I Saw What You Did
Have you ever made a mistake at work that still makes you cringe?
Early in my career, I was helping a client through a fundraise. I had just submitted their financial model to their investors and eagerly awaited their feedback.
My heart sank as I read their response to the CEO.
“Chad, do you really think it’s a good idea to spend your entire marketing budget next month?”
An error in my Excel file had caused their projected marketing spend to shoot up to millions of dollars in the first month of projections.
I was so embarrassed. How could I have let something like that slip?
At the same time, a financial model has thousands of data points. How was I supposed to catch every detail?
I kept thinking about how my boss would have reviewed that same model. He would have known where to look, which numbers to question, and what safeguards to put in place.
We could look at the exact same spreadsheet, yet he could see things I couldn’t.
And it made me wonder: what do experts see that beginners miss?
An Expert Sees the World Differently
Around that same time, I was having dinner with some friends, and my roommate had prepared homemade hummus.
Everyone said it tasted better than most store-bought versions. They were dying to know her secret.
After one bite, I asked:
“You peeled the chickpeas, didn’t you?”
I had experimented with hummus for years. Peeling the chickpeas was the detail that finally gave mine the smooth, creamy texture I’d been chasing.
My friends could taste the difference. I could recognize what caused it.
We were eating the same dish, but experiencing it differently.
The same thing happens everywhere.
A musician hears a song and recognizes the chord progression, the arrangement, the choices that make it work.
A writer watches a TV show and recognizes how a scene builds tension, plants a clue, or sets up the eventual payoff.
The more you understand the craft, the more you can see.
That’s one of the greatest rewards of mastery: you get to experience familiar things with a depth you never had before.
And I’ve seen this play out in Finance & Accounting in a dozen different ways.
Building Expertise in Strategic Finance
Expertise comes from repeated practice: building, reviewing, making mistakes, and learning what to look for next time.
If I were starting over in Strategic Finance today, here’s where I would focus:
Financial Statement Connections
Learn how the P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement connect.
From closing the books to building a 3-statement model, understanding those relationships helps you see how a decision affects the entire business.
You begin to recognize when the numbers aren’t telling a consistent story.
Error Checks
Sadly, that modeling mistake wouldn’t be my last. But my errors became far less frequent once I learned to build guardrails into my files.
Whenever you transfer data from one place to another, add a check to confirm the totals reconcile.
Build checks for relationships that should hold, too: the balance sheet balances, and ending cash matches across your statements.
These checks help you spot problems before someone else does.
Start at the Macro Level, Then Go Micro
A spreadsheet can contain thousands of cells. Reviewing each one individually can overwhelm even a capable professional.
Start with the big picture: revenue, margins, expenses, and cash.
Does something look off? Drill into that area and trace what’s driving it.
Experience helps you recognize where to focus your attention.
Understand How the Past Blends Into the Future
This is the review that could have saved us that client.
Compare the last three months of actuals with the first three months of projections.
Look for sudden changes in spending, growth, margins, or cash. Some changes are justified by seasonality or planned business decisions. Others reveal a mistake.
Either way, you should be able to explain what changes and why.
An entire marketing budget appearing in one month? That’s a story I would know to question today.
You’ll still make mistakes. The important part is turning each one into a better check, a better question, or a better habit.
Over time, you’ll look at the same spreadsheet and see things you once would have missed.
This year, everything I’ve known about FP&A has been flipped on its head.
I used to spend hours in Excel building formulas. Now, I’ve watched AI agents generate entire financial models in minutes from a simple prompt.
But that raises a different question:
The numbers are there. Can I trust them?
In my own tests, each tool gave me a reason to pause:
Claude hardcoded subtotals.
Copilot changed opening cash in a historical month.
ChatGPT used a single assumptions column where I needed inputs for multiple periods.
Years ago, I might have missed those details. Today, they jump out at me.
Could those models have made it past an investor? Maybe. But I’ve already learned how expensive an overlooked detail can be.
That’s what experience has given me: the ability to look at something impressive and understand where it still needs work.
So now let me ask you:
What’s one area you consider yourself an expert in? What do you notice that others miss?
Hit reply and share your story. I’d love to read it.
Have a great weekend… and see what you notice.
Till next time,
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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