Background

Recently on a strategic finance program for the development for finance and accounting professionals it became apparent that many are not being provided with vital knowledge of finance transformation.

Background

Last night we announced the arrival of Full Stack Modeller and the concept of being a Full Stack Modeller.

If you've never heard of the term then you have come to the right place to find out more.

My co-founders Kenny Whitelaw-Jones, Myles Arnott and Giles Male strongly believe that there is more to financial modelling than just Excel, Financial Modelling and Technology, even though the debate may show otherwise.

Background context

For those that are not aware of it in 2012 the world’s first ever international financial modelling competition, Modeloff, was created.

A heavily male dominated competition that celebrates the winners of the competition and many of the most talented (Top 50) in the world, whilst the average Excel user stares in awe.

4 August | by Benjamin Stoter, Marcus Small and Lance Rubin

Introduction to the co-authors

Benjamin Stoter is a Chartered Accountant and is a self-taught financial modeller.

He completed his articles at KPMG whereafter he joined a national Real Estate company and worked in various roles such as Asset manager, Operational and Financial controller; Group Financial Manager and ultimately Group Head of Treasury, FP&A and Systems.

Introduction to the co-author

Kerry Mayes has been working in the Decision Analytics space for over 30 years. Over that period it has taken different forms and had different names. Kerry’s training was in Operations Research (which also has many names – Management Science, Decision Science, Decision Analytics, Engineering Science, …).

Introduction to the co-author

Carl Seidman, founder of Seidman Global LLC and Seidman Financial, is a trusted business advisor specializing in financial planning & analysis (FP&A), business strategy, and finance transformation. He coaches and advises FP&A professionals at Fortune 500 corporations and middle-market companies, helping establish greater uniformity in practices and process.

Introduction

If you’re planning to pursue a career in financial modelling, there is no shortage of free resources to help you improve your financial modelling skills.

There are also hundreds of financial modelling training courses to choose from; most will give you a certificate of attendance, and an opportunity to claim Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points from your professional body.

Introduction to the co-author

Carl Seidman, founder of Seidman Global LLC and Seidman Financial, is a trusted business advisor specializing in financial planning & analysis (FP&A), business strategy, and finance transformation.

15 June | by Betsy Maclean and Lance Rubin

Introduction to the co-author

Betsy enjoys leading Finance teams that streamline and automate traditional Finance work so they can make delivering innovative analytics a top priority. After roles at both large public companies, small private companies, and several companies in between she is now actively engaged in the dual pursuits of leading the Audit Committee for the Board of Directors of mCloud Technologies (TSXV: MCLD) and launching a Financial Insights & Analytics practice for Two Degrees, a division of Slalom.

Some FP&A professionals active in the LinkedIn community have become increasingly concerned with the direction public discussions are taking our profession.

Introduction to the co-author

Jeff Robson is the Principal Business Analyst and Founder of Access Analytic. Access Analytic is a Perth-based consulting and training company that specialises in financial modelling, Power BI reporting and data analytics.

Introduction to the co-author

Danielle Stein Fairhurst is a financial modelling specialist and runs a Sydney-based consultancy which helps her clients create meaningful financial models in the form of business cases, pricing models and management reports. Last year the third edition of her book “Using Excel for Business and Financial Modelling” was published by Wiley Finance and in 2017 she authored “Financial Modeling in Excel for Dummies”.

Introduction to the co-author

Chironjit is a Chartered Management Accountant with over a decade of experience in financial and management accounting. He also holds a Masters of Banking and Finance from Macquarie University.

He has worked in enterprises small and large, including FTSE 100 companies to small start-ups and not-for-profits. He is currently the co-founder of a retail tech start-up looking to combat counterfeits of consumer goods.

Introduction to the co-author

After graduating in Mathematical Economics, Maarten worked for 10 years as a quantitative consultant in both the profit and non-profit sectors. Throughout his career he has built and audited hundreds of small and large Excel models for different purposes, which gave him a detailed insight into the possibilities and drawbacks of using Excel.

Introduction to the co-author

Jennifer Harrison is a partner at Reputation Edge, a boutique corporate consulting firm based in North Sydney. She has expertise in financial services and technology.

Jennifer is a trusted advisor with a deep understanding of corporate finance, strategy and risk, and is a recognised expert in shareholder value creation. “I think of reputation as an asset, it’s not on your balance sheet, but it is in the market. It’s a source of risk and return and it delivers value for your stakeholders.”

Introduction to the co-author

Jennifer Harrison is a partner at Reputation Edge, a boutique corporate consulting firm based in North Sydney. She has expertise in financial services and technology.

Jennifer is a trusted advisor with a deep understanding of corporate finance, strategy and risk, and is a recognised expert in shareholder value creation. “I think of reputation as an asset, it’s not on your balance sheet, but it is in the market. It’s a source of risk and return and it delivers value for your stakeholders.”

Written by Paul Barnhurst and Lance Rubin

Introduction to the co-author

Paul Barnhurst is the Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at Solera. Solera is a global private equity held Automotive SaaS company and Paul supports the division that provides software services to automotive dealerships in the US and Canada.

Paul’s career started working for the Navy as a Civilian writing procurement contracts but for the last 10+ years he has been working in finance. During that time, he has worked as a report writer focusing on KPI’s and as a forecaster providing FP&A support for three different companies. He loves the challenge of FP&A and has always enjoyed sourcing the data necessary to build models required to track and measure the performance of the business.

Written by David Thompson and Lance Rubin

Introduction to the co-author

David established TGH in 2009 to work with businesses of all sizes to help them improve Shareholder Value. We do this by applying best practices in systems, tools & process in Strategic Planning, Corporate Development / M&A, FP&A, Budgets & Forecasts, Valuations and Financial Modelling.

Written by David Thompson and Lance Rubin

Introduction to the co-author

David established TGH in 2009 to work with businesses of all sizes to help them improve Shareholder Value. We do this by applying best practices in systems, tools & process in Strategic Planning, Corporate Development / M&A, FP&A, Budgets & Forecasts, Valuations and Financial Modelling.

Introduction to the co-author

David established TGH in 2009 to work with businesses of all sizes to help them improve shareholder value. TGH does this by applying best practices in systems, tools & process in strategic planning, corporate development including mergers and acquisition (M&A), FP&A, budgets & forecasts, valuations and financial modelling.