Hello Reader,

There are some skills you can never learn at school.

Today, my goal is to reveal the FP&A secrets that will help you make a difference on your job.

I've learned them from my personal experience and I am glad that I can share them with you.

And like every week, I offer you a free template (check it at the end of the email).

Enjoy!
Nicolas

P.S. If you want to learn how to do Financial Analysis with ChatGPT, you can get one of the last spot to my Advanced ChatGPT for Finance course.
This is where I show the secret formula to use the power of ChatGPT analysis on your confidential data.
Don't wait to enroll: check it out here.

5 FP&A Secrets

Here are the 5 most important secret FP&A weapons I used in my 15 years of experience:

#1: B.O.T.E

B.O.T.E stands for Back-Of-The-Envelope.

B.O.T.E calculations are a skill you need in Board meetings and in your daily activities.

In every meeting I went to, each time there was a question with numbers, all eyes looked in my direction.

Why? Because for everybody, Finance = Numbers.

This means you need to react fast but still not lose your credibility.

My advices:

• Only aim for a rough estimation
• Know the basic numbers of your company
• Use arithmetic shortcuts and principles (check this article to get better)

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#2: PVM Analysis

I am always surprised that they don't teach that at school.

PVM analysis is a powerful method that helps us understand the profitability of our products or services.

By breaking down revenue or margin into its components - price, volume, and mix - we can identify the drivers of profitability and make strategic decisions to optimize our business.

PVM analysis enables us to assess the impact of pricing or margin changes, sales volume variations, and shifts in product or customer mix.
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Price Volume Mix is the best analysis method you can use to compare sales, margin, or even payroll costs.

Where to use PVM Analysis:

• Product Decisions: Identify top-performing and underperforming products.
• Pricing: Gauge effects of price changes on profitability.
• Margin: Applied to margin instead of revenue, PVM helps you understand your margin variances..
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#3: Storytelling

Financial Storytelling was for me a revelation over the last 10 years.

The impact of Storytelling in your career can be summarized by this quote:

"The world rewards the people who are best at communicating ideas, not the people with the best ideas."

This means for you, that you will be only as good as what you can communicate.

With my friend Soufyan Hamid, we gave a face-to-face training one week ago on this topic. The feedback we received was tremendous (more on that at the end of the email).
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​Focus on:

• Preparation: Allocate dedicated time. It's beyond just slides.
  Remember that how you communicate an idea is as important as the idea itself.
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• Messages: Identify core points to convey. People only remember one or two messages from an email or a presentation. Make sure you know exactly what you want them to remember from your communications.
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• Audience Insight: Understand expectations from your stakeholders and adapt to them. Another tip is to avoid unpleasant surprises. If there is a piece of important information, don't wait to escalate it.
  You are not responsible if something bad happens in the business. But you are responsible for how and when you transmit the information.
  Remember, giving enough time and insights for your management to decide is helping them in their decision-making process.
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#4: Excel, PowerPoint, and now ChatGPT

Excel and PowerPoint are indispensable tools in the modern business landscape.

It's not a surprise that these skills are important in Finance.

But mastering pivot and index/match for Excel is another dimension.
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And most likely you work with PowerPoint every day... but can you use SmartArt to make a professional presentation within 5 minutes?

Mastering their specific functionalities can drastically improve productivity and effectiveness.

Excel Practical Tips:

• Shortcuts: Familiarize yourself with key shortcuts for efficiency.
• Data Validation: Use drop-down lists to ensure data consistency.
• Pivot Tables: Summarize large data sets quickly.
• Charts: Visualize data for better insights.
• Conditional Formatting: Highlight specific data points based on criteria.

PowerPoint Practical Tips:

• Consistent Design: Use templates for a uniform look and feel.
• Animations: Use sparingly to emphasize, not distract.
• High-Quality Images: Ensure clarity and relevance.
• Bullet Points: Keep them concise and focused.
• Practice: Rehearse presentations to refine timing and flow.

Now mastering ChatGPT is what can set you up from the crowd.

Use ChatGPT for

• Long and complex communications
• Drafting procedures (you can draft procedures in a few minutes)
• Problem-solving (imagine for example creating a cash action plan)
• Tool tutorials: Make ChatGPT your Excel instructor, available 24/7 for you
• Financial analysis: get help from ChatGPT to structure your analysis

If you want to learn how to use ChatGPT for the 5 functionalities listed above, you only need 2 hours.

I combined everything I learned over the last 10 months and put it in a 2 hours course available here.

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#5: Listen to Your Business Partners

Listening actively to your business partners is pivotal.

Their insights can guide your focus, ensuring that your efforts align with the current business challenges (because, let's be honest, it's often the case that Finance isolates itself and will work on the wrong priorities).

In my career, this was one of the skills that was the most appreciated by my business partners. And it made my work more valuable but also more recognized.

My Practical Tips:

• Regular Check-ins: Schedule consistent meetings with stakeholders.
• Open Questions: Encourage partners to express their needs.
• Prioritize: Align your tasks with business goals.
• Feedback Loops: Ensure ongoing communication for adjustments.
• Stay Updated: Be aware of operational changes and challenges.

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What Have We Learned Today?

1. B.O.T.E: Master quick, rough estimations for informed decisions.
2. PVM Analysis: It's crucial to break down revenue components to understand and optimize profitability.
3. Storytelling: Transforming complex data into compelling narratives fosters better stakeholder connections.
4. Excel & PowerPoint Mastery: In-depth tool knowledge enhances productivity and makes presentations stand out.
5. Partner Engagement: Actively listening to business partners ensures alignment with business priorities.

The Finance Copilot - Training Program

A few days ago, Soufyan Hamid and I trained a team of 25 motivated finance professionals.

It was the launch of the "The Finance Copilot," a two-day bootcamp training with exercises, group work, and sharing of best practices.

We did it this time for Holcim (one of the worldwide leaders in Cement products), where the CFO hired us to upskill his finance team on Finance Business Partnering and Financial Storytelling.

If you are interested in training your team, reach out to me by replying to this email.

Free template of the week:

To help you with your Finance Business Partner skills, here is an interview guide when you are going to meet your operational business partner.

I also added a list of key figures you should memorize for the BOTE.

​FBP Questions and BOTE​

How did you find today's email?

If you could send me a short feedback by replying to this email this would mean a lot to me.

Nicolas

P.S.: Here is how I can help you:

1. Learn ChatGPT to boost your productivity and stay ahead of the competition. Take my 2-hour course.

2. Master PowerPoint and impress your boss with my PowerPoint guide for Finance professionals.

3. Do you want to move to FP&A? Learn all the technical and soft skills you need here.

4. You want your team to start reap the benefits of ChatGPT? Hire me for a 2-hour digital workshop tailored to your needs.
Reply to this email if you are interested.