story here)

But it works because at each step, you build on strong grounds

So here it is: 5 Levels of FP&A Maturity (from firefighting to strategic impact)

Share it with CFO. 
Save this for when teams lose motivation.
Use it to make your finance team future proof.

* 2025 FP&A Trends Survey

👉 If you want to go deeper, here are three ways I can help you:

📘 I put together a free Financial Storytelling Starter Pack — you can grab it here: https://lnkd.in/eadSXhKp

🤝 And if you want to explore solutions for your team, you can plan a call with me here: https://lnkd.in/eKTff5s2

I’ve trained hundreds of finance professionals

And most of them face the same situation:

They think they have a slide problem

But they actually have a storytelling problem

So they treat symptoms instead of root causes

– They tweak formatting
– They redesign charts
– They work on their slides for hours
– They try a new template

Meanwhile, the real issues stay untouched:

No storyline
No context
No implication
No alignment

It’s the finance version of repainting the walls while the foundation is cracking

And when the message doesn’t land, they often blame external factors:

– The business doesn’t read our decks
– Leadership keeps asking for more detail
– They didn’t understand the variance
– We need better tools

But the deeper storytelling problems are still there

And the root causes are almost always the same:

– Too focused on reporting what they saw
– Too much data
– Too many details
– Too many slides

As a result, great analysis turns into weak insights
And weak insights go nowhere
(if you don't believe it, ask for feedback to your stakeholders)

Here’s the model I use to diagnose the real issue:

The 4 Layers of Financial Storytelling Problems

1️⃣ Surface Problems
Formatting, charts, visuals, aesthetics
Easy to fix
Low criticality

2️⃣ Structural Problems
Sequence, flow, grouping, summary
Requires intention, not cosmetics

3️⃣ Outcome Problems
Context, decisions, framing, implications
This is where impact starts to emerge

4️⃣ Content Problems
Weak insights, no storyline and no point of view
This is where most presentations truly collapse

You know the mistake, right?
Finance teams spend 80% of their time on Layer 1
But Layers 3 and 4 are the ones that change how leaders think...
...and what they decide.

If you want your message to land, start deeper
The visuals matter but the insights decide

Good Accounting + Good FP&A = Smooth Year-End Closing

Nothing revolutionary

But I’ve seen what happens when one of the two is missing

👎 As FP&A, closing the books myself because accounting was stuck in operational tasks
👍 As FP&A, walking into the closing meeting with one or two questions. And moving on.

Everything starts with accounting

When it’s shaky, FP&A spends the closing fixing numbers instead of using them

So if you’re a CFO, the priority is simple
Have a solid accounting setup

From what I’ve seen, the problem was rarely skills
Most teams knew their job

The issue was 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽
- Where accounting stops
- Where FP&A starts

Once that line is clear, the closing changes
- Numbers come with limited rework
- Analysis starts earlier
- Conversations move faster

You can optimise a closing in many ways

This one already does 75% of the job.

If you’ve seen other levers that really improved the closing process,
I’m curious to hear them 👇

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

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

Budget is over and holidays are coming

You think it's time to relax but 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲

I know, you’ve worked hard these weeks (hello budget)

And now Christmas is coming

This is usually the moment when finance leaders tell themselves:
“I’ll think about next year in January”

I'm sorry to say but it will already be late

Because the quiet before the holidays is often the only moment when you can still think clearly about what you want to build next year
Before your inbox has 126 unread emails
Before urgency becomes the norm

This is why I created this playbook

Thanks to it, you'll be taking one step back and asking better questions

- How do I want finance to show up next year?
- What actually matters for my team?
- What needs to be built, fixed, or finally let go of?
- Who do I need around me to make this real?
- What will I no longer tolerate as a leader?

And here’s the part many leaders forget:

You’re not doing this exercise 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳

You're also doing it 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺

If you don’t think about their development, they’ll default to execution
If you don’t create space for reflection, they’ll keep repeating the same year with new dates

One of the best things you can do before the holidays is this:

Use this Playbook 2026 for yourself first

Then ask your team to do it as well

That's the leadership signal they need

If developing your team and your own leadership skills is a real priority for next year, you already know this won’t happen by accident

And if you want help turning that intention into something concrete, you know where to find me 😉

Take the time

Your future self, and your team, will thank you for it

The FP&A Playbook 2026

I partner with Global Payments Inc. to tell you this

Last week, I spoke to a fractional CFO in Austin, Texas

He’s now chasing six months of unpaid work… because of  failed “automation”

I say "automation" because he set it up manually

You juggle enough already

Billing and collections should be the easy part

That’s why Global Payments is hosting a free webinar on Dec 11

And I’m sharing it with my community of fractional CFOs, consultants, auditors, and small business owners who want smarter tools

🗓 Register here: https://lnkd.in/efTJaRaf


I'll be there. Will you?

PS: You can't make it live? No problem. You'll get the recording anyway 👍

#Globalpaymentpartner

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

You’re doing everything right
But your impact feels invisible
Don't give up, let's work on that!

You can work as hard as you can and still go unnoticed

Especially by those who make decisions 

It’s not about working more
It’s about being seen for the value you already bring

And for us, visibility comes from 
- the way you communicate
- the way you advise
- and the way you show up when it matters

But you don't want to beg for attention?

Here are 10 practical ways FP&A leaders become visible without shouting for attention 👇

1️⃣ Send a weekly insight brief
↳ One key business insight, one risk managed, one focus for next week

2️⃣ Step into cross-functional initiatives
↳ Don’t wait for an invitation. Finance becomes strategic when it shows up early

3️⃣ Lead with data and narrative
↳ “Based on this trend, here’s the implication, and here’s what I recommend” 
This is how you move from reporting to enabling decisions

4️⃣ Bring solutions (or options)
↳ Three scenarios and a clear recommendation show judgment.

5️⃣ Make wins visible... in business terms
↳ “Finance helped optimize X and unlocked Y% improvement” 
Leaders remember the impact

6️⃣ Build influence vertically and horizontally
↳ Understand your partners’ priorities before you try to align them

7️⃣ Institutionalize your learning
↳ Capture what worked, what didn’t, and how you’ll apply it
That’s how mature operators lead

8️⃣ Ask for strategic ownership
↳ Signal you’re ready to lead a workstream tied to a real business priority

9️⃣ Recognize others publicly
↳ Visibility multiplies when you elevate the people around you

🔟 Follow through with disciplined updates
↳ Reliability is power
Consistency builds credibility

You don't need to shout to be indispensable

Just make your value impossible to ignore

Which of the 10 are you working on right now?

10 ways to become visible at work.pdf

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

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Soufyan Hamid

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The Battle

Tejas Parikh (ACMA, MBA)

Soufyan Hamid

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Soufyan Hamid's LinkedIn Performance

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