"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Stories tell how a business performed in the past and the future. These stories can be fun to tell (crush revenue, generate more cash, hire like crazy). Or not so fun to tell (missing budget by a lot, making cuts, no end in sight). Regardless of the storyâs outcome, you can help your business tell AND influence it 𫵠By connecting the story to everyday operations where the doers live. Show Notes * 01:30 â AI is powerful when you have good thinking framework...
Jun 06, 2025â˘14 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY AI is something everyone talks about. But it isnât something everyone usesâŚyet. There was a time when no one used computers. There was a time when no one used the internet. There was a time when Excel only had ~65k rows per tab. And years from now, youâll be saying there was a time when no one used AI. Start using it, listen up to hear how. Show Notes * 00:40 â heard of AI? You will after this podcast Hereâs an article we wrote for CFO Dive on AI back in 20...
May 02, 2025â˘16 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Who here likes to fail? No, this isnât an April Foolâs joke. Failing leads to serious learning. It can also lead to serious reputation hits. And not just for you, but your team too. Fail responsibly, by failing small and setting you and your team up for controlled failure. Show Notes * 00:26 â doing bicep curls while recording a podcast is one way to stay in shape * 01:01 â controlled failure = allowing your team to take risks and fail while minimizing the ...
Apr 04, 2025â˘13 min
đHey there, Thousands of people read this newsletter and listen to this podcast. Some work in FP&A for the biggest companies in the world. And some are the only Finance, Accounting, HR, and Legal person at their small company (so many hats to wear) đŠ So whatâs better, working for big or small companies? Our insanely vague answer isâŚit depends. Each job presents unique learning and networking opportunities. And the order in which you take them in your career doesnât matter either. This epis...
Feb 28, 2025â˘14 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY How much free time do you have? Many have little if any. Thatâs why focusing on saving time now is so important. đĽ TIP: Excel shortcuts will save you hours each week. Because at some point an opportunity will present itself. It may look like someone: * Leaving the company unexpectedly and you fill that gap * Being promoted and you take on their job * Asking for help and you step in to support All of the above has happened to us. And many of these opportuni...
Jan 10, 2025â˘12 min
đHey there, Itâs budget season. And next yearâs targets are being set to support the budget. Some of you are changing targets faster than a pit crew changes car tires. Believe us, you are not alone. Itâs a normal part of the budget process. And there are things you can do to minimize the number of tire changes. Tune in to hear about our own target-setting endeavors. When Setting Targets, Think of Incentives Sales Targets become KPIs. đĽTIP: Read this to learn what KPIs (and metrics) are. And KP...
Nov 15, 2024â˘14 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Are you a detailed person? Details are what drive those numbers on your spreadsheet. Knowing those details can help you help your company. Which in turn can help your own career growth. Tune in to hear how diving into details helped us: â
Save money â
Drive revenue â
Grow our reputation in various FP&A jobs Details Shmetails Making up words is easy. So is making up what you think happened by doing high-level algebra on financial data. Want to grow your car...
Oct 11, 2024â˘13 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY We sat down with Cube Softwareâs CFO Ed Bush in this episode. Edâs path to CFO has been more philosophical than most. Here are some things heâs done so far: * Started as a philosophy major * Sang in Johnny Legendâs acapella group * Finance hire #3 at WeWork * Became CFO of an FP&A software tool called Cube Heâs also a husband, dad, and avid marathon runner. Takeaways from Edâs Interview * Having a philosophy background is SUPER helpful as your career pr...
Sep 20, 2024â˘33 min
đHey there, For most FP&A teams, the budget is a distant memory. But come early August before late summer vacations hit, it will come fast and furious. Prepare yourself now to make your budgeting process as efficient and effective as possible. How can you prepare? Think about company goals, KPIs, and team metrics first. Tune in to hear about our own budget prep tips (and fails). Listen on * Apple * Spotify * Substack Itâs All About Goals and KPIs What does your company want to achieve this ...
Aug 16, 2024â˘15 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to take the leap from FP&A Analyst to FP&A Manager? Show off your FP&A Manager skills early and often. đĽ TIP: Hereâs a guide on getting to each FP&A job level. You never know when that promotion opportunity will come. For us, it came in the form of a boss leaving. We were ready and got promoted once we took over. Show Notes * 00:41 - Show off mad FP&A Manager skills as an FP&A Analyst * 01:29 - Key skill to get to FP&A Mana...
Jul 12, 2024â˘17 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY History repeats itselfâeven in FP&A careers. How do you get a history lesson in FP&A? Listen to other FP&A enthusiastsâ career stories and questions. We're tapping into the +25k members of the FPandA subreddit for FP&A career stories and questions. Show Notes * 00:19 - Mailbag episodeâFPandA subreddit here we come * 00:41 - How someone went from AR/AP to CFO before age 40 đ¤ * 03:01 - Braggadocious is a wordâand itâs ok to share your career ...
Jun 21, 2024â˘16 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY In this episode, we sat down with FP&A guru Carl Seidman . Carlâs 20+ year FP&A career is far from linearđ Some things heâs done so far: * Founded a fractional CFO company called Seidman Financial * Has trained thousands of FP&A professionals around the world * Has a BIG following on Linkedinâwhich wasnât planned * Partied w/ Mike Tyson * Is a proud dad of twins And all of this started years ago playing guitar, bagging donuts, and majoring in h...
May 24, 2024â˘1 hr 2 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Do you dread forecasting because youâre never 100% right? Weâve done hundreds of revenue and profit forecasts. And guess what? Every single one of them was wrongâand thatâs ok when handled properly. Although it is a huge mental hurdle to get over. Weâll talk about one of our biggest forecasting fails. Double-counting a revenue figure in a public companyâs internal profit forecast. Tune in to find out how we made the mistake, how we communicated the mistake ...
May 17, 2024â˘13 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to help your company move the financial performance needle? Kick off a finance for non-finance education program. It helped our business partners connect everyday activities to the financial scoreboard. Helping us improve company performance using operational finance. And grow our FP&A reputations. đ Tune in to learn how we did it. Listen on * Apple * Spotify * Substack Show Notes * 00:20 - Educate your ENTIRE company in the language of finance * ...
May 10, 2024â˘11 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY The feelings you have in your FP&A career are shared by many. How do we know? We found +25k FP&A professionals asking and answering questions on the FPandA subreddit. And today we answered 3 questions from this group. An FP&A Career is a Long, Winding Road There is no set path to go from ZERO to FP&A hero. It requires: * Being humble * Constantly learning * Understanding what you want And knowing a little accounting and Excel doesnât hurt ei...
May 03, 2024â˘19 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY This episode features Annette DeYoung . She aspired to be a teacher, fell in love with math, and took on a career in Accounting, Finance, FP&Aâand eventually Sales? đ¤ Sheâs been a Cost Accountant, Controller, and Director of Financial Planning, and is currently a Senior Solutions Architect at Datarails . On top of that, sheâs involved in theatre, runs a non-profit called Childrenâs Theatre Project Youth Theatre Project , plays a bunch of instruments, a...
Apr 26, 2024â˘43 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want an FP&A job that goes beyond traditional month-end reporting? Try working on your companyâs Deal Desk Team. Or stand one up if your company doesnât have one yet. Tune in and learn how weâve stood up multiple Deal Desks. And helped boost our company performance and career prospects in the process. Show Notes * 00:35 - Weâve stood up Deal Desks at multiple companies. * 01:50 - Deal Desk is great for companies with daily deal-making. * 03:15 - Deal De...
Apr 19, 2024â˘17 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to see a real-life, public example of FP&A driving financial results? We break down Mimecastâs public earnings release. Drew helped create some of these metrics during Mimecastâs IPO process. Case Study: Mimecast Think about the software you use and pay for right now. That software is provided by SaaS (software as a service) companies. And you are contributing to those software companiesâ metrics by using and paying for their services. Mimecast is ...
Apr 12, 2024â˘15 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to move up the FP&A ranks faster? Deliver a little extra financial analysis. It helped us meet more people, learn new things, and get promoted faster. Tune in to hear what extra financial analysis we did. And stay tuned after our off-the-charts closing music for an after-the-pod conversation about pivot tables and marketing yourself. Show Notes * 00:20 - Donât knock doing a little extraâit can lead to a lot of upside * 01:35 - Being genuinely curio...
Apr 05, 2024â˘11 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to take your FP&A skills from one industry to another? Tune in and learn how we went from manufacturing to SaaS. Using universal FP&A skills that apply to virtually all industries. đĽ TIP: Hereâs why FP&A is a career worth considering. Show Notes * 00:45 - Started in manufacturing, used that experience to do a SaaS IPO. * 01:05 - Light bulbs, renewable energies, and printed materialsâŚoh my! * 01:59 - Manufacturing is raw materials, vendors,...
Mar 29, 2024â˘11 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to hit the ground running in your first FP&A job? Learn how we did just that. Which helped us learn about our businesses and take on new opportunities. đĽ TIP: Hereâs a resource to help you plan your first 6 months as an FP&A manager. Show Notes * 01:20 - Take ownership of your job, thatâs why they hired you. * 02:45 - Stay organized, youâll be asked to do a lot of tasks at once. * 05:00 - Question everything, you and your boss wonât know every...
Mar 22, 2024â˘14 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to help your CRO hit their sales targets? Learn how one dashboard can help you do just that. While building your business partner reputation. đĽ PREREAD: Learn how to create the QTD sales dashboard step-by-step. Show Notes * 00:20 - Everyone loves a good dashboard, including your CRO * 01:35 - Sales is the lifeblood of your company * 02:58 - FP&A can provide visibility of target achievement * 04:00 - A simple line chart can help make in-quarter dec...
Mar 15, 2024â˘15 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want your FP&A and Marketing Teams to combine forces to drive company results? Seek common ground in your company's financial performance. Learn how we did just that to improve revenue and profit performance to help you with your FP&A journey. Show Notes * 00:20 - Marketing does NOT want to hear âNO, NO, NO" from FP&A * 01:25 - Marketing is about generating interest * 03:15 - Driving sales with efficient spend is critical to Marketing success * ...
Mar 08, 2024â˘13 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to reduce the time it takes to do your profit and cash forecast? Learn how two FP&A veterans got their forecast time down to 2 days. While increasing quality and minimizing late-night hours. Show Notes 00:40 - We turned around a profit forecast in 2 days (for real) 01:30 - What a first-time forecaster in a F100 FMP program looks like 03:59 - Efficient profit forecasts take into account data, people, and process 04:55 - Donât let too many people edi...
Mar 01, 2024â˘17 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Today's episode is on spreadsheets and how they can make you invisible. Learn how to go beyond the spreadsheet to get noticed and help your business partners. Show Notes * 00:25 - Avoid being an invisible FP&A team member * 02:00 - Break the business partner ice with boomerang talk * 03:15 - Some people hate numbers (seriously) * 06:22 - Market segmentation can help you be seen * 08:00 - Do a cool analysis AND seek feedback đ * 09:45 - Itâs on you to l...
Feb 23, 2024â˘13 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Want to increase your chances of being successful in your FP&A career? Land an internship to get experience and hire interns often to find the best talent. Learn how two CFOs and founders got their start as interns. Show Notes * 00:15 - Internships are an FP&A career cheat code * 01:50 - Internships help you compete against the best * 03:30 - How the fastest person in Excel got their start * 05:45 - Learn Excel AND walk the production floor * 08:05 ...
Feb 16, 2024â˘16 min
"Rise Above The Numbers" by FP&HEY Today's episode is on FP&A's favorite topic: Financial Close đ We'll focus on how to slash your close time to prevent FP&A burnout with tips and tricks. Show Notes âŞď¸ 0:20 - What the financial close is all about âŞď¸ 1:00 - Our experiences with the close âŞď¸ 2:30 - How collaboration improves the close process âŞď¸ 4:50 - Donât fling spreadsheets around to check boxes âŞď¸ 7:45 - Treat the close like a sport âŞď¸ 9:30 - Review your board decks to learn your ...
Feb 09, 2024â˘15 min
Welcome to our first podcast episode of⌠âRise Above The Numbersâ Every week, FP&HEY co-founders Drew and Yarty dive deep into world of FP&A and uncover the key insights and skills to help you grow your careers. All with a touch of humor. These are the things we wish we knew earlier in our career. (Donât make our mistakes.) Topics include: * How to budget and forecast the smart way * Excel skills to crush through your workflows * FP&A skills such as VMaP , QTD sales reporting , and w...
Feb 07, 2024â˘5 min
