I interviewed 100 finance leaders. Here’s what they told me
A few months ago, I came to a brutal conclusion: our FP&A tool, Model Wiz, didn’t have product-market fit. We hadn’t yet built something that enough customers consistently used, valued, and stuck with.
The advice I got? Interview 200 finance leaders. Ask about their reporting process, where they get stuck, and what they’ve tried to fix it.
Roughly 100 conversations later, through discovery calls, demos, and sessions with existing customers, four lessons stand out.
1. Building has become cheaper. Trust is becoming more valuable.
I asked one finance leader whether there was anything the most powerful FP&A software could do that he didn’t think he could eventually build himself with AI.
His answer? “No.”
Several leaders described spending less time building and more time checking assumptions, tracing calculations, and catching errors.
A polished dashboard can still tell the wrong story. Knowing what should be built, how the calculations should work, and whether the result makes sense is becoming more valuable.
Before sharing an AI-built model, reconcile it to the source data, inspect its key assumptions, and test what happens when those assumptions change.
Generating an answer is getting easier. Being able to defend it still takes expertise.
2. A budget built in a silo is just finance’s spreadsheet.
A CFO once put it best to me: a budget should be owned by one person, but built in collaboration with many.
That collaboration can’t end when the budget is approved.
A recurring challenge was giving department heads a clear, regular view of their spending against budget. Sometimes reports weren’t available. Other times, the numbers didn’t line up with how managers understood their spending.
Finance was left explaining variances after the money had already been spent.
If department heads are accountable for their budgets, give them the information to act: their budget, actual spending, remaining budget, and the decisions that need attention.
They need to understand what they can still influence.
3. A powerful ERP doesn’t guarantee useful reporting.
Most of my strategic finance experience has been with companies running QuickBooks Online, Xero, or NetSuite.
These calls introduced me to a much wider world of specialized accounting systems, and the work required to get useful reporting out of them.
One leader described connecting through a VPN and remote desktop just to pull reports. Another had summary financials in one system and transaction details in another. Many expressed frustrations from the inability to easily generate a simple Profit & Loss.
The data was there. Turning it into management reporting still required exports, spreadsheets, and manual reconciliation.
While ERPs are powerful, a highly specialized one can drain your ability to generate reports the way you want them right out of the box.
4. Your budget is your commitment. Your forecast is your latest expectation.
Some leaders build an annual budget but don’t maintain an updated forecast alongside it. Their expectations change while their projections stay frozen.
One admitted they barely looked at budget variances because the original plan had become so unrealistic.
Others reforecast, but replace the budget along the way, losing the original benchmark.
Keep both. Your approved budget tells you whether you’re delivering on the plan. Your latest forecast tells you where you expect to land and what decisions you need to make next.
Comparing actuals with both also helps distinguish a missed commitment from an expectation you should have updated sooner.
How this is shaping Model Wiz
These conversations have reinforced how different finance looks from one organization to another. Here’s what we’re building to support that:
Financial models from your existing data. Start with historical P&L and balance sheet exports, then roll forward each month with the latest actuals. We’ll help with the initial setup.
Budgets and forecasts by department. Plan by class, location, project, or department, depending on how your source data is organized.
Budget vs. actuals on the web and in Excel. Our latest release connects your uploaded Excel budget to your reporting, so you can track performance while maintaining an updated forecast.
If these challenges sound familiar, [grab some time with me here]. I’d love to learn about your process and show you how Model Wiz could help.
Which part of your monthly reporting process still requires the most manual work? Hit reply and let me know.
Have a great weekend.
Josh (Your CFO Guy)
Thanks for reading my article. My goal is to help you grow in your career with proper Finance and Accounting.
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