Finance teams obsess over numbers: revenue, margins, headcount.But the one driver that rarely makes it into the forecast — and quietly determines all the rest — is trust. When trust erodes inside a company, the financial impact is immediate and brutal: Sales cycles stretch because prospects don’t believe promises. Renewal rates collapse when customers doubt […]
Everyone loves a scenario model. Base case, upside, downside.But here’s the dirty secret: most FP&A teams don’t assign probabilities — or worse, they assign them blindly. Here are five ways teams botch probability in FP&A scenario planning: 1. Defaulting to 70/20/10 Splits The lazy template. Base case 70%, upside 20%, downside 10%. If your “probabilities” […]
Variance analysis is supposed to explain why numbers shifted.Instead, most FP&A teams turn it into a ritual — a performance that eats hours but explains nothing. Here are the seven deadly sins that prove your variance analysis is broken: 1. Worshipping Tiny Deviations Arguing about office supplies being 8% over budget while churn jumped 15%. […]
FP&A teams worship financial statements. Revenue. Margins. Cash burn. But here’s the catch: the numbers you see in the P&L are lagging indicators. The real drivers of performance often aren’t financial at all. If you’re only tracking dollars, you’re blind to the levers that actually move them. Here are five ways FP&A fails when it […]
Everyone in finance loves to say: “Cash is king.” But here’s the problem — most FP&A teams still treat cash flow like a reporting afterthought, not the strategic driver it really is. If you want to know whether your finance team truly understands cash, watch for these six red flags: 1. Cash Flow Reviewed Only […]
Every CFO says they want “more scenarios.”Best case. Base case. Downside case. But here’s the truth: most FP&A teams aren’t running scenarios. They’re performing them. Like a stage play where the ending never changes. These are the four biggest signs you’re stuck in scenario theater: 1. Every Case Looks Like the Base Case If your […]
Every finance leader swears their biggest issue is “data quality.”It’s the universal scapegoat. The easy villain. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: in most cases, the data is fine.It’s the people and the processes that are broken. These are the five biggest lies FP&A teams keep telling themselves: 1. “We can’t forecast because the data is […]
Most FP&A teams treat expenses as the enemy. They track them, cap them, slash them. But the real enemy isn’t cost — it’s opportunity cost. Think of it this way: You cut $2M from marketing to “preserve runway.” Sales pipeline collapses six months later. You freeze hiring to “control burn.” Product releases stall and competitors […]
Finance teams obsess over dollars, margins, and growth rates. But the one resource that quietly breaks forecasts isn’t money — it’s time. Think about it: A product launch slips by three months and revenue evaporates. Procurement lags by 30 days and cash flow buckles. A sales cycle stretches from 90 days to 120, and suddenly […]
Most FP&A teams think forecasting is about numbers. Revenue. Expenses. Margins. Balance sheets. Cash flow. But here’s the truth: financial outcomes don’t begin with numbers — they begin with people. Sales teams sandbagging pipeline until quarter-end. Customers holding renewals hostage for discounts. Managers gaming budgets to protect turf. Numbers don’t lie. People do. And until […]