Why Finance Needs a New Playbook — and Why Sarah Schlott Is Writing It

The Provocation

“Annual planning is dead.”

That’s not the kind of line you expect to hear from a finance leader. It’s the sort of heresy that makes a boardroom go silent and a CFO shift in their chair. Yet Sarah Schlott, Founder & CEO of The Schlott Company, has built her reputation on saying the quiet part out loud.

To her, budgets that take three months to build and go stale in three weeks aren’t a discipline — they’re a ritual. Forecasts that live in static decks aren’t strategy — they’re stage props. And finance teams that drown in spreadsheets while operators improvise in the dark aren’t adding clarity — they’re hiding it.

Sarah Schlott’s provocation is simple but profound: finance can no longer be the scorekeeper. It has to be the strategist.

A Scene Most CFOs Know Too Well

Picture this: a SaaS boardroom on a Thursday evening. The slides are crisp. The numbers, less so.

The CFO walks through a forecast that shows 20% ARR growth next year. An investor interrupts: “What assumptions are driving that? And how resilient are they if churn ticks up?”

The CFO hesitates. The finance lead fumbles through tabs of an Excel model that took weeks to build but can’t flex on the fly. The room stiffens.

It’s a moment Sarah Schlott has witnessed more times than she can count — and it’s exactly where she changes the script.

“The most dangerous phrase in finance is ‘the model says,’” she explains. “Models don’t say anything. Leaders do. The question is whether your model helps you tell the truth or just recite numbers.”

That shift — from model-driven to conversation-driven — is why reporters and podcast hosts increasingly seek her out. It’s finance, reframed.

Quotable Authority

Sarah Schlott has a knack for packaging sharp truths into phrases that stick. Among her most-cited lines:

“Budgets are horoscopes. Forecasts are science experiments. The difference is whether you’re measuring what matters or just hoping for the stars to align.”
“ERP isn’t a system. It’s a scapegoat. The problem isn’t your software; it’s the way you treat data as a report instead of a relationship.”
“The future of finance isn’t about controlling spend. It’s about building credibility. And credibility compounds faster than ARR.”

Each line is both quotable and deeply functional: the kind of insight that reporters can headline, and podcast hosts can build an entire episode around.

The Big Idea: Disruptive, Yet Pragmatic

At its core, The Schlott Company does something deceptively simple: it helps finance leaders run FP&A the way great operators run companies.

That means:

Replacing static plans with rolling forecasts tied to business drivers.
Transforming raw ERP and CRM exports into cohort-level insights investors actually trust.
Turning variance explanations into boardroom narratives instead of spreadsheet autopsies.
Using tools like Excel and AI side by side — not to replace judgment, but to amplify it.

The Schlott Company’s approach is disruptive in how bluntly it calls out outdated practices. But it’s constructive in its execution: building repeatable processes, frameworks, and stories that CFOs can carry forward long after the engagement ends.

“Every finance team I meet thinks their problems are unique,” Schlott says. “But the truth is the patterns repeat. Churn isn’t a surprise. Missed forecasts aren’t a surprise. What’s missing is the discipline to look at the right drivers, at the right cadence, in the right language.”

Why Her Voice Resonates Now

The timing matters. Reporters and podcasters know that finance is under unusual pressure:

Uncertainty is constant. Inflation, interest rates, and geopolitical shocks make forecasts harder to pin down.
Scaling is brutal. SaaS companies and startups need capital efficiency, not just topline growth.
Tech disruption is real. AI, automation, and new ERP platforms are reshaping how teams work.
Investor scrutiny is rising. Boards are less forgiving of “miss and explain later.”

That’s why Sarah Schlott’s message resonates. She’s not talking about finance in theory; she’s speaking directly to the mess leaders are in.

Her credibility comes not just from her title but from two decades of lived experience. Before founding The Schlott Company, she led FP&A functions across SaaS, payments, and fleet businesses. She’s guided multi-entity consolidations, M&A integrations, and board-grade forecasting systems.

And she’s earned a reputation for what few finance leaders pull off: bridging technical detail with executive storytelling.

The Credibility Layer

Reporters want more than ideas. They want proof.

Here’s where Sarah Schlott stands out:

Founder & CEO of The Schlott Company. She built the firm specifically to challenge the “sacred cows” of FP&A.
Two decades of experience. From high-growth startups to Fortune 500 divisions, she’s lived the transition from operator to advisor.
Recognized for transformation. She’s driven change not just with models but with cultures — teaching finance teams to be partners, not gatekeepers.

That mix — entrepreneur, operator, and storyteller — makes her voice both credible and compelling.

The Forward Look

The last question any reporter or podcast host has is: What’s next?

Sarah Schlott’s view is clear:

“The next decade of FP&A won’t be about faster models or prettier dashboards. It will be about trust. The companies that win will be the ones whose finance teams can explain volatility without flinching — and show investors a path forward without pretending they control the future.”

It’s not just thought leadership. It’s a call to arms.

And it’s why Sarah Schlott isn’t just commenting on the future of FP&A — she’s shaping it.

Author Bio

Sarah Schlott is the Founder and CEO of The Schlott Company, where she helps finance leaders transform how they forecast, plan, and tell their company’s story to investors and boards. She’s known for turning complex FP&A into clear strategy — and for challenging the “sacred cows” of corporate finance.