The forecast keeps surprising people.
The model produces a number, but explaining what moved, why it moved and what happens next takes too long.
WORK WITH SARAH
FP&A help for the moments when the answer actually matters.
I work with CFOs and finance teams on forecasting, scenario planning, management reporting, cash visibility and the models behind important decisions.
The common thread is simple: the business needs a clearer answer than the current finance process is giving it.
WHEN IT MAKES SENSE TO CALL
Usually, something has stopped being clear.
Not every finance problem needs a consultant. These are the situations where outside FP&A help tends to be useful because the issue sits between the numbers, the operating reality and the decision management needs to make.
Management needs to see the downside.
A hiring plan, pricing move, investment or operating change needs scenarios before the company commits.
Reporting is busy. Decisions are not.
The monthly pack has plenty of information, but the meeting still spends too much time figuring out what actually changed.
Cash suddenly deserves more attention.
Liquidity, collections, hiring or growth have made short-term cash visibility more important than the old process assumed.
The model has become its own department.
Too many tabs, too many manual steps and too much institutional knowledge are sitting inside one workbook.
FP&A works because someone keeps rescuing it.
The process technically functions, but every cycle depends on manual heroics that should have disappeared by now.
WHERE I HELP
Finance work built around the decision.
The deliverable might be a forecast, model, reporting pack or cash view. The point is not the artifact. It is making the business easier to understand and the next decision easier to frame.
FORECASTING + PLANNINGBuild a forecast people can interrogate.Driver-based forecasting, planning process design, forecast diagnostics and clearer explanations of what changed.
SCENARIO MODELINGSee the consequences before committing.Base, upside and downside cases; sensitivities; operating scenarios; and decision models built around the variables that matter.
MANAGEMENT REPORTINGTurn the monthly pack into a management tool.Variance analysis, KPI structure, forecast updates and executive reporting that gets to the question behind the number.
CASH VISIBILITYMake the next 13 weeks less mysterious.Short-term cash forecasting, receipts and disbursement visibility, liquidity scenarios and a process Finance can maintain.
FP&A SYSTEMS + MODELSReduce the manual heroics.Model reviews, rebuilds, operating rhythms and finance processes designed for the company you have now—not the one you had three years ago.
HOW AN ENGAGEMENT WORKS
Start with the problem. Scope the work second.
You do not need a polished statement of work before we talk. The first job is figuring out what is actually getting in the way and whether a focused FP&A engagement can improve it.
01 / DIAGNOSE
Find the real constraint.
We look at the decision, the current process, the model or reporting behind it, and where clarity is getting lost.
02 / BUILD
Fix what actually needs fixing.
The work stays focused: forecast, scenario model, cash view, reporting system, model rebuild or a better FP&A operating process.
03 / HAND OFF
Leave Finance stronger.
The goal is not permanent dependency. The process, model and thinking should make more sense to the team after the engagement than before it.
GOOD FIT
This tends to work well when…
- A CFO or finance leader owns the problem.
- The company has enough complexity that the current process is starting to strain.
- Management needs analysis tied to a real operating decision.
- The team wants practical work they can continue using.
PROBABLY NOT THE RIGHT FIT
This is less useful when…
- You mainly need bookkeeping or transaction processing.
- The goal is simply to outsource recurring data entry.
- You want a generic template without adapting it to the business.
- There is no management decision or finance problem behind the request.
START WITH THE PROBLEM
You don’t need to know the exact engagement yet.
Tell me what is happening in the business, what Finance is struggling to explain, and what decision needs to get better. That is enough to start a useful conversation.