Paul Barnhurst

Founder of The FP&A Guy | Providing training and content that helps FP&A and Finance Professionals be better at their job today and tomorrow.

I am a passionate teacher and creator of FP&A content. I enjoy helping FP&A professionals become more effective creators of value for their businesses. Today, I provide content and training on important subjects, including FP&A, Excel, Power Query, Data Visualization, Storytelling, and more. 

I host three popular podcasts, FP&A Tomorrow, Future Finance, and Financial Modeler’s Corner, which bring you the best and brightest people in finance and FP&A. 

I am a Microsoft MVP and have earned the AFP FP&A Certification and the FMI Advanced Financial Modeler Certification. 

I am a big advocate of FP&A planning tools and share research on FP&A software. I have also published several market guides to help buyers understand the landscape. 

☛ Feel free to contact me – Pbarnhurst@thefpandaguy.com

Podcast Host

Paul Barnhurst, The FPandA Guy

If I see one more person tell me....

I might have to resign my LinkedIn Account and never open the app again

Share a favorite below:

Mine below: 

I can build a financial model by talking to AI in five minutes
How much I can learn from an Excel shortcut Cheat sheet
That I can become an AI CFO
That Excel is dead
That to be advanced in Excel all you need is VLOOKUP
That it is all about learning AI
That AI will take all the jobs
That your not a real company if you do not make a billion dollars
....

What is driving you crazy on LinkedIn?

In our latest Future Finance podcast, Glenn Hopper and I dug into what 2025 taught us about AI adoption and gave some predictions for 2026 .
 
Highlights:
 
→ The individual vs. company gap - Finance professionals are getting dramatically more productive with AI. But at the enterprise level? Most companies still haven't figured out systematic deployment.
It's a disconnect companies need to address.
 
→ Automation is the next frontier - Glenn nailed it: "2025 was proof of concept, 2026 is don't wait on software vendors." Stop reinventing the wheel with every new chat. Start building workflows with tools like Zapier or n8n for your recurring tasks.
 
→ Your people are already using AI - Whether you have a policy or not. As Glenn put it "If someone on Reddit is doing their exact job in 1/10th of the time, they're not going to be the chumps doing things the old way."
 
→ Vibe coding is real - You don't need to be a developer anymore. I'm seeing finance folks build mini-apps to automate tasks that would've required IT involvement just a year ago.
 
The ChatGPT Outlook integration Glenn used to build a client turnover report in 30 minutes—something that would've taken days manually? That's the future.
 
As finance professionals we can't just wait for the perfect tool. Microsoft isn't going to solve everything. Neither is Claude or ChatGPT. We need to get our hands dirty and figure out what works for OUR workflows.
 
Give the episode a listen and let us know what you think.
 
Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gZuckVik
 
🎓 Check out our sponsor QFlow.ai at https://lnkd.in/gaudpc_G your GTM Finance CoPilot

Congrats to Datarails as they just closed a $70 million Series C led by One Peak, bringing total funding to $175 million. 

Hats off to the entire team at Datarails.  I have had the privilege of working with several great people at Datarails and am thankful for the friends I have made during my time hosting the FP&A Today podcast. 

This announcement comes on the heels of several other announcements in the FP&A space and is exciting to see.  Datarails has leaned heavily into AI and keeping you in Excel, and I am excited to see them grow.

Look forward to seeing more Bob Sheetner (aka FPandA) appearances.

Open article: Datarails Raises $70M Series C Led by One Peak to Make AI the Foundation of the CFO's Office by tmcnet.com

Datarails Raises $70M Series C Led by One Peak to Make AI the Foundation of the CFO's Office

This week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Bryan Lapidus, FPAC. Bryan is the FP&A subject matter expert at AFP.
 
He is someone everyone in the FP&A field should be following, as he is able to provide valuable insights and cut through the noise and hype going on in the marketplace.
 
Conversation highlights:
 
On being a great FP&A professional:
 
"You have to be good at finance and the processes by which you deliver your financial services, and you have to be good as a partner to the business."
It's not either/or. You need both.
 
→ Master your tools, processes, and financial analysis
→ Understand how your business creates value and serves customers
→ Get out from behind your screen and experience what your numbers represent
 
On one of the things holding FP&A back:
 
"I talk to a lot of people who are stuck in process for the sake of process... You have these long detailed reports that nobody wants to get rid of because, well, if you get rid of it, then you're at risk."
 
I cannot help but wonder how many of us are producing reports that no one reads? Tracking metrics that don't drive decisions?
 
Bryan's advice: Audit everything. If it doesn't lead to meaningful discussion and outcomes, stop doing it.
 
On continuous learning:
 
"Your ability to learn technical skills needs to be constant in every role... And the ability to learn your next technical skill is directly based on your last one."
 
The skill isn't Excel or Power BI or Python. The skill is LEARNING.
 
On why community matters:
 
"Being part of a community brings that whole community's experiences to you. The ability to talk to 10 other people, I can learn what they've learned from their stories... it's an experience multiplier."
 
The connections are the best part of AFP conferences from my perspective.
 
Speaking of conferences, Bryan also shared insights on the AFP FP&A Forum (March 23-25 in Indianapolis) and why they organize content around three tracks: Finance & Processes, Technology & Data, and Personal & Team Effectiveness.
 
For those wanting to attend the AFP FP&A Forum, and I highly recommend it. Use code: TheFPAGuy-FPAForum2026 to take $150 off and register here: https://lnkd.in/gAxA8czq
 
Listen to the full Episode: https://lnkd.in/gV9U62mG
 
FP&A Unlocked is sponsored by Campfire.
 
Campfire is the AI-first ERP that powers next-gen finance and accounting teams. With integrated solutions for the general ledger, revenue automation, close management, and more, all in one unified platform.
 
Explore Campfire today: https://lnkd.in/dKxnyDNV 

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📰 Join The Modern Finance Playbook Newsletter and get a free FP&A Business Partnering Digital Course Module at https://lnkd.in/g5H4YsvH
📺 Check out the podcast on our YouTube Channel at https://lnkd.in/ejtkdsQd

In this engaging episode of FP&A Unlocked, host Paul Barnhurst welcomes back Bryan Lapidus, FPAC, Director of FP&A Practice at the Association for Fin

Open article: How FP&A Professionals Can Evolve Beyond Reporting and Become Strategic Partners with Bryan Lapidus by Paul Barnhurst • 2 min read

How FP&A Professionals Can Evolve Beyond Reporting and Become Strategic Partners with Bryan Lapidus

Understanding How Excel Agents work!!!
 
I've interviewed nearly every founder of Excel AI agent companies. I've asked them all, "What makes them different?" I got answers about their tools, their approaches, and their models. But I never really understood what was happening behind the scenes, and after interviewing Tim Jacks, I have a much better understanding.
 
This week, Tim joined us as we went under the hood to better understand how LLMs, chatbots, and particular Excel agents work
 
Key takeaways
 
The Technical Reality:
➔ LLMs don't memorize—they recognize patterns across massive datasets
 
➔ Every prompt you send includes your full conversation history (this is one reason why context windows matter)
 
➔ Agents are LLMs wrapped with tools that let them take action (manipulate Excel, search web, etc.)
 
What Actually Helps Your Work:
 
➔ Use rewind features strategically. Going back to edit a bad prompt is way more effective than continuing to ask "why didn't that work?" The LLM literally has no memory of your frustration
 
➔ Understand tool limitations. When an agent fails at a task, it might be because its tools (Office Scripts vs Excel object model) aren't suited for that specific operation
 
➔ Keep conversations focused. More context = worse performance eventually. Long threads consume processing power
 
➔ Tim's breakdown of how agents differentiate themselves through their tools, not just their models was helpful to understand. It will allow me to better understand how agents work and the differences between them.
 
As we all said, after this episode, learning this was interesting, but not needed to use the tools effectively.
 
Ian Schnoor, CFA, CFM said it best when he said : "I've been teaching Excel for 20 years. I don't know how VLOOKUP was coded. Has it impacted my ability? No."
 
This episode is definitely for the nerds who want to peek under the hood. Did it change how I'll prompt tomorrow? Probably not. But it gave me a mental model that helps everything make more sense.
 
Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gYys5FHT
 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎓 ​ Earn your Advanced Financial Modeler accreditation from the @Financial Modeling Institute (FMI) at https://lnkd.in/gQV55MxS (U se code Podcast to save 15%)

AI is a tool in your tool belt, not a type of CFO
AI does not fix your fractured foundation
AI does not make you a great leader

AI can make you and your team more effective and efficient but to get the most out of 2026 you need to make sure you have a solid foundation. 

Winners in 2026 will

✅ Redesigns workflows so work actually moves faster and smarter, not just “more automated”

✅ Invests in soft skills such as judgment, business acumen, and data storytelling.

✅ Think about AI as a partner, not some magical solution.

Join me on January 28, as I join Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA for a LinkedIn Live: 

Closing the Skills Gap: How to Build Finance Teams Ready for the AI Era.

If you are in finance, this session is for you.
📅 January 28
🕒 12:30 pm MT / 2:30 pm ET
🔗 Save your spot here: https://lnkd.in/eaFQVZBS

I hope you enjoyed the video as much as Wassia and I enjoyed making it.

Free FP&A Resources

I am often asked what are my top FP&A resources so I wrote this article with my top free resources for my 63,000+ FP&A Unlocked Newsletter subscribers. 

The resources include 

Free Modern Finance Newsletter - This is where many of my best ideas are given away for free
Register here:  https://lnkd.in/g4nM6zeq

Free FP&A Community:  Join my free FP&A Community The FP&A Hub with over 2,00 members
Join here:  https://lnkd.in/gYX73Ru3

Free Data Storytelling Course - This is a free 5 Day course about how to improve your data storytelling
Register here: https://lnkd.in/gCfjDgSg

Free Microsoft Excel Tables Course - Learn the Power of Microsoft Excel tables for free
Register here: https://lnkd.in/gybmb5TX

Free FP&A Software Selection Course - Learn about the FP&A software marketplace, how to select and implement a tool. 
Register here:  https://lnkd.in/ddTj8tJp

Let me know in the comments what resources could I add that would help you  most?

If you’ve been following me (Paul Barnhurst ) or my podcast FP&A Unlocked for a while, you know my mission is simple: To help FP&A professionals becom

Open article: Level Up Your FP&A Career: A Roadmap to My Top Resources (Free Courses, Community, and More) by Paul Barnhurst • 2 min read

Level Up Your FP&A Career: A Roadmap to My Top Resources (Free Courses, Community, and More)

Playing an instrument 

Anyone who has learned an instrument knows that if you focus on only playing the same note over and over again, it quickly becomes annoying and does not sound good, plus you will not be able to do much with only one note. 

In business, focusing on learning just one thing, even if it is AI vs taking a well-rounded approach to learning, is much like focusing on only one note. 

As you strive to improve your FP&A, remember to develop plans to focus on the most important skills.  A well-rounded approach, improving the skills that will help you differentiate yourself in the marketplace, is important. 

Below is a list of many of the key skills we need to be successful in FP&A,

Key Soft Skills 

➡️ Active Listening
➡️ Data Storytelling
➡️ Business Partnering
➡️ Empathy
➡️ Relationship Building
➡️ Communication

Key Technical Skills 

➡️ Financial Modeling
➡️ Excel
➡️ Understanding data/data management/data structure
➡️ Data visualization
➡️ Artificial intelligence
➡️ Ability to Simplify
➡️ Accounting

Let me know in the comments what one skill you are focused on learning other than Artificial Intelligence?

Master Excel and FP&A with practical tips, powerful formulas, and real-world techniques. Join The FP&A Guy for hands-on tutorials covering everything from basics to advanced financial modeling. Bring your questions and let's excel together!

🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://lnkd.in/gCpFmJub

Excel Hour - Learn to Excel with The FP&A Guy

Wouter Born

GP at Born Capital | CFOTech Investor, Advisor & Entrepreneur. Follow me for posts about finance transformation, FP&A, startups and entrepreneurship.

I’ve spent the last 25 years at the intersection of finance and technology, helping CFOs move beyond spreadsheets to AI-driven, strategic leadership. 

My career has taken me from consulting for Fortune 500 finance teams to building, scaling, and investing in CFOTech companies that transform the way finance operates.

I co-founded CXO Software, a CFO-focused performance reporting platform that served clients like Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Experian, and Facebook. After an 11-year journey, CXO Software was successfully acquired by insightsoftware, a global CFOTech leader backed by TA Associates.

At insightsoftware, I led M&A strategy, guiding acquisitions and helping the world’s top CFO software firms scale. Now, as General Partner at Born Capital, I invest in the next generation of CFOTech startups, backing founders who are reshaping FP&A, financial close, and CFO automation.

I write CFOOffice.io, a fast-growing newsletter read by thousands of CFOs and finance leaders, where I break down AI’s impact on finance, FP&A, and automation. 

As a speaker at high-profile CFO events, I help finance teams cut through the hype and take practical steps to leverage AI today.

Beyond finance, I’m a competitive open-water swimmer, endurance athlete, and adventure-seeker. 

Let’s connect to discuss AI, finance, and where the CFO role is headed next.

Founding & Managing Partner

Specialized investor in CFOTech.
As an entrepreneur with a successful exit, I am passionate about helping founders to succeed. I have been in their shoes, and want to help them to thrive.

Financial storytelling is broken. CFOs don't lack insight but storytelling is hard for finance. Here are 5 states of financial storytelling every CFO must focus on:

1. State: Where are we right now?

Revenue: $42.3m (73% of FY target)
Net Income: $6.3m
These tiles anchor reality.

They answer, What’s the current position?

2. Delta: What changed?

EBITDA bridge: Actual $6.1m vs Plan $6.8m (–$0.7m)

This is movement. What improved? 
What deteriorated? Why?

Boards care more about this than the absolute number.

3. Trajectory: Where are we heading?

Cash Forecast Q4 2026: $18–21m
Runway: 19 months
This tile shows direction, not certainty.

It answers, If nothing changes, where do we land?

4. Exposure: What could break the plan?

Customer concentration risk
Top 3 customers = 38% of revenue
Impact: High | Probability: Medium

This is tension in the story. Unspoken risk destroys trust.

5. Choice: What should we do about it?

Hiring Plan scenarios
Freeze: +$3.2m cash
Selective: +$1.4m
Accelerate: –$2.1m

This is leadership. 
Options. Trade-offs. Consequences.
No choice = no decision.

TAKEAWAY

72% of investors back companies that tell clear financial stories. So every dashboard must follow the 5 states of financial storytelling. 

1. State
2. Delta
3. trajectory
4. Exposure
5. Choice

Finance decks fail because they mix these states.

Boards don’t want more numbers.

They want to know where they are in the story.

That’s financial storytelling.

Stories > numbers 

♻️ Save this post and share it with your network.

Let's help finance become storytellers.

P.S. Join 30,000 CFOs and FP&A operators learning how to use AI in finance at cfooffice.io

GP at Born Capital | cfooffice.io | CFOTech investor, advisor & founder of finstory.ai

MIT warns CFOs:

1. 95% of AI is dangerous 

95% of AI projects don’t deliver ROI. For every one success, 19 fail. Why? Because most companies stop at pilots. They build AI that works in a demo but breaks in the complexity of month-end closes, messy ERP data, and shifting definitions of KPIs. In finance, almost 'works' isn’t good enough. If your AI can’t handle exceptions, it can't survive.

2. The problem is the system design

CFOs understand controls, testing, and audits. Yet many treat AI like magic: one query in, perfect answer out. It doesn’t work that way. The 5% who succeed build loops: AI generates, AI checks, AI tests, and humans sign off. Just like you’d never release financials without review, you can’t deploy AI without system-level rigor.

3. Finance is where AI breaks fastest

In marketing, if AI gets it close, the copy still ships. In finance, if AI gets it close, you lose trust. Forecasts, reconciliations, and board packs demand repeatability. But generative AI is nondeterministic. It can give different answers every time. That’s why projects fail. Unless you engineer consistency into the process, your finance AI fails on arrival.

4. The GenAI Divide is real

MIT calls it out: 95% stuck, 5% pulling away. The stuck companies keep buying static tools that don’t learn or adapt. The winners build systems that plug into workflows, improve with feedback, and compound value over time. In finance, that divide shows up as cycle times, cost leverage, and strategic influence.

TAKEAWAY

The question is simple:
will your finance team be in the 95% or the 5%?

AI is not plug-and-play. It’s infrastructure.

Treat it like you treat financial controls.

- Test.
- Design.
- Improve continuously.

That’s how you turn AI from hype into ROI.

Yes, 95% of AI projects fail. But the real story is in the 5%: https://lnkd.in/ecdnhmYD

Just landed in Dubai and checked in. Hosting a private CFO dinner with a curated group of CFOs and finance founders at a Michelin-starred restaurant:  https://luma.com/qcwcg1yf

There's going to be focused conversations on how AI is actually being used in finance... controls, decision-making, and where it creates real leverage today.

We’ve capped it at 15 people to keep the discussion honest and useful. 

If you’re a CFO or finance founder in Dubai and want a serious conversation with peers, you must be in the room.

I sat down with a CFO Jan-Pieter van Winsen and a storyteller Ali Bilawal. Here are 3 steps to build a financial story every CFO must read atleast once: 

Step 1: Prepare the inputs (and let AI ask)

A board story is unsafe if any pillar is missing.

Aggregate the data

• History (trends, not just this month)
• Plain data (raw facts)
• KPIs & volumes (real drivers)
• Hierarchies (entities, regions, cost centers)

Build the context

• Scenario (what situation are we in?)
• Date (what period actually matters?)
• Context (what changed and why?)

This is where AI should ask questions, not generate text.

Define the purpose

• Mindset for the meeting
• Decision required
• Depth of detail

What must be editable, interactive, and validated. Most teams skip this. They give AI numbers and expect judgment. Judgment only appears after questions.

Step 2: Structure the story

This phase is cyclical, not linear.

• Engine: loop data, context, and intent
• Rulebook: what gets included vs cut
• Tools: enforce structure and consistency
• Goal: one coherent storyline

This is exactly what strong FP&A does with a CFO. AI can do it too, if the system forces reasoning, not writing.

Step 3: The output

A board story isn’t a draft. It’s a claim.

Before sharing:

• Look: board-ready formatting
• Visuals: decision-clarifying charts
• Content: accurate and relevant
• Flow: logical narrative arc

Then it evolves:

First suggestion

• Improved story through iteration
• Final board-ready storyline

That’s how humans work.

That’s how AI should work.

TAKEAWAY

You can’t solve a context problem with a prompt.

You need a system that:

• Stores context.
• Asks the right questions.
• Remembers past decisions.
• Connects actuals, budget, and forecast.

That’s how financial storytelling becomes leadership and not reporting.

If this resonates, you’re already thinking like a CFO.

P.S. Sell a good financial story to the CEO and the Board: https://lnkd.in/ed34ne_F

AI is changing the CFO role... but how? Every expert is screaming that AI will change every role. But if you’re a CFO looking at your P&L, you’re probably asking: 

When?

AI is on the balance sheet, but the value is missing. 

And MIT also published a study with a headline-grabbing stat: 95% of enterprise AI projects fail to deliver ROI.

That means for every success story, 19 projects fail. Burning budgets, wasting time, and leaving leadership wondering if AI is just hype. But inside the company, the truth is harsher:

Adoption stalls.
Workflows stay brittle.
Nobody trusts the output.

The pilot never scales. 

The project never leaves the lab. 

And the ROI never arrives.

To understand how AI is actually changing roles in the $18.6 trillion labor market, the market must be analyzed through a 3-layer framework: 

1. Exposure
2. Adoption
3. Response

This model explains why different observers see different realities. Some focus on what the tech can do, while others focus on what it is doing.

Let’s dive in at the AI CFO Office.

taplio

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