In this episode of FP&A Tomorrow, we dive into the evolving landscape of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) with a focus on finance transformation. Leslie Stuart, a seasoned expert in FP&A and finance transformation, shares her insights on how modern finance functions are adapting to new technologies, data management practices, and process improvements to drive better business outcomes.

Leslie Stuart is the Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at Walmart Canada and a certified CPA. With a robust background in accounting, auditing, and operational finance, Leslie has been at the forefront of finance transformation, leading initiatives that integrate cutting-edge technology with traditional finance functions. Her career journey from external audit to leading finance transformations offers valuable lessons for anyone involved in or aspiring to drive financial excellence.

Expect to Learn:

• The importance of data quality and its impact on business decisions.

• Strategies for successfully managing finance transformation projects.

• How to navigate challenges in data management, from garbage data to valuable insights.

• The role of technology, including AI, in modernizing FP&A processes.

• Tips for engaging teams and fostering change in finance departments.

Here are a few relevant quotes from the episode:

• "Data and technology are often the easier pieces; the real challenge is with people and processes." - Leslie Stuart

• "Starting with a strong foundation in processes and controls is critical to any successful transformation." - Leslie Stuart

• "AI and machine learning are the way of the future for finance—helping us work more efficiently and effectively." - Leslie Stuart
  

In this insightful episode, Leslie Stuart takes us through the intricate process of finance transformation, emphasizing the importance of data quality, the role of technology, and the critical need for effective communication and process management. Her practical advice and personal experiences offer a roadmap for those looking to navigate the complexities of modern FP&A.

Follow Leslie:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-stuart/

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Website - https://www.thefpandaguy.com
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguy

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In Today’s Episode

[01:31] - Introduction to the episode 

[02:17] - Leslie’s career journey and background
[02:46] - Discussion about evolution of FP&A
[08:07] - Leslie explains her transition from audit to FP&A

[12:35] - Managing large-scale finance transformations

[20:18] - Project management approaches in finance transformations

[31:14] - The Role of AI in FP&A

[37:06] - Continuous evolution in finance

[49:13] - Final thoughts and conclusion


Full Show Transcript

[00:00:00] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Teams were heavily leveraging Excel, and they were not necessarily getting into the data concepts. What I'm seeing now is that there's a huge shift towards looking at data, understanding data, leveraging it in different ways, and understanding how to pick the right data. That's the most important thing.

[00:00:17] Host: Paul Barnhurst: One time I asked him about the quality of your data and his last company was healthcare. Whereas critical some of the data had to be right for the things he did.

[00:00:24] Guest: Leslie Stuart: You know, not only did I get that great foundation for the business, but it really unleashed a lot of curiosity with me in how do I actually help them make processes more efficient because I get into the weeds in what they were doing. You know, it was one thing to have a bird's eye view from an audit lens, but to actually get in there and do the work and the realities of it, it's not perfect. It's not ever perfect.

[00:00:44] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So you're telling me not all processes are perfect?

[00:00:47] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Definitely not. Data and technology, a lot of the time, they're the easier piece to adjust to and to fix people and processes. If we underestimate the amount of time there, that's where we lose.

[00:01:06] Host: Paul Barnhurst: FP&A guy here. Have you ever wanted to level up your FP&A skills? Then check out the FP&A Guys Ultimate course bundle at thefpandaguy.com. That's the fp and a guy.com and use code Podcast to save 25%. Get started learning today. Hello everyone! Welcome to FP&A tomorrow, where we delve into the world of financial planning and analysis, examining its current state and future prospects. I'm your host, Paul Barnhurst, aka the FP&A guy, and I will be guiding you through the evolving landscape of FP&A. Each week we are joined by thought leaders, industry experts, and practitioners who share their insights and experiences, helping us navigate today's Days complexities and tomorrow's uncertainties. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your journey in FP&A, this show has something for everyone. This week we are thrilled to welcome to the show Leslie Stuart. Leslie, welcome to the show.

[00:02:13] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Thank you. Nice to see you again, Paul.

[00:02:15] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah, good to see you. You're excited to have you. So let me just give a little bit of background for Leslie. We'll jump into our first question. She comes to us from Toronto, Canada. She's the director of financial planning and analysis. She studied accounting and business and is a qualified CPA. And she's currently leading the finance transformation for Walmart Canada. And I had the opportunity to get to know Leslie, got to work with her on some training projects and was really excited for her to share some of her experiences. So we're going to start with this question. We like to ask every guest this question, what does great FP&A look like for you? What is that?

[00:02:52] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah. No, it's a great question. There's a lot of traditional FP&A functions that have really evolved into great ones by leveraging more technology, leveraging more data. And that's really where I see these teams excelling. And when I've seen through my career teams doing wonderful things, it's because they're starting to leverage new information, new ways of working with an evolving economy.

[00:04:19] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So it sounds like one of the things that allows FP&A to be great is really learning how to leverage the data to provide better analysis and insights to the business.

[00:04:31] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Absolutely, absolutely. You know, when I started out, my career teams were heavily leveraging Excel, and they were not necessarily getting into the data concepts. What I'm seeing now is that there's a huge shift towards looking at data, understanding data, leveraging it in different ways, and understanding How to pick the right data. That's the most important thing. And to be able to leverage it and make better insights and analysis to support their business.

[00:05:00] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah. And then I would imagine you've worked in some large retail companies. That data is huge, right? You're dealing with billions of transactions in some cases.

[00:05:10] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Absolutely. And you know, the concept of garbage in, garbage out really, really resonates, in our businesses. And I'm sure in many businesses, you know, when you start to look at how much data there is out there, there's a lot of really crummy data that can really lead you down the wrong path and lead you to wrong business decisions. So it's so critical that you understand the data, understand where it's coming from, to be able to drive the business in the right direction. And there's so much out there and it can be contradictory a lot of the time.

[00:05:46] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So funny enough, I one of the first hires I made as a director is I brought in a data person to help clean us clean up our data in an FP&A role I had, and I still remember one time I asked him about the quality of your data. In his last company was healthcare, whereas critical some of the data had to be right for the things he did. He goes, if this quality of data had been at my last company. He goes, we would have had lawsuits and dead people. I'm like, you know, just showing the importance in the right situation of the data. I'm like, all right. Yeah, our data is pretty bad. It was kind of that confirmation of what I already knew, but I always laughed when he explained it that way. You know, lawsuits and data is important. So why don't before we jump into more of our questions, tell our audience about your background, kind of what you're doing today. You know, your career progression is just a little bit about yourself.

[00:06:33] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah, absolutely. So as you mentioned, off the top, I'm in Toronto, Canada. Born and raised. And I started my career in a very traditional accounting firm method and did all of my external auditing hours. I knew that wasn't for me. That was a means to an end for me. And when I decided to leave the professional accounting life, I was working with a recruiter and said, hey, I want to do anything except for auditing, bring me to something different. And she said, cool, how about operational audit? And I said, well, it's not that still has the word audit in it. And so I ended up transitioning into an organization ultimately where I did operational audit, but it was so different than how I had, you know, started my career doing external audits that it really led me down a very fun path through my career where I got to learn so much about the business. So I spent a fair bit of time doing internal audit, where I was doing more operational, a lot in stores, a lot out in the field. I really got a chance to learn the business, which was a really exciting thing for me. I got to do everything from food safety and shrink and Derivatives and transportation logistics. I understood I got to see everything and really was a great foundation for starting off early in my career before I transitioned into more FP&A type roles and ultimately into transformation.

[00:08:04] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Got it. So it sounds like audit to operational audit to, FP&A and transformation roles.

[00:08:11] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Absolutely.

[00:08:12] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Great. That sounds like a really good background because you got to learn the business, which in my mind is just invaluable. Anytime you get to really learn those operations, it makes a huge difference in finance.

[00:08:22] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Huge. Yes.

[00:08:23] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I'm curious what interested you in consumer goods. You spent most of your career outside of some kind of audit in consumer goods. Why? Why consumer goods?

[00:08:31] Guest: Leslie Stuart: You know what it was when I left public accounting, I had been focusing a lot on financial services. And when I moved into retail, it was a little bit of, you know, happenstance and how I ended up in the retail world. But I love the tangible nature of it. I love how dynamic the business is, the customer orientation of it, and really understanding how customer behavior changes the business so much. It really has shown me that there's a path here that is truly unique and something that changes so often that really, you know, there's never a dull moment.

[00:09:13] Host: Paul Barnhurst: That's good. That's what we want. Want to keep challenged and enjoy it. Absolutely. So when you first moved into FP&A, what interested you in FP&A? Why did you make that switch from kind of the operational audit? Sounds like you really enjoyed that. FP&A.

[00:09:26] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah. You know, I got into trouble when I was doing operational audit, to be very honest, because I kept on wanting to get into the weeds and help the business and really start to drive more of their processes. And so it ended up in a lot of scope creep at times. So, you know, for me, what I realized was that during that time, you know, not only did I get that great foundation for the business, but it really unleashed a lot of curiosity with me in how do I actually help them make processes more efficient? Because I'd get into the weeds and in what they were doing. And, you know, I'd keep to the scope of our audits at the time. And I just wanted to do more. And I just got really interested in how to make this more efficient? How do I make this easier for the business? So ultimately, I had a really wonderful mentor that I still work with today who said, hey, you know, maybe you should just try jumping into the business and actually putting, you know, your recommendations into action and start to implement. So I took the leap and never looked back. It's been great.

[00:10:35] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Got it. So it sounds like just wanting to do more audit. You identify everything and then it's up to somebody else to implement that. And you wanted to be involved in that implementation?

[00:10:44] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah, I wanted to do it.

[00:10:47] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yep. And it sounds like you've done that a lot with the transformation and process improvements. Is that really kind of from that audit side, how you came to want to be involved in process improvement is from doing the operational audit and seeing all these things that need to be improved.

[00:11:02] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yes. And it's been really a culmination of my experiences throughout my career where, you know, certainly having that strong foundation in processes and controls and risks that really come from that audit background and merging it with my FP&A experience of understanding the realities of the business and how everybody needs to get their work done, to really come to a really good juncture of putting the pieces together. So. Yes, absolutely.

[00:11:30] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And so it sounds like that whole combination kind of really came together. How is FP&A? I'm curious, how is FP&A helped you with doing finance transformations? How does that make you better at doing that part of it?

[00:11:41] Guest: Leslie Stuart: You know, it's critical until you actually get into the weeds of what those functions do. You don't really understand. And, you know, it was one thing to have a bird's eye view from an audit lens, but to actually get in there and do the work and the realities of it, it's not perfect, it's not ever perfect. And sometimes you just have to get good enough. And, you know, so bringing the realities of, you know, the concept of good enough, what is good enough to be able to succeed, and moving away from the concept that often comes from my experience on the audit side of looking for those ideal situations.

[00:12:18] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So you're telling me not all processes are perfect?

[00:12:22] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Definitely not. I wish, I wish wouldn't that be wonderful if we could make them all absolutely buttoned down? But you know, the reality of it is, there's so much changing in the business and there's so many changing priorities. And sometimes good enough is just where you have to land.

[00:12:39] Host: Paul Barnhurst: It's just like data. Right. There's a cost to being 100%, right? Generally, 90% is good enough for almost all the decisions you're going to make. Sometimes 80% is enough, sometimes 70, depending on the data. Sometimes you do need 99 or, you know, as close to 100 as possible. But for many things you don't.

[00:12:56] Guest: Leslie Stuart: And that's that's you know, one of the things that when we talk in our transformation teams and across our business, it's about making progress, not perfection. You know, because perfection is just this enigma that is very difficult to actually obtain. And, you know, sometimes just making those baby steps is just good enough.

[00:13:17] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah. No, I really become a bigger and bigger fan of just make progress. You know, perfection in many ways is almost a myth, right? Nobody is perfect in many areas. And so it's about just getting a little better every day. Like, you know.

[00:13:35] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I've heard people say practice makes perfect. And I've always loved the quote that intentional practice makes progress. Being intentional. Your practice will allow you to progress and learn. You may never reach perfect, and that's okay. So I'm curious within transformations. Do you have a favorite experience from a transformation or a process improvement initiative that you can talk about?

[00:13:59] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Went through a pretty significant system change in one of my roles, and it was difficult. It was a very challenging implementation and build took a while to get the adoption there. And what I distinctly remember is post implementation and, you know, we're going through hyper care and then the normal stages of hyper care that, you know, you're going to run into problems that you didn't experience before, that you weren't anticipating. Totally normal. And it was that first forecast cycle when everybody went, yeah, makes sense. It's working. It's doing what it's supposed to be doing, and we're able to do it efficiently. It just felt like the biggest win after a very long implementation process. It was the best feeling ever.

[00:14:46] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I could imagine when you just put in a big, huge planning tool and the actual budget goes well versus it's a disaster and everybody's like, why are we using this? And they're wanting to revert to their old processes.

[00:14:59] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah.

[00:14:59] Guest: Leslie Stuart: And that's a normal change cycle. We absolutely see that all the time that, you know, you get early adoption for some situations and other ones. It can be a struggle. And yeah there's a bit of friction at those junctures. So it was wonderful for me to see that there was that full adoption that we eventually were able to get to.

[00:15:19] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And I'm curious, how do you manage to go from those early adopters to, you know, kind of those mid adopters, but particularly the laggards and those that are the change resistant, you know, the ones that are kind of fighting it. How do you get those on board? Because you may not ever get every single one on board, but you need the majority for this thing to work, because usually your early adopters aren't the majority of the team.

[00:15:44] Guest: Leslie Stuart: No. And very true. So in my experience, what I've found is that to get everybody across the finish line, you really need to be able to center around the individual. And sometimes it really is just sitting with them. And okay, let's do your process together. Let's understand where your challenges are so that they're feeling supported throughout. You know, when when you think even taking a step back and understanding why you're doing the change and being able to bring people along the journey and seeing what their challenges are and being able to meet them where they're at and help to bring them across has been for, for me, a very successful way to to look at it. And it's working with people direct. You have to understand what the individual challenges are. It's not an omnibus solution all the time.

[00:16:35] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So it sounds like there's a fair amount of even getting down to that individual level and really resolving people's problems sometimes one person at a time, even to that level.

[00:16:48] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Definitely. And the implementation that I've most recently been a part of was certainly that was the approach that I ended up taking. It really, I feel, helped every level, making sure that everybody felt successful and learning really something that was quite new and very different. And having people feel supported throughout is so important.

[00:17:11] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And how do you manage that from a resource standpoint? Because I can imagine that it can be very difficult. You have champions that also help step in or how do you think about that logistically? Because anytime you start going down to individuals and providing individual help, it substantially increases the commitment of time. How did you manage that?

[00:17:30] Guest: Leslie Stuart: It's not without a heavy lift, I gotta tell you, it's not. It's not simple. And there isn't a single answer to that one, but I. For myself, I utilized a number of different approaches one. Yes, absolutely. If there were people that were champions that. Were understanding it, bringing them to sit at the table with it as well. To maybe champion it for others was very helpful. In some cases I had to. Bring in external help to be able to have those process development conversations. It was a combination of approaches that really helped to bring. The full team across the finish line, but can't underestimate the importance of. That is because if you leave people behind and you don't put in the time to make. Sure that everybody understands their process, it really deters the entire project.

[00:18:23] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And I'm sure whether it's one you've run or one you've been involved in, you've seen somewhere, they probably have been less than successful in your career. Are you? Have you found that's usually because they're not taking the time for the one? Do you think it's that or lack of communication or what have you typically seen that causes things to, you know, fail or be less than ideal?

[00:18:46] Guest: Leslie Stuart: You know what? I look at transformations as a combination of needing data, technology, people and processes. And when I've seen projects not go to plan, it's because people and processes have been underestimated. Full stop. Data and technology. A lot of the time they're the easier piece to to adjust to and and to and to fix people and processes. If we underestimate the amount of time there, that's where we lose. That's the hard one to come back from. If you're not really focused on those two elements.

[00:19:29] Host: Paul Barnhurst: FP&A guy here today I want to talk about the FP&A Guys Ultimate FP&A course bundle. This bundle includes over ten hours of content recorded by Ron Monteiro and myself. Many templates and great lessons to make you a better FP&A professional. The content includes FP&A business partnering, how to manage tough conversations, build world class relationships and hold the business accountable. Includes modern Excel, which is a real game changer for the way you'll work in Excel. Excel tables the gateway to modern Excel. Power Query a game changer for transforming your manual processes and loading data, and then dynamic arrays. Next, we cover modeling design principles. In this course, we talk about the importance of designing models in a certain way and how important it is that you think about design. And last but not least, driving value through smart analysis how you can conduct data analysis to be a better FP&A professional. Go ahead and sign up for this bundle at thefpandaguy.com. That's the fp and a guy.com. Use the code Podcast to save 25%. Get started learning today. And frankly, that makes sense to me. That's kind of what I've seen in my career, and it's why I like to think it's, you know, you want to get your people, your processes right and then technology is your enabler, like you mentioned. Great FP&A departments have that access to the data. They've allowed technology to enable them to accomplish more because they've hired the right people. They developed the right processes, and now they've used technology to make themselves more efficient. And so that that totally aligns with what I've seen. I would agree with you. It's usually a people or process issue underestimation There. You know, occasionally you select the wrong technology, but most of the time most technology can work for what you need. You might have to change your processes. You might have to have some things you don't like because no technology meets all our needs. There's always trade offs, but I think it's rarely technology that's the problem.

[00:21:38] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Agreed. Agreed.

[00:21:40] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And so talk a little bit about just the process. How do you typically go through a transformation process? How do you think about that when someone comes to you and say, hey, I want you to lead this process. How do you go about that?

[00:21:52] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Start with why.

[00:21:54] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Why are we doing this? And this goes back to the conversation of people in process. Because if you can come up with a reason why you're doing this, that is that resonates with people. So a really great starting point. And when there's something in it for the individual, and I don't mean just from an organizational perspective because it can be, hey, this is a cost savings opportunity at an individual level. Let's be honest, most people don't care. I mean, they care about the company, but they don't really care if it's not impacting them directly, if it's not making things easier, if it's not making their day more efficient. You need to find the why. And so that's always number one for me. Start with why. And then it's making sure that you've got the right leadership engagement to be able to support on a project. And then everybody is aligned with why we're doing this, when we're doing this, how we're doing this, so that you've got the support and the backing to be able to succeed. Those are always my two starting points. You know, beyond that, it's really a lot of it is around making sure that we've got the right requirements, the right design, and overestimating the planning. I you know, I always say that you've got to really double down on your planning for, for larger projects and make sure that you've got the right setup to begin with, because it's really difficult to go back and costly in a lot of cases to go back and fix things at the tail end of a project.

[00:23:21] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah, I know, and I've heard with some of the large software, they're very malleable. You can do anything you want, but once you've done it all changing, it becomes extremely expensive and prohibitive for some of these tools.

[00:23:31] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Definitely.

[00:23:32] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And so if you don't have it right, I mean, that's I think sometimes the challenge, particularly with planning tools, why you often see people go back to excel is you have major changes in the business. And now all of a sudden, this isn't as agile as you want it to be to adjust. So I know that's often a challenge that people run into, whether it's an ERP or planning tool or whatever it might be, especially the larger the company, the more customization you've done.

[00:23:57] Guest: Leslie Stuart: And you can overengineer really, really fast. And I've seen that happen and it, you know, and had to go backtrack and say, oh geez. Well, that's really way too much for what we need to do. It's too big of a change for people. You know, I've been on that other end of it. It's not a lot of fun. So, you know, one of the analogies that I use all the time is, you know, we don't need to be building the Porsche. We need to build the civic. And it's nothing against the civic. They're great cars, but we don't often need the Porsche. We just need something to get from A to B. So let's start there. And then you can start to add on all the bells and whistles afterwards. But start with simple.

[00:24:35] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah.

[00:24:35] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Build the basics that can be reliable and then add as you go. Yeah yeah yeah. How do you think about phases with projects? Are you one of those that likes to really start with little phases and build, or do you, do you try to do all of it at once? As you know, I've seen phases work. Well. How do you think about that?

[00:24:53] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah. You know, I've, I've done what I would call a traditional waterfall approach, which is just do everything at once. I really don't like doing that. I've done that. And, and and I find that you spend a lot of time developing and not seeing a lot. And then you get to the end and you're like, well, I don't that's not really what I wanted. And. And then you have to backtrack anyways. You know, the projects that I'm involved with now, we lean much more towards an agile approach where you get those iterations and opportunity to provide feedback throughout. I find those so much more successful. You're able to engage the team throughout and make sure that it's building what they ultimately want, because it's not about the Leslie tool. I don't need the tool built for me. I need it built for me. Ultimately, what I consider my customers in finance. So I want to make sure that it's what they are looking for.

[00:25:42] Host: Paul Barnhurst: It doesn't matter how much you like it. If 90% of the people you support don't like it.

[00:25:47] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:25:49] Host: Paul Barnhurst: No, it makes sense. And I know you've been involved, you know, different implementations. One of them is a new planning tool. What did you learn from that around, you know, particularly in the planning during the process of that, any advice you would offer, things you do different if you're going to do it again?

[00:26:08] Guest: Leslie Stuart: I'm getting a really good lens on current state. That one. You know again a lot of it is learning through trial and error. You know, and I do current state all the time now. But you know, when I've done it in the past where it's not been as smooth, ultimately you can get to success with it. But if you don't have a good current state assessment, understand where people are today and what they're doing so that you understand how big of a change you're looking to implement. There's a tendency, you know, even the best laid plans. And we've got finance teams who are exceptionally ambitious and very talented, and they want to do everything. They want to put everything inside of a system or tool. When you do a really solid current state assessment, you understand very clearly where they're starting from. And if they're starting from a very, very basic, you know, Excel offline version, which is what a lot of our teams I see starting from. And they're trying to build that Porsche. It really highlights very quickly that you need to dial it back.

[00:27:12] Host: Paul Barnhurst: On the current state. How do you go about documenting that? Do you recommend flow charting at all? Do you write SOPs? You'll meet with everybody. What's your typical process you walk through to document, and how do you know when you have a good understanding of current state? Because it feels like no matter how much you do in a project, there's always something that comes out where you're like, oh, I wish you would have told me that a week ago or a month ago. Or, you know, whenever.

[00:27:38] Guest: Leslie Stuart: I've done it with process flow diagrams. Absolutely. I've done it for, you know, less about the form of it and more about just being able to document and really have a clear view to it. For me, it's being able to play back to teams and say, okay, is my understanding of this correct? Does this make sense to you? What am I missing and being able to do that, you know, revolution with them and making sure that we've got the key pieces. There's always things that creep up. I mean, again, that progress over perfection concept. You know, there's going to be a good enough view of it that as long as you've got the big rocks, you're usually in decent shape to be able to to determine what a future state should look like.

[00:28:21] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And how long. I mean, obviously it depends on the size of the project number of people, but how much of the typical project is spent in that current state? Like if you were to say of a total transformation project, do you have a feel for typically kind of roughly how much of it is spent in documenting the current state?

[00:28:38] Guest: Leslie Stuart: You know, it doesn't have to be significant. Obviously, it depends on each project and the complexity of the process that you're doing. But, you know, I lump it in with the entire planning phase of a project. So, you know, maybe that's 20, 30% of your time. It can be significant. And I think it's that that's the really important piece to be able to get those planning elements done early on and incorporates the current state. So even as they're building their requirements and what they want built into any new process, new tool, whatever it is that you're doing to be able to relate it back to. And this is what you do today, so that there's a constant discussion on change, so that, again, it's bringing the people and the processes together early on so that you have a very clear line of sight. And most importantly, our teams, the customers also have very clean and clear line of sight to what's changing in their world.

[00:29:30] Host: Paul Barnhurst: That makes a lot of sense to me. I get what you're saying is that importance of that line of sight and really that constant communication throughout the planning process. I'm curious when it comes to these transformations, how do you ensure that you don't just transform the software? Right. You got skill set and culture and training and all those things. How do you make sure that part of it happens, not just focusing on the people to say, hey, here are the changes in the communication. But sometimes there may be, you know, in transformations you often need to upgrade the skill set. Sometimes you may need to make some culture changes. So how do you incorporate that in the overall kind of transformation process?

[00:30:14] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah. And it differs by project. So I've been involved in some projects where just even training on change management was critical. Right. If they're, you have to understand where your teams are starting from. And if you're coming from a team that is change resistant or just hasn't even undergone a lot of change in their roles, you have to start with some of the basics to be able to set them up to succeed in other situations. What I've experienced is, you know, we're moving into, you know, a much more modern modernization and digitization of processes that create efficiencies. So there's an opportunity to enhance other skill sets that they've not been able to focus on as much. And, you know, we've certainly worked on communications and other pieces that are really opportunities to double down on what teams are doing today and replacing, you know, existing. I would call them, you know, mundane processes that are getting automated with things which enhance the ability to, to partner with their business.

[00:31:25] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So really helping them see the skill sets and the things that allow and be the better business partner and try to remove that mundane. And so training on sounds like the higher level responsibilities that we all want to spend more time on, but often we struggle to because we're cleaning up data.

[00:31:47] Guest: Leslie Stuart: A lot of time is spent cleaning up data. A lot of data validation, reconciliation of different data sources. If you're not clear on where your data, your golden source data is coming from, you spend a lot of time spinning. And, you know, I've been in that role where I've been the one spinning. And so I know what it's like. And, you know, and it can be very frustrating. And you spend a lot of time doing things that are not value added. So when you're able to get to processes which eliminate the need or reduce the need to be spending time on things like that, it's amazing what you can unlock with really talented teams. And I've worked with so many great people and so many great teams that to be able to start to see them unleashing and stopping, doing things that just don't add a ton of value to be able to do other focus on much more insights and analytics is very powerful.

[00:32:37] Host: Paul Barnhurst: You know, speaking of insights and analytics, how do you see AI playing a role here? What are you seeing? I'm sure your guys are doing a lot around studying AI and your company and figuring that out. So how are you thinking about it?

[00:32:52] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah, the way I look at it is there's so much emerging technology with the AI world, whether you're looking at.

[00:32:59] Guest: Leslie Stuart: You know, Gen AI, whether you're looking at any other type of machine learning, it's the way of the future. I mean, that's ultimately where finance is headed. And, you know, we think about how we can do our jobs more efficiently, efficiently, effectively. There's some things that just machines are going to be a heck of a lot better at than faster and more accurate than humans. And so to our earlier point of, you know, how do you enhance some of those other skills? There's some things that just humans are really great at as well. So how do we find that right balance so that teams are, you know, people are not going to go away from the finance function. But how do you use tools like machine learning, gen AI to be able to do your job more effectively, to allow yourself time to be able to be a better business partner.

[00:33:47] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Looking to level up your career and build skills that make you stand out to the hiring managers. How about earning a certificate from a world renowned business School, Wharton Online and Wall Street Prep have partnered to create an eight week online financial planning and analysis certificate program. You'll learn the art of forecasting, analysis, business partnering, and financial storytelling from Wharton Online's world class faculty, coupled with first hand exposure to technical and interpersonal skills with real world applications as practiced in top corporations, space is limited, so level up your career today and use the discount code, THEFPAGUY300 to receive $300 off tuition. That is THEFPAGUY300 to receive $300 off tuition. Learn more by going to wallstreetprep.wharton.upenn.edu/. Yeah, it makes sense to me. I like how you said the jobs aren't going away. You know, the skill sets change what we need to do. But there are definitely things where a computer is much better than we are, right? Processing billions of transactions. Not something I want to do. No large data sets. Finding patterns. There's many things like that that the system, as long as it's trained right, is much better at identifying. And it allows us to focus on areas where human judgment is needed, where relationships, empathy, whatever it may be, is needed. That isn't so easy for an AI or a computer to do.

[00:35:27] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Definitely. And that's where you know when you can go back to your business partners with very firm insights on. I've been able to take this huge data set and look at the trends that I'm seeing. Look at the decisions that we can make more effectively to drive the business. Hugely powerful. And our teams don't need to stay up till midnight to be able to process that level of data. A machine can spit it out really quickly.

[00:35:56] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I've done a few of those up till midnight things.

[00:35:58] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah, we all have. 

[00:35:59] Host: Paul Barnhurst: We have. Yeah, it's part of the finance budget and middle of the night. Why doesn't this tie. And you're like I'm going to plug it. I'm done. I'm not staying up any longer. Yep. We've all been there.

[00:36:09] Guest: Leslie Stuart: We all have.

[00:36:11] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Is there maybe an experience you've seen, like where the company gained an insight after transformation from better data, where it, you know, made a real difference to the company that you could share, maybe something where, you know, either helped the bottom line or revenue or whatever that thing might be, but something where you saw, hey, now that we have this data, we found this real value added insight.

[00:36:32] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah. You know, I've, I've seen, you know, through some of the system implementation work that I've done, just unlocking different levels of data that previously would have taken a ton of time to be able to process and being able to make decisions in different dimensions. And that's the fun thing about working in systems, is the dimensionality that you're able to view. You know, they're able to drive different levels of the PNL that were previously either very manual. Now they have at their fingertips. And I've seen them do really incredible work with teams to be able to get to a lens of granularity that was previously not at their disposal.

[00:37:20] Host: Paul Barnhurst: You know, that's. That's one of the best things of a planning tool. You know, I love Excel. Spreadsheets aren't going anywhere. Excel, Google sheets, they're fabulous. But they're not. They don't have that multidimensionality that you can get from, you know, planning tool that allows you to really access a lot of that at a different level. Yeah, you can do a little bit. You can do some with a pivot table and different things. But again, I agree with you that really being able to dig in and slice things in ways that were extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do without the right system. Without a system that's designed with the right processes and people.

[00:37:57] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yes.

[00:37:58] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah. And it's especially for, you know, I've seen it with growing areas of the business where, you know, when you have a systemized approach to it, they're able to dig into some of the details in really incredible ways, to be able to go back to business partners and give them insights.

[00:38:18] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah. And usually you can go back a lot quicker than when you have to. And that's the other real benefit is much closer to, you know, being able to make near real time decisions.

[00:38:28] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Absolutely. They can.

[00:38:30] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So I'm curious when we talk about transformations, you know, often it feels like many digital transformations have failed. We've been talking about it in finance. I don't know for what 20 plus years. And for the longest time, it felt like people viewed the transformation as an event, you know, hey, we just gotta get through this digital transformation. And to me, it feels like it should be more evolutionary. It's not a revolution. You don't have a revolution and move on to the new thing. You really continue to evolve. How do you think about transformation? How do you view it?

[00:39:03] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah.

[00:39:03] Guest: Leslie Stuart: You know, I look at it exactly the way that you explained it. And, you know, when you think about our day to day lives, especially digitally, things are always transforming. There's always a new iPhone, there's always a new technology. Something's always coming up. It's no different in business, really. And I think we're seeing an evolution in the way that people look at transformations now, because I agree, when I first started doing this, it was always a big event. And it and that can actually garner a lot more anxiety across people. Right. And thinking about, oh gosh, I've got to go through this massive organizational change to be able to get to the, to the other side of whatever that is. And, you know, when we start to look at things in small increments and say, okay, we're just going to look at this and we're going to and you're going to understand why you're doing it, because there's a benefit to you and you start to look at it in little chunks. What it does is it provides people with comfort that this is not this is not meant to be this massive, time consuming exercise all the time, and that there's benefit for them at the end. And I see that when we start to make those small incremental changes, it doesn't feel like this enormous elephant to overcome.

[00:40:22] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah, I, I'm a big fan of often making a bunch of small bets is better than a big bet. And I think there's something similar with tools, you know, starting on small little things and improving, like you mentioned, versus trying to waterfall and do everything at once versus being agile. And that's not true for the entire process, not just the system side of it, of taking that agile approach and continuing to constantly improve because, like you said, technology is always changing. I'm sure there's some new technology that came out today that we'll be hearing about soon. Right. It feels like every day there's something.

[00:40:56] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yep.

[00:40:56] Guest: Leslie Stuart: And I think the more that people get accustomed to ongoing change, the easier it is to adopt the change. It doesn't become this overwhelming task. It's just, oh, okay, well, this is going to change, but I see the benefit in it for myself. And if we always go back to the why am I doing this? Why do we want to do this? And oftentimes I look now to my finance customers as the leader of you tell me what you want to change. What are your pain points? And that shift of thou shalt and pushing down change all the time to you. Tell me what you need and then let me see if I can help to find a solution. And it really evolves the relationship and how we think about transformation so that it's starting bottoms up a lot of the time and not always a push down.

[00:41:43] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I love how you said that, because what it makes me think of is, you know, when we partner with the business, we're not very effective if we just push it down from finance, here's how we're going to do things versus if we understand their pain points and we focus on solving them. So it sounds like that's the approach you're taking, transformation, which is what we're taught we should do to be a good business partner. I mean, so if it works with our business, it should work with finance. We're not different.

[00:42:07] Guest: Leslie Stuart: It's no different. You know, I look, you know, when I because I've come through, you know, very different client relationships. But the similarity, you know, whether it's you're working at a firm and you've got a client or you're working in internal audit and your business is your client FP&A, your business is your client. And then, you know, in finance transformation, finance is the client. So you know that that is a common thread throughout pretty much any role, there's always a support function associated with it. And if I'm constantly coming down and pushing change down to the teams that I work with and just telling them this is what you're going to do, it doesn't go over well. And I'd much rather come with a solution oriented discussion with my customers so that they are able to succeed and feel like it's something that, you know, they've asked for. It's the change that they've wanted throughout all of this.

[00:43:03] Host: Paul Barnhurst: It makes sense. So I want to ask one more question just before we move on to the next section here, kind of a standard section we have on just some general questions. Any additional thoughts you want to share to the audience about finance transformations? Any last thoughts you'd like people to be left with?

[00:43:21] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yeah. One of the other things that, you know, I see in my role and in transformation roles in general, there's an increasing need for translation. And what I mean by that is, you know, I partner in my role now and in prior roles more and more with technology teams, right? Regardless of whether it's for a system or some emerging technology or understanding data and being able to talk the language of those teams and marrying it with the finance language is absolutely critical. And it's one of those skill sets across finance in general. I see more and more of my customer teams being more literate in that. And, you know, from a transformation lens, it's a key part of my role is to help marry the different languages because they are and, you know, they talk in a very different way about often the same things and being able to partner together to figure out how do we find the best solution. That translation role is so critical.

[00:44:30] Host: Paul Barnhurst: 100%. I've seen it again and again where somebody gives you requirements for a report, they don't know anything about the data. There's nobody there to translate it. You pull it and they're like, this isn't what I want. The numbers are all wrong. This is what you told me you wanted. No, no, no, this is what I meant by that. And yet you start having that conversation back and forth, and it's very true. We're definitely seeing more and more of a need to bridge that gap. I've seen it referred to as the FP&A architect, so to speak.

[00:44:56] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yes.

[00:44:57] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And it speaks between data and technology and the processes and things that can help bridge that gap.

[00:45:03] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yes, definitely.

[00:45:04] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I appreciate that one. All right. So this next section is we ask you a couple FP&A questions. We're just looking kind of for quick answers. I have five that I'm going to ask you to see what you think on each of these. So the first one I'm going to start with is what is the number one technical skill for FP&A professionals to master

[00:45:24] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Modeling. They have to be able to look at the numbers and generate insights.

[00:45:29] Host: Paul Barnhurst: All right.

[00:45:29] Host: Paul Barnhurst: What is the number one soft skill for FP&A professionals?

[00:45:33] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Communication. If you can't communicate and you can't understand what your business partners need and what finance requires, you'll always be at a stalemate.

[00:45:46] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah, I. Communication, modeling. Definitely. Right up there at the top. Those are great ones. What is the one software you cannot live without?

[00:45:53] Guest: Leslie Stuart: In fact, excel as much as we talk about systems and the need for them, Excel is never going to go away. It is too flexible. Our teams will always use it. So critical.

[00:46:08] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Excel I always like to say even if you have a planning tool, that doesn't mean Excel goes away.

[00:46:13] Guest: Leslie Stuart: No definitely not.

[00:46:14] Host: Paul Barnhurst: They coexist. There's they're both have strengths and weaknesses. And then are you currently using generative AI and if so, how?

[00:46:24] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yes I love using AI. You know I've used it for research. I've used it for honing my communication skills and, you know, just even using it for generating emails and communications that are more effective. I use it all the time. Love it.

[00:46:45] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Great. No, that's wonderful.

[00:46:48] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I'm just curious. Do you have a certain guy you like to use? Like, are you using ChatGPT? Mostly Microsoft Copilot.

[00:46:56] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Internally within the organization, we have one so that we're not sharing out private information. But I mean, personally, I use it too and I use ChatGPT for a lot of stuff. I find it very helpful.

[00:47:06] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Great.

[00:47:07] Host: Paul Barnhurst: And then last one, this is kind of a fun question. We recently asked if you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about FP&A what would you change?

[00:47:17] Guest: Leslie Stuart: I would love to see more integrated data and processes.

[00:47:23] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Spoken like a true transformation. That doesn't surprise me.

[00:47:29] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Staying true to brand

[00:47:31] Host: Paul Barnhurst: There you go. Yes. You stayed on brand there. I'll give you an A for. For brand. Brand marketing. Good job. All right. This next section is to get to Know You section, where we ask some personal questions. Just to get a little bit to get to know you a little better before we wrap up. So the first one, tell me about a favorite hobby or passion you have.

[00:47:48] Guest: Leslie Stuart: This is one of those things that has evolved over time. I've got two young kids who are very active in sports, so I am a very active cheerleader as a result. So that is where I spend a lot of my time when I'm not at work at sporting events and thoroughly enjoy it. And when I have additional downtime, I love to read.

[00:48:09] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Great.

[00:48:10] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So any particular sport that you have a favorite?

[00:48:14] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Oh, that's like picking your favorite kid. I can't, I can't. And if my kids listen to this they're going to know. So I'm going to say all the ones that my children play I love equally. 

[00:48:29] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Well done.

[00:48:29] Host: Paul Barnhurst: All right. What is one book? Speaking of reading, you say you like to read when you have time that you would recommend to our audience. Is there a book you'd recommend?

[00:48:37] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Yes.

[00:48:38] Guest: Leslie Stuart: I've recommended this to a ton of people recently. Smart brevity. It is when we talk about communication skills. This one I found so helpful. Really very tangible techniques that are quick wins to be able to communicate more effectively, more efficiently.

[00:48:57] Host: Paul Barnhurst: I need to read that. That's one. Ron Monteiro. As you know, my training partner read recently. He's been trying to get me to read it. I haven't done it yet, but.

[00:49:05] Guest: Leslie Stuart: It's a quick one. It's a short book. So it's a good, good weekend read. Me too. It's brief. It lives up to its name.

[00:49:13] Host: Paul Barnhurst: What is your favorite travel destination. If you could go anywhere in the world tomorrow. Where are you going?

[00:49:19] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Italy. That's an easy one for me. I love to travel and I don't get to do it as much as I would like to now with children in sports, but that was definitely a highlight. Trip that that I have taken in the past.

[00:49:32] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Awesome.

[00:49:33] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Yeah, I'd love to go to Italy. Haven't been, but I've heard it's beautiful.

[00:49:37] Guest: Leslie Stuart: It's wonderful.

[00:49:38] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So if you could have dinner with one person in the world. Who are you picking and why?

[00:49:44] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Well.

[00:49:45] Guest: Leslie Stuart: I'm going to. I'm gonna go a little off. Off track with this one. Because of how busy I am in my life. And I would. Actually choose to go out with my husband in Italy. I'm going to pair up those two elements. Because I don't feel like I get to see him as much because we're out all the time.

[00:50:04] Host: Paul Barnhurst: You know you're not the first one to pick a spouse. What else is like, of course, my wife first. But if I'm not taking her, then I'm taking. You know, and I just gotta laugh.

[00:50:11] Guest: Leslie Stuart: So on that note, I would actually love to meet Oprah. I think she has a wonderful way of connecting with people and really. Her emotional intelligence is out of this world. We'd love to learn from her.

[00:50:28] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So you said Oprah. I was going to say that's also the answer Ron Monteiro gave. He mentioned Oprah as well a few weeks ago on the show. So you're the second person to have now, said Oprah. All right. Last, last question before we finish here. If you could offer one piece of advice to FP&A professionals to be a better business partner, what advice would you give them?

[00:50:49] Guest: Leslie Stuart: I would just say, be curious. Ask lots of questions. Learn about the business and just be a continuous learner. You know, we never stop learning. We never stop honing our skills and just keep on honing the craft of that.

[00:51:06] Host: Paul Barnhurst: So basically, be curious. Keep learning, keep developing.

[00:51:10] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Definitely.

[00:51:11] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Fabulous advice. And if someone wants to learn more about you or get in contact with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

[00:51:16] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Linkedin.

[00:51:18] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Shocker. I never get that one. Well, thank you so much for joining Leslie. It's a real pleasure to have you on the show. I appreciate you carving out a few minutes today and really excited to share this with the audience.

[00:51:33] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Wonderful. It's been wonderful to chat with you today, Paul.

[00:51:37] Host: Paul Barnhurst: Thank you.

[00:51:38] Guest: Leslie Stuart: Thank you for having me.

[00:51:39] Host: Paul Barnhurst: You're welcome. Thanks for listening to FP&A tomorrow. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a five star rating and a review on your podcast platform of choice. This allows us to continue to bring you great guests from around the globe. As a reminder, you can earn CPE credit by going to earmarkcpe.com, downloading the app, taking a short quiz, and getting your CPE certificate to earn continuing education credits for the FPAC certification. Take the quiz on earmark and contact me the show host for further details.