There are rules in FP&A for a reason. I respect them. I really do. But after a decade in SaaS finance, I’ve learned that sometimes the difference between stagnation and breakout growth comes down to knowing which rules to bend, which to challenge, and which to quietly throw out the window. This isn’t about reckless […]
https://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pexels-weekendplayer-186461-scaled.jpg17072560Sarah Schlotthttps://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/icon-10c-two-blob-light_clearspace-1030x1030.pngSarah Schlott2025-06-12 23:07:062026-09-24 21:57:40The Strategic Art of Breaking FP&A Rules: A CFO’s Guide for SaaS Growth
A while back, I pushed a forecast to the executive team that looked like it had been built in a sterile lab. Smooth trends. Tight margins. No funny business. It told the story we all wanted to hear: stable burn, healthy revenue growth, clean close into year-end. It was the kind of model that says, […]
The traditional budgeting process is broken. We know it, we live with it, and every December or January, we perform the same ritual — copy last year’s numbers, slap on a 3% increase, and call it strategic planning. That’s not strategy. That’s spreadsheet theater. As someone who has spent years entrenched in M&A integration, post-acquisition […]
It happened last Thursday. Around 3:47 PM. Somewhere between the third slide on “AI-powered FP&A automation” and the host’s pitch for a trial subscription, a CFO stood up from their Herman Miller chair, stared blankly out the window like a prophet seeing the void, and declared: “We’re done here. Strategic finance: mission accomplished.” No one […]
I’m not going to waste your time. You know as well as I do: finance isn’t what it used to be. The quiet back-office role of FP&A, once a sleepy corner of the corporate structure, has turned into a high-stakes battlefield where only the smartest, fastest, and most adaptable survive. The rules have changed, and […]
Let’s start with this: The CFO role isn’t what it used to be. Not even close. I remember sitting in a board meeting a few years back where the CFO proudly walked through the close process, the audit status, the budget variances, and the cash position—all buttoned up. The CEO thanked them and then immediately […]
It started, as most modern corporate absurdities do, with a single sentence in a leadership Slack thread: “Do we really need Excel for this?” Cue the floodgates. Someone (from Marketing, naturally) posted a Medium think piece on how “spreadsheets are a relic of the past.” Someone else chimed in about their nephew using Notion for […]
https://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pexels-pavel-danilyuk-7868972-1.jpg8011200Sarah Schlotthttps://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/icon-10c-two-blob-light_clearspace-1030x1030.pngSarah Schlott2025-06-04 23:45:222026-09-24 21:57:51Excel Is Dead: FP&A Team Now Builds Models in PowerPoint
There’s this idea floating around that forecasting is a young company’s game. Fast, agile startups pivoting on a dime. Old companies? Too slow. Too political. Too stuck in their ways. I used to believe that too. Until a friend of mine who works at a 120-year-old manufacturing company told me how they completely transformed their […]
https://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pexels-artempodrez-5716001-1.jpg6751200Sarah Schlotthttps://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/icon-10c-two-blob-light_clearspace-1030x1030.pngSarah Schlott2025-06-04 23:15:062026-09-24 21:57:53How a 120-Year-Old Company Unlocked Forecasting Value
I’ll say it: most finance teams are built to report on the business, not to drive it. That’s the one thing I’d change. Too many functions are still structured like it’s 2003—hierarchies built to deliver variance reports and close books, not to influence what actually happens next. I’ve worked inside these teams. I’ve consulted for […]
https://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pexels-lexovertoom-1109543-1-1.jpg8001200Sarah Schlotthttps://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/icon-10c-two-blob-light_clearspace-1030x1030.pngSarah Schlott2025-06-03 20:36:052026-09-24 21:57:54One Thing I’d Change About How Finance Functions Are Structured Today
Here’s a dirty little secret of finance: the more polished the deck, the more likely there’s duct tape holding the data pipeline together. I’ve seen it. Flashy dashboards. Perfectly aligned KPIs. Everyone nodding in the boardroom—until someone asks, “How was that calculated?” Cue the mad scramble: Slack threads, undocumented Excel formulas, a stale mapping file […]
https://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pexels-mareklevak-2265488-1.jpg8001200Sarah Schlotthttps://sarahgschlott.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/icon-10c-two-blob-light_clearspace-1030x1030.pngSarah Schlott2025-06-01 17:04:112026-09-24 21:57:57Avoiding Hidden Risks: Data Integrity Best Practices with Excel Power Query
The Strategic Art of Breaking FP&A Rules: A CFO’s Guide for SaaS Growth
There are rules in FP&A for a reason. I respect them. I really do. But after a decade in SaaS finance, I’ve learned that sometimes the difference between stagnation and breakout growth comes down to knowing which rules to bend, which to challenge, and which to quietly throw out the window. This isn’t about reckless […]
3 Reasons Data-Driven Businesses Consistently Outperform
A while back, I pushed a forecast to the executive team that looked like it had been built in a sterile lab. Smooth trends. Tight margins. No funny business. It told the story we all wanted to hear: stable burn, healthy revenue growth, clean close into year-end. It was the kind of model that says, […]
Modernizing FP&A with 21st Century Zero-Based Budgeting
The traditional budgeting process is broken. We know it, we live with it, and every December or January, we perform the same ritual — copy last year’s numbers, slap on a 3% increase, and call it strategic planning. That’s not strategy. That’s spreadsheet theater. As someone who has spent years entrenched in M&A integration, post-acquisition […]
CFO Declares “Strategic Finance” Mission Accomplished After Attending 1 AI Webinar
It happened last Thursday. Around 3:47 PM. Somewhere between the third slide on “AI-powered FP&A automation” and the host’s pitch for a trial subscription, a CFO stood up from their Herman Miller chair, stared blankly out the window like a prophet seeing the void, and declared: “We’re done here. Strategic finance: mission accomplished.” No one […]
2025 FP&A Trends Survey: Insights to Drive Your Strategy
I’m not going to waste your time. You know as well as I do: finance isn’t what it used to be. The quiet back-office role of FP&A, once a sleepy corner of the corporate structure, has turned into a high-stakes battlefield where only the smartest, fastest, and most adaptable survive. The rules have changed, and […]
The Evolving CFO Role: Accountability in 2025 and Beyond
Let’s start with this: The CFO role isn’t what it used to be. Not even close. I remember sitting in a board meeting a few years back where the CFO proudly walked through the close process, the audit status, the budget variances, and the cash position—all buttoned up. The CEO thanked them and then immediately […]
Excel Is Dead: FP&A Team Now Builds Models in PowerPoint
It started, as most modern corporate absurdities do, with a single sentence in a leadership Slack thread: “Do we really need Excel for this?” Cue the floodgates. Someone (from Marketing, naturally) posted a Medium think piece on how “spreadsheets are a relic of the past.” Someone else chimed in about their nephew using Notion for […]
How a 120-Year-Old Company Unlocked Forecasting Value
There’s this idea floating around that forecasting is a young company’s game. Fast, agile startups pivoting on a dime. Old companies? Too slow. Too political. Too stuck in their ways. I used to believe that too. Until a friend of mine who works at a 120-year-old manufacturing company told me how they completely transformed their […]
One Thing I’d Change About How Finance Functions Are Structured Today
I’ll say it: most finance teams are built to report on the business, not to drive it. That’s the one thing I’d change. Too many functions are still structured like it’s 2003—hierarchies built to deliver variance reports and close books, not to influence what actually happens next. I’ve worked inside these teams. I’ve consulted for […]
Avoiding Hidden Risks: Data Integrity Best Practices with Excel Power Query
Here’s a dirty little secret of finance: the more polished the deck, the more likely there’s duct tape holding the data pipeline together. I’ve seen it. Flashy dashboards. Perfectly aligned KPIs. Everyone nodding in the boardroom—until someone asks, “How was that calculated?” Cue the mad scramble: Slack threads, undocumented Excel formulas, a stale mapping file […]