Have you ever had someone act cold toward you for no apparent reason? When I started my career at Big Four, I found myself in that situation. There was a woman on my team who was one of the most popular people on the floor. All day, I’d hear her cracking jokes with my colleagues. But for whatever reason, when it came to our interactions, she was cold. I tried just about everything to change that. Making jokes, offering to help her with work…anything to get on her good side. Despite all my...

Refreshing a model with actuals is one of the most challenging parts of managing a forecast. Why? Because the Chart of Accounts frequently changes, oftentimes because a new account was added… and if you’re not careful when you try to replace your new set of actuals with your existing set, you’ll have a disconnect in your data. Here’s my approach for how to remove the headache…and you only need 2 formulas. Refreshing a model with actuals is one of the most challenging parts of managing a...

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...