Seidman Financial

▪️ CFO Advisor to Fractional CFOs
▪️ Finance Director
▪️ FP&A Inner Circle Mastermind
▪️ FP&A coaching and training
▪️ Cash flow forecasting
▪️ Working capital optimization
▪️ Turnaround and restructuring
▪️ Continuous planning
▪️ Capital raise support
▪️ Strategic advisory, Board advisory
▪️ Crisis management
▪️ Financial/operational revitalization
▪️ Learning and development (L&D)
▪️ Instructional design
▪️ Advanced financial modeling

Financial Advisory | Fractional CFO | Turnaround & Restructuring | Leadership and FP&A Development

National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA®) 40 Under Forty

The Fractional CFO Power Skills Mastermind

Since its launch in March 2023, 250+ finance and accounting professionals have grown their advisory businesses and careers through the learning and development ecosystem. In the process, they have earned more than 3,000 credits of CPE and receive ongoing support as needed.

Attendees learn pure application, not academic concepts. They get to implement techniques and methods straight into their work, delivering invaluable solutions to their clients while building a business congruent with their personal values and professional goals.

Founder

LinkedIn

Excel and FP&A expert and course author for best-in-class virtual learning company.

LinkedIn Learning Author - Excel for FP&A

American Management Association

Co-author of "AMA's 5-Day MBA".

Adjunct faculty member and subject-matter expert (SME) in finance and strategy since 2010.

Adjunct Faculty Member

Wall Street Prep

Creator of the FP&A Technical Mastery Program, FP&A Technical Mastery Boot Camp, and FP&A Strategic Planning.

Facilitator of sessions in FP&A and financial/operational restructuring.

Senior FP&A Instructor

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) is one of the most technically rigorous corporate finance career paths. FP&A professionals work closely with the CFO, Director of Finance and other stakeholders to provide them with the information they need to make strategic and operational decisions. This 3-part webinar takes a look at the role an FP&A professional by discussing: 1) Why FP&A is critical in today’s competitive business environment; 2) How FP&A differs from traditional finance and accounting roles; and 3) The skills a qualified FP&A professional should possess.  Based in Excel.  Carl is one of the preeminent and most in demand FP&A facilitators, with WSP and elsewhere, having worked with over 200 companies in professional development and FP&A technical implementation.

Speaker / Presenter

Michelin

FP&A Development and Program Facilitator

Cigna

The Standard

Association for Financial Professionals

Presentations on:
Cash Flow Forecasting Strategies in FP&A
Clear and Impactful Dashboards for Virtual and Live Presentations

Presenter

Spotify

Premier FP&A + Fractional CFO learning and development experiences ▪️ Financial and CFO advisory ▪️ FP&A masterminds & community ▪️ Finance leadership development and training

Companies that go through my FP&A and CFO training and engage my advisory services are companies you know, work with, and buy from:

ABM Industries, AlixPartners, Allscripts, American Chemical Society, American Management Association, Association for Financial Professionals, BI Incorporated, Choice Hotels, CIBC, CHEP, Cigna, Conway MacKenzie (dba Riveron), Cox Enterprises, Crawford & Company, Deloitte, Discover, Erie Insurance, EVRAZ, Express Scripts, EY, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Fresenius-Kabi, FS Investments, Genentech, Guy Carpenter, HCPI, Heartland Financial, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Hormel, Hostess, Int’l Gaming Technologies, ILCPAs, International Game Technology PLC (IGT), KPMG, Marsh & McClennan, Michelin, NACVA, NerdWallet, OnDeck Capital, Outsystems, Pulse Network, Radisson, Robinhood, Saltchuk, Santander, Sloan Valve, Solar Turbines, Sol Petroleum, Spotify, StanCorp, United Technologies, Universal Business Team, University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Steel, Verizon, Whole Foods, Wall Street Prep, and Walmart.

But the most important statistic of all: >30% of my program attendees are repeat participants. Which means they learn and come back for more.

As one of the most prolific professional speakers in FP&A, I personally address companies, associations, and student groups on strategic financial planning, workplace engagement, advanced business modeling, business storytelling, crisis management, and financial leadership development programs (FLDPs).

We help companies with strategic planning, turnarounds and restructurings in distressed or stagnant situations, cash flow management and working capital optimization, executive and professional coaching, training seminars, forensic evaluations, and managing operational and financial crises.

Want to connect or learn more?
carl@seidmanfinancial.com

It’s been exactly one year since I launched The Fractional CFO Power Skills Mastermind. What began as a pilot program turned into something far more than I imagined.

In the coming months, attendees of sessions asked for more education and guidance. Since that initial launch, more than 240 finance and accounting professionals have grown their advisory businesses and careers through the full learning and development ecosystem. In the process, they have collectively earned more than 3,000 credits of CPE and receive ongoing support as needed.

I feel that the Fractional CFO Power Skills Mastermind and related financial coursework are the best technical and non-technical skills development programs that Fractional CFOs, FP&A advisors, consultants, and CPAs can find.

They learn hands-on application, not academic concepts. They get to embrace the methods I implement at client companies while becoming aware of and avoiding the mistakes I openly share too.

What gives me the most gratitude and joy? Hearing from the advisors and Fractional CFOs who have grown their businesses for returns well-beyond what they invested. Nearly 40% of attendees enroll in 2 or more cohorts within the ecosystem.

Starting in consulting nearly two decades ago, there was little training and development that was directly relevant to that career. After starting my own advisory business in March 2013, there were few people to learn from.

Much of business is noticing what's missing and developing solutions to plug that hole. This was my solution to address the void in this space.

Thank you so very much to those of you who have joined me on this project. I'm excited to share with you an announcement about what's coming next.

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA

My course on Excel for FP&A has had more than 10,000 LinkedIn Learners  since it launched earlier this quarter. It's rated 4.8/5.0 stars and is just two-and-a-half hours long.

Here's the curriculum:

Why does Excel matter to FP&A?
What is financial planning & analysis?
Excel in FP&A, management consulting, and ibanking
Where does Excel fit into the FP&A tech stack?
Why do dynamic functions matter to FP&A?
Intro to dynamic data tables
Dynamic data tables for FP&A modeling
Updating data tables with Power Query
FP&A applications with data tables
Advanced dynamic mapping: Power Query
Advanced dynamic mapping: INDEX, XMATCH, INDIRECT
Mapping dynamic data tables to an FP&A model
Using INDEX XMATCH for dynamic ranges
Using XLOOKUP for dynamic ranges
Introduction to OFFSET
Using OFFSET for dynamic ranges
Flexing data and dynamic ranges for FP&A models
Introduction to dynamic arrays
Using SEQUENCE for dynamic ranges
Using FILTER for dynamic data management
Using UNIQUE for dynamic data management
Using SORT and SORTBY for dynamic data management
Segmenting data for use in an FP&A model

If you have access to LinkedIn Learning, it's in your library.

I asked an outsourced accounting firm for the file used to create my client’s financial statements. They refused, saying it was proprietary.

So I recreated the file myself. It took me 3 hours. I told my client to fire the firm.

I could’ve charged the company the $6000 the accounting firm was billing. I charged one-quarter of that.

I handed the financial mapping file over to the company Controller and I never touched it again.

Why do I share this story with you?

Because this one of my biggest gripes about the Fractional CFO space.

You might say the Fractional CFO focuses on the finances so the operators can focus on the business.

But what this often means is FCFOs are able to wedge themselves into a recurring role. They become so indispensable that the company will suffer a setback if the FCFO leaves.

I think it should be the opposite.

Instead of “we can’t afford to have you leave…”

I want the company’s leadership to say “we never would have grown from where we were to where we are now, if it wasn’t for what you’ve done. 

And we no longer need you because now we need, and can afford to hire, a full-time CFO.”

Job security builds by adding insane value, not by making yourself so indispensable that you can never leave or be fired.

Why do I advocate so strongly that FP&As and Fractional CFOs learn Power Query?

Power Query lets you to automate data imports, cleanup, and formatting. Once you've established a data connection and transformation steps, drop-down options from the navigation ribbon permit you to transform, add columns, and reformat in countless ways.

You have databases, ERPs, SharePoint, PDFs, exported CSVs, and more? There is hardly any reason not to use Power Query to connect them and run recurring imports and reformatting at the click of a button.

Some people wonder where Power Query is since it's not clearly called out:

1️⃣ Open Excel, go to the 'Data' tab.
2️⃣ In the 'Get & Transform Data' section, click 'Get Data'.
3️⃣ From 'From Other Sources', select the data source.
4️⃣ Follow the prompts to connect and import.

All of this takes place before the data hits Excel or Power BI. Power Query's interface is basic enough that you can click icons and apply steps quickly and easily. 

In the absence of Power Query, you'd be spending hours setting up the data, sanitizing it, and positioning it for use. Because Power Query connects to the back end and saves the transformation steps, queries can be run as part of a weekly routine, manually, or every minute.

This is a list of just some of the data sources you can connect to. And new sources are being added all the time.

What have been your favorite uses of Power Query in your work?

I don't often share the reasons why I left formal management consulting more than a decade ago. But as I explain here, this was a major inflection point in my career that made me reconsider the direction I was going in.

Many years ago, I was dating a girl.

For the first months of our relationship, I only saw her on weekends. I was flying back and forth across the country, working long hours, and under high stress client work.

I saw a future with her.

One uncommon weeknight we got to spend together, we went with friends to a Counting Crows concert in the suburbs of Chicago. Late in the evening, I thought I'd be able to get away from work for a couple of hours.

I was wrong.

I spend the entire concert in the parking lot on my phone and iPad doing work.

I apologized to the girl and explained what my job required of me. I needed to be available 24/7 when deadlines were approaching. To my surprise, she understood and we continued dating.

I'd always known that no job is perfect. No career is perfect. Work requires sacrifice and taking on responsibilities that we didn't ask for.

Jobs we take on should be fulfilling and help us grow most days. But fulfillment and growth in one dimension of our lives can sometimes come at the expense of fulfillment and growth in other dimensions.

It was that evening that I acknowledge that my commitment to my work was coming at the expense of my relationship. I remained in my role and fulfilled my duties as a Director for a few more months.

Then I resigned.

I started my own business so I could build my work around my life, and not my life around my work.

The girl? We've been together for 12+ years, married with kids.

Life is full of chapters. What makes complete sense for us in one chapter may be totally incongruent in another.

It's up to us to become aware of when that happens.

When I resigned, I was called in by senior leadership. I sat down and he asked why I was leaving. When I explained he said

“Good for you. Many guys don’t admit when it’s time for them to go.”

He then told me about those who ended up with drug and alcohol problems, in broken marriages, or being resented by their families.

Thankfully I wasn’t on that path but I had put on a lot of weight and was having trouble staying asleep at night. The trajectory I was on was unsustainable and unhealthy, physically and mentally.

So I left.

When I tell my story and reflect on the past, some people ask whether I regret my decision to stay.  Others ask if I regret my decision to leave. Both answers are a resounding no.

Looking back, I learned more than I would’ve in any other environment over twice as many years. In consulting, I learned more about business than I would being in any single corporation. I learned more about myself and how to engage with others than I would have in another line of work.

One of the most important lessons in work isn’t the importance of discovering what we want to do for the rest of our lives. It’s the importance of discovering when it’s time to move on.

Walking away doesn’t mean we’re weighted down with regret. On the contrary, it often means being at peace with the past and being lighter for what’s next.

Should weekly cash flow forecasts for turnaround and restructuring purposes be the same as for performing companies? In my opinion and experience, the answer is no. This is my general rule:

--------------------
Underperforming: Build weekly cash flows from the bottom up.
Performing: Build weekly cash flows from the top down.
----------

In distressed business situations, we often need a lot of detail and precision. We spend a lot of time combing through data, documents, and assumptions. If we get those numbers wrong, there are major consequences.

But for performing companies, they usually don't need the level of detail and precision that underperforming companies require. We can also utilize existing reports and financials to back into a weekly forecast.

Here's an explanation of why I build the headers and mapping the way I do for a top-down weekly forecast.

#seidmanfinancial

"It's not that I want to sell my business. It's that I want the option of being able to sell my business."

Small business owners usually aren't finance people. But that doesn't mean they don't like money.

Their challenge is they don't know how their operating decisions impact the value of their company. It's our duty as Fractional CFOs and FP&A advisors to help them understand.

My business models can show a business owner how changes in volume, pricing, conversion costs, and overhead expenses impact their bottom line. The bottom line feeds basic assumptions about working capital. And at any time, we can get an idea of the value of the business.

Not all Fractional CFOs need to understand business valuation the way investment bankers do.

But because many business owners may want to position their businesses for sale one day, why wouldn't a Fractional CFO want to help to make that possible?

Dynamic cash flow modeling means being able to incorporate new assumptions quickly and easily. It reduces manual updates, the likelihood of mistakes while increasing confidence. Here are two great tricks.

1) Dynamic headers and labels

In my business models, you commonly see me using dynamic text. This means that the text automatically updates when assumptions change. This helps keep my models current.

If you've been experimenting with Copilot, I speculate we'll see this as a built-in feature soon.

2) Dynamic spill ranges

Some business modelers and financial modelers cringe when they aren't able to audit every single calculation. But if you build formulas in a way that they never break, you don't have to worry about building overly-simplistic calculations.

Here's I use dynamic spill ranges to illustrate the exact values that are being captured in more complex calculations. This results in the best of both worlds -- robust dynamic functionality + auditability.

If you missed part 1 of this walkthrough: https://lnkd.in/eZZVBh3U

#seidmanfinancial

I don't care if you're the best modeler or the smartest person in the room. If you can't effectively communicate findings and insights in a way that resonates, I am going to trust you less.

It shows me that you don't know what you've done well enough to clearly articulate it to someone who's less informed.

Is that unfair? I don't think so.

In finance, credibility, rapport, and connection matter a lot.

That means making sure that you're getting the numbers right. But it also means effectively managing the flow of information and the deliverable.

In this last tutorial, I explained why I use header mapping for forecasts of performing businesses. This makes it easier to build weekly forecasts from the monthly P&L and balance sheet. I take it further here.

In this example, I explain how I'm able to reasonably forecast payroll, collections, and payments using toggles and triggers.

Is it perfect? No.

But it's generally good enough for a small or midsized business that's not at risk. I'm able to use triggers to formulaically pay payroll. I'm able to use weighting assumptions to formulaically forecast collections throughout the month.

Every company is different. So the approach you take for going top-down or bottom-up depends on the needs of your clients or your company.

If you missed the first walkthrough, you can watch it here: https://lnkd.in/eNsKvn9z

#seidmanfinancial

I’m not nearly as skilled in finance as I’d like to be. But I’m far more skilled in what has mattered most for my career.

It’s easy to focus on deficiency, because it’s often simpler to identify what we’re missing than what we possess.

But when we focus on what we don’t have, instead of what we do, we dismiss the abundance of our vast and deep capabilities.

That’s the surest way to get the lowest return possible on a lifetime of personal achievement.

Do the opposite. Exploit the differentiators and sell strengths  Hire out for the rest.

In this inventory forecast, I share a quick and easy way to model stock balances and purchases. But take note -- there's lots of nuance to be aware of.

A roll-forward inventory forecast can be approached in two ways, depending on the availability and reliability of data.

1) Using Purchase Schedules from Procurement: 

This method bases the forecast on detailed purchase plans provided by the procurement team. It’s effective when procurement data is precise and aligned with sales forecasts.

2) Forecasting Ending Balance & Backing into Purchases: 

Here, you start with forecasting the ending inventory balance, a COGS forecast, and then back into the required purchases to complete the accounting equation.

This method is particularly useful when there's high confidence in COGS forecasts and you need to determine the necessary inventory level to meet sales demands.

However, there's lots of nuance that may cause either approach to be wrong:

A) Raw material inventory purchases don't often take place weekly. So using a weekly reconciliation is likely going to be in conflict with reality on the ground.

B) Timing issues. The timing of raw material inventory purchases, sales, and A/R collections is crucial for cash flow management. These approaches don't effectively consider the lag between inventory purchases and sales.

C) Inaccuracy and erroneous valuation due to the comingling of inventory types. Inventory consists of raw materials, WIP, and finished goods. Lumping them all into a single inventory roll-forward can invite a highly-imprecise analysis. It also ignores the capitalization of labor and overhead as conversion costs into WIP inventory.

There's a whole lot more than what I can cover in this post. So...

>> Be cautious about applying textbook approaches
>> Be weary of using formulas that may not reflect reality. 
>> Substantiate and justify the methods you choose.

#seidmanfinancial

The importance of a 3-year forecast in strategic planning. While a near-term view allows us to capture specific activities and known improvements, a long-term view allows us to plan for the future.

Year 1 forecast - detail and accuracy: 

Given the closer time-horizon, events in a one-year forecast should be far more predictable. Near-term forecasts tend to be more detailed and ideally more accurate than forecasts thereafter. 

While operational improvements aren't always realized in short order, it's more likely that we can analyze and quantify these improvements in the near-term. We can see the immediate impact of efficiency measures on direct costs and margin improvement.

Year 2-3 forecast:

Heavily-dependent on year 1, we see current initiatives and improvements come to fruition. Recognize that if the company fails to achieve year 1 performance, it's likely that subsequent year forecasts will also be less reliable.

Year 4+ forecast:

As we move to later years, we typically shift focus to normalization, recognizing that long-term projections need to account for more stable and sustainable performance.

Does it matter how far into the future you forecast?

I believe so.

If a 1-year forecast is intended for near-term planning, a 3-year forecast helps with strategic planning. A normalized 5- or 6-year forecast aids in long-term planning, capex anticipation, and valuation.

Last week I shared an absolutely stellar FP&A opportunity. It's working in partnership with an extraordinary Chicago-based entrepreneur. The only requirements:

Attitude, ability, experience as an FP&A Manager at a minimum, and a track record of being a superstar.

Nothing related to education.
Nothing related to certifications.
Nothing related to the name of a former employer.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Education and skills matter. But...

Nothing matters more than ability, experience, and the talent to achieve.

When it comes to FP&A, it's like being in the financial control tower. While it doesn't have control over every department, it does have an elevated perspective that allows it to see the full landscape of the company. Check out this issue of The Statement for more insights on FP&A and my answer to a reader's question on the top 5 skills critical for someone wanting to be a versatile cross-sector CFO. Stay ahead of the game! #FP&A #CFO #finance 

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA on LinkedIn • 4 min read

The Financial Control Tower

The challenge that Fractional CFOs and FP&A advisors have isn't finding the business. It's landing the right kind of business. That's because many FCFOs and FP&As struggle to articulate what they do.

I came from a consulting background and was accustomed to doing whatever I needed to solve companies' problems.

The biggest issue I had when I first started wasn't landing more clients. It was maxing out and burning out. I was hitting the ceiling because:

a) I wasn't clear on my service offerings.
b) I was saying yes more often than I was saying no.

--------------------
There are more than 33.1 million small businesses in the US.
There are more than 5.5 million small businesses in the UK.
There are more than 2.6 million small businesses in Australia
There are more than 1.2 million small businesses in Canada.
There are tens of millions of SMBs everywhere else.
--------------------

If you can land 0.0000002 of that global market, you can:

Have a thriving business.
Do the work you're great at doing.
Choose the clients you love to work with.
Turn away the opportunities that don't fit.
Be in the top 1% of earners in your geography.
Design work around your life and not the reverse.

Be clear on your business model and who you work with.
Master of the skills and experience you need to deliver insane value.

Do you not believe me?

In FP&A, if you're going to forecast capex, it's best to do so through an incremental analysis.

Capex investments have costs and benefits. As costs are incurred, benefits may be realized. Benefits may come in the form of incremental increases in sales.

But often capex investments result in capacity increases and performance improvements. In other words, the incremental benefits are actually cost savings.

Incorporating capex investments into baseline forecasts makes it next-to-impossible to determine attribution. If the investment is terminated, comingling into the baseline makes it extremely difficult to reforecast.

So if you want FP&A operating models to be more flexible and accurate, I recommend building them as a baseline with scenarios. The scenarios should permit on/off toggles for incremental costs and benefits from capex.

I'll illustrate this for you in a forthcoming video tutorial.

Want some more info on the capex approaches I recommend: https://lnkd.in/e3yBFDbH

Which one is it?
A simple rounding issue?
Or your biggest pet peeve?

Losing a job bring a tsunami of emotions, especially if it was unexpected. Sometimes it seems like landing a new job is the top priority, while investing in yourself is the least. I try to make it a little easier.

I give out a handful of scholarships to people experiencing challenging circumstances. This helps make professional development and live education more accessible and affordable.

There are no strings attached to apply, aside from meeting these conditions:

1) You have recently been laid off or are enduring another major hardship in your employment.

2) You're interested in the financial topics, agree to attend every session, and will participate fully.

3) You're an accountant, a finance professional, or entrepreneur and you're making a positive impact on the world around you.

Your application and participation will be completely anonymous. If you have applied previously, and are still experiencing hardship, you may apply again.

Send a short note to info@seidmanfinancial.com about why you would like to be considered and why you believe one or more courses from the portfolio will make a difference.

All submissions for must be received by Tuesday, April 9th. We'll pick randomly from the pool of people thereafter and notify them.

These are the upcoming cohorts: https://lnkd.in/dBHXUTN8

Scholarship spots for programs are extremely limited. Please understand that not everyone can and will receive a response.

If you would like to suggest a scholarship on behalf of someone else who you believe would value and benefit from it, please let me know.

Thanks for spreading the word.

Taplio

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA's Linkedin Analytics

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA

What is Carl talking about?

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA's Linkedin Analytics

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA

What is Carl talking about?

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA's Best Posts .css-qqfgvy{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);}(last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA's Linkedin Analytics

Carl Seidman, CSP, CPA's Best Posts (last 30 days)