Building a business strategy that works is one thing, but building a financial modelling strategy to help businesses make better decisions is an entirely different (but related challenge). It is way more than building a bunch of Excel spreadsheets. At times it is also about dealing with larger data, and people's willingness to learn and adapt. In this article co-authored by Mark Vigors we explore how to build a financial modelling strategy with practical steps that you can take.

In the latest article, co-authored by Craig Hatmaker and me, we delve into the game-changing potential of LAMBDA in Excel modeling. With LAMBDA, Dynamic Arrays (DA) become more accessible, transforming financial modeling with increased efficiency and scalability. Join me in exploring this paradigm shift in Excel, where we empower users to build faster, less error-prone, and more scalable models. Let's embark on this journey together and embrace the evolution of financial modeling with LAMBDA.

I’ve never been more excited to start a new year than this year coming in 2024 and there are several reasons for that, which we are going to cover in this article. But rather than just rely on my thoughts, I thought I’d call upon my helpful co-pilot Bing Chat to assist and challenge me and visa versa on the topic.   For transparency, I have put in italics and have referenced Bing sources. Enjoy, strap in and enjoy the 2024 ride!

Timing is everything and the launch of Microsoft Co-pilot, Season 5 Finale of the Financial Modelling Podcast and the release of this article could not have come at a better time...one could argue this it fate! 😁

Of all the articles in the financial modelling series, the topic of financial modelling standards seems to be the most controversial! 😱

So I opted for an AI co-author (ChatGPT) instead, who wasn’t afraid of getting grilled. 🤖

What is important is adopting something vs nothing. ☝

The latter is still largely the current state of model building in accounting and finance teams. 😥

Most people building models simply don’t follow any consistent best practices and propagate lots of errors! 😜

As a result, #Excel is to blame (not people avoiding best practices)! 😲

Here is a reality check!

Companies sell you software to take you out of #Excel to do what many of the standards advocate! 🤣

Follow some basic principles (like no hardcoding please!) and you will go very far and probably save millions of dollars on software that is rigid! Included in the article are a self-assessment and a few questions you can benchmark yourself against. 👊

Financial modelling still is one of the most highly sought-after skills in todays digital age with a complex business landscape.

Free links and lots more information in this article. 🤑

When you think of financial modelling generally your mind probably doesn’t go anywhere close to social issues like homelessness, chronic illness, crime, and recidivism. 🙈 🙉 🙊

You tend to think that modelling skills are generally only about corporate profits, project feasibilities, performance and cash flow. 🤑

As a result, you would be missing the wonderful opportunity that social impact investing and outcome-based programs can deliver. 😍

Thanks again to my co-authors Russ Wood and Alexander Artajaya, AFM for bringing their knowledge and experience to our latest article. 🙏

Financial models truly can change people’s lives. 🙌

#investing #socialimpact #people #financialmodelling #Excel

It's finally out! 😁

Thanks, Benjamin Stoter, CA(SA) for collaborating on this latest article on automation in financial modelling. 🙏

This couldn't have come at a better time with all the hype around Chat GPT, AI and other similar related topics.

Some interesting things to consider in this article and also to look out for. 👀 "Bottom line, the person next to you who learns how to embrace and apply these tools is more of a threat to your job than the bot inside the machine.”

The Knowledge App has also been updated with this latest article. This year we aim to complete the remaining articles in the series. Link in the comments below 👇

Some CFOs see the opportunity to build a robust, rolling and integrated 3-way model with planning, budgeting, forecasting and variance to actuals as an exciting challenge.

Other CFOs find it frightening and avoid learning new ways to financial modelling.

Which one are you?

Our follow-up article on the Finance Tech Stack part 2 is now out.🙌

Too often I have asked a few of these questions to teams that have already implemented the latest finance tech solutions sold to them and already there are signs of problems a few of these key principles were not considered. 😱

Before you and your team consider any finance technology solution, I highly recommend taking a quick read of this.🧐

You will save yourself a lot of pain (and money) down the track.🤑

Stay safe everyone!😷

Background

This often comes up in debates and discussions around the world for budgeting, planning and forecasting activities.

Preceded by Excel is dead or something crazy like that!

The finance teams forecasting is often undervalued as a result.

Typically in finance we have a particular type of cadence.

This cadence is largely consistent across different organisations no matter what the industry you support. We are likely to have some or all of these:

1. Monthly reporting,

2. Quarterly reporting and forecasting,

3. Half year reporting (if listed),

4. Annual statutory reporting and tax filing (we all have this one),

5. Annual budget process and

6. Longer range strategic planning for 3 to 5 years.

Now that's a pretty full dance card if you ask me.

So how do we keep up with all those requirements whilst making sure that we are not just hitting the deadlines but actually accelerating the value that we add to the business.

Read our latest blog for more insight without the big price tag attached.