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and now onto the show. From Data Reels, this is FPNA today.
Hello everyone, welcome to FPNA today. I am your host Paul Barnhurst, aka the FPNA guy.
FPNA today is brought to you by Data Reels, the financial planning and analysis platform for
Excel users. Every week we welcome a leader from the world of financial planning and analysis.
For the last two years, I have been saying that line every week, and today it is with mixed
emotion, I share that will be changing. This is my last episode hosting FPNA today.
With that in mind, I wanted to briefly talk to you, the audience, about the last two years,
before I introduce this week's guest and future host of the show. So over the last two years
that I have hosted FPNA today, we have accomplished a lot, and I say we because it takes a team,
Data Reels, SassPod, the team behind us that does all the audio and video and makes me sound good
and cleans up all the ums and ahs and other mistakes. So I've had amazing support along the way.
We've accomplished a lot. Over the last two years, we've hosted over a hundred episodes.
This is episode 101. Along the way we are nominated for a People's Choice Podcast award
for Best Business Podcast. We've had numerous guests from all over the world in all levels.
We've had CEOs, CFOs, VPs of FPNA, analysts of FPNA, college interns. We've covered all kinds of
topics. Everything from how to build an FPNA shared service center to how AI will disrupt and change
FPNA going forward. You know, one of the things we all learned together is that many guests have a favorite
Excel formula. The number one Excel formula for our guests over these last two years has been V Lookup.
Other things we've accomplished. Thanks to you, the audience, this show has become the number one
FPNA podcast globally. Something we're incredibly proud of. We've had nearly 250,000 downloads of
the audio and a number of people who have watched the video and other 30,000 or so. I've received
notes nearly weekly from different people thanking me for the show or thanking me for a guest or
something they learned that helped them to be a better FPNA professional. Something I'm really
proud of. It's been an amazing ride. I'm grateful for all that's been accomplished. I'm especially
grateful for data rels for giving me a chance to host the show and for being a fabulous partner.
But the time has come to pass the torch to our new host. With that being said, I'm super excited
to welcome back to the show not only is the guest this week, but is the new host of FPNA today,
Glenn Hopper. Glenn, thanks for joining me. Hey, Paul, great to see you. I'm with you in that
it's kind of a bittersweet moment because I'm so used to listening to you on this podcast every
week and now you're moving on and I'm you're leaving some big shoes to Phil sir.
Well, I really appreciate that. I'm confident you'll do a great job and the audience will enjoy
change in voice for a while. So I'm sure you'll do you'll do fabulous. You know, I want to start by
asking you a question. What have you been up to since we last chatted? I think when we had you
on it was roughly episode 50 and you had just created your gender to the eye using chat GPT FPNA
tool. Remember, we talked quite a bit about that. So you just you had just finished it. I think you
just released your article or we're getting ready to release your article around that time with
it was fortune or something. Yeah. So that was really the beginning of the whirlwind that was 2023
that rolled into 2024. You know, a couple years before that, I had written a book on using
artificial intelligence and machine learning and finance, but the book I knew when I wrote it,
it wasn't a super accessible book. It was pretty niche. It was, you know, you had to know Python
and be able to write SQL queries and R and understand machine learning, which I know more and more
FPNA professionals are. But, you know, the book was just something I put out there because it was
important to me. Once generative AI came out and I did, you know, timing is kind of everything.
I did that project pretty early on and that got traction and that just sort of ballooned into,
I've been on more podcasts and speaking engagements and webinars in the past 12 months,
probably then in my life combined before that. So it's been a whirlwind and, yeah, in the midst
of all that, I've been, you know, in my consulting work, I've moved from fractional interim
CFO to consulting on M&A and the sort of the traditional fractional CFO work to more and more
consulting people, a lot of FPNA people on artificial intelligence implementations. And I'm working
now on productizing some of these AI tools that people would be able to use in their business.
Amazing. So a lot has changed. That's exciting. So what goes into helping a company, you know,
get ready for AI? I'm just curious. What does that usually look like?
You think it's going to be this really cool, like high tech thing and it's not. It is a painful
process audit is step one because before we can use this data, we have to understand how it's
being created. It's it's the same thing you do in FBA. It's identifying your sources of truth,
understanding the data universe that you have, compiling all your data, making sure everybody's
singing from the same sheet of music and being able to report and, you know, knocking down
information silos. And really, even without AI, when I cut my first 100 days as a CFO at a company,
I come in and this is exactly what I do there too. It's what it doesn't matter the technology
it's being delivered from. We still have to get access to the data and you can't get or understand
the data until you understand your processes. So it's kind of painful. It's like a root canal,
you know, doing this, but at the end of a root canal, you have fixed teeth and at the end of
this process, you have magic AI. I guess. Yeah. As a guy who's had multiple root canals, including
root canal redone from the top down, I can relate to that one and the pain of it. So, you know,
as I listen to you say that, it sounds like basically it's come in and audit processing data
to make sure they're at a point where the data actually has value. It's not all just crap.
So that the machine can give intelligent advice and analyze and make smart decisions. Because if
the data isn't good, the output isn't going to be to good. It's the same old saying, regardless
of what the technology is, garbage in, garbage out. Did I summarize it right? You really did. And
the funny thing is everybody wants to AI wash with their products are right now. But I can,
you know, they're just, oh, we have this with AI. But usually the first changes I make have nothing
to do with AI, I'm not going to point anything AI related at it because I need to make sure
that just the data is flowing between systems first. And truthfully, at the end of the day,
if you don't have to use AI, then don't. AI is not a magic cure all and there's plenty that
can be done without it. And there's also older, more trustworthy, reliable processes that you can
get better results than you could today with AI. So AI is the buzz word. And I'm certainly going
to help people get there. But not if we don't need to. I mean, it's, you know, I ride bikes and
bicycles, not motor bikes. I don't think my wife would let me do that. But I, and you know, I don't
need to have the same. That makes you feel like I don't need to have the same bike. I mean,
I would love to. They look cool, but it would be absurd for me to ride the same bicycle that like
the tour de France guys ride. So AI, same way. If you're, you know, you just have a couple of systems
and not a whole lot of data, we can get you a really long, long way without using AI. But when it comes
time to use it, you're going to be in a much better place to if you've got all your data cleaned up.
So it's really just data maturity and cleanup is what I focus on. Yeah. I mean, it goes back to the
whole thing we've been saying it for years, whether it's AI, whether it's machine learning, whether
it's analysis is a data driven culture is more successful as a company. The data has been
overwhelmingly clear that if you use data to enhance and make smart decisions, doesn't mean
every decision is made with data and doesn't mean you 100% rely on it. But if you really learn to
trust the data and kind of put that first, then you're going to better be able to utilize the
technology regardless of what the technology is. Yeah, exactly. Data management, data governance,
data lexicon, everything we've been talking about for years, this is just the next new tool to
throw at it. So in the people who started early and built out good FPNA programs, their miles
ahead. And especially finance that wasn't just in that ivory tower of Oh, no, we're just the numbers
people, but finance that was stretched across the organization, business partnering embedded FPNA
really into all the metrics across the company, not just the financial. If you already have that,
you've done the lion's share of the work to get ready for AI implementation.
Yeah. So basically companies that have good FPNA because you can only have good FPNA with good data
or say not only, but most of the time, I think almost always you have to have good data to have good
FPNA, but those to have both are well positioned to be even more productive in the future.
Absolutely. And there's shorter distance to get to AI if you've already got your data house in
order because if not, I mean, some of my clients, it's like, we come in and it's like, first off,
we're going to fix your chart of accounts. So imagine the path that you have to go from that to
it's the common fractional CFO. First thing you come in, they decide they need one. Okay, you've
been on a crawl-based accounting for five years and you've paid no attention to when anything's
booked. So we're going to start by trying to normalize some of this and get it in the right
buckets. Then we're going to redo your chart of account. Then we're going to understand your
systems so that we can start working on your other data. And a year later, we can build you a good
budget or three months or six months or whatever. You're still depreciating this desk you bought in
1978. You know, that kind of thing. What is going on? I got to try that one on my taxes. Oh,
wait, should we say that? Well, that's great. So I have a few more questions here for you. And
then I'm going to turn it over to you to ask me a couple questions before we end the show here.
So I know you launched a LinkedIn course leveraging generative AI and finance and accounting.
So how did that come about? Why did you decide to do the course?
So it was just part of the wave. And I just went in the past 12, 18 months. I've just been riding
the wave. So I started doing a lot of public speaking about AI and a lot of webinars. And they
actually reached out to me. And there's a big push because the LinkedIn community is wanting to
learn about it. And so I feel like sales and marketing. I don't know how this happened, but they
jumped so far ahead of finance people, which to me, like, were the original people like, how did we
get passed by sales and marketing in the use of machine learning? And well, I'll tell you how it's
because revenue versus back office. But yeah, they reached out and they were trying to create,
you know, specific for industry and for profession courses. And I guess if I get out in public in
Yammer enough, that I'm going to get some attention. So they, yeah, they reached out to me. And it's
really the reason I wrote the book. I knew it wasn't going to be a best seller when I wrote it.
But I'm passionate about this stuff. And I've seen kind of the before and after as much as I love
the implementations, which it's kind of like standing up FPNA, implementations are fun the way
running a marathon is fun. It's really cool when you're done. Are we speaking from experience?
Have you ran a marathon? Yes, I've run like 25 or 26 of them at this point. They get slower every
year. I've only run four. I didn't know we showed that in comments. So that's what podcasts are
for it to learn these things about each other. That's right. That's right. Yeah. So I don't know.
On the LinkedIn course, it was an opportunity to get a large platform where I could tell a lot of
people and we don't go deep in the weeds on the course. And I think that's okay because there
will be other opportunities and ways to do that. But really right now, my mantra has been,
you know, we don't have to understand how this monitor works to use it. I don't have to understand,
you know, how my coffee maker works to drink coffee. But with the power of, you know, those are
passive things. The power of AI that could be replacing people could be augmenting what we do.
You have to have some level of understanding of it before you can use it. So I really am passionate
that I don't care what your job is. You need to understand the base. I'm not saying you have to
become a data scientist or a computer developer. But you need to understand essentially what's
happening. So the LinkedIn course is a great way to do that. And I've got some other courses coming
out over the next 12, 18 months, some additional training and speaking and webinar kind of things going
on where I hope to continue because I think our, you know, finance and accounting people were kind
of laggards in a lot of technology areas. So I think, you know, I'm going to keep getting on my
soapbox and preaching that. Love it. Great. Well, you know, we could definitely put a link in the
show notes to your course. I know a lot of people have taken it. It's on my list of courses to take
in all my free time. Right. I know about your free time or lack thereof. Anyway, yeah, I figured you'd
laugh at that. You know what it is like 13 different spreadsheets emailed out to 23 different
budget holders, multiple iterations, version control, errors, back and forth updates. You never really
feel in control of the consolidation and collection process. Yep, I've been there. Stop. Breathe.
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You have been a fan of FPNA today for a long time. Do you have a favorite episode?
It's funny that you mentioned that. There are so many that I would be hard pressed to recall
a name, but there was one. I think you just did this. It was in the last three or four months.
It was FPNA for companies between five and 50 million. It was Duke, Kenninger, and John Allen.
Confession. Who listens to one episode of Podcast twice? I listened to that episode twice
because there was so much that just resonated with me because my whole career has been in the
SMB space. The issues that they were going through are exactly the kind of ones that I did.
Even hearing them talk about doing the consulting too could completely relate to everything.
There may be, I'll have to think back, there may be older ones that I liked a lot too,
but that one in particular, the first one that came to mind that really resonated with me.
Was there one particular story or thing they said that stuck out or just being able to relate
to the entire episode? It was the entire episode, but also they talked about the restaurant industry.
That was of interest to me having a million years ago, food service background, but also talking
about during that in COVID, it reminded me of when I was the CFO of a car wash business during
the 0809 financial crisis. It was just hearing how they went through adversity through all that,
and it just in knowing the size businesses that they were working with and how they were addressing
it. It felt like we all could have been in the same room at the same time doing the exact same thing.
That's great. If you ever want an introduction to either of them, let me know. I'm personal friends
with them. I didn't just have them on the show. I know both of them well.
Oh, that's great. You guys had great rapport on that show too, yes.
Yeah, it helped. We know each other quite well. That definitely helped.
Last question I have for you, then I'm going to turn it over to you to see if you have any questions
for me. What made you decide to host FPN 8 today? I know Data Rails reached out to you and asked
if you'd be interested. Why'd you say yes? I don't know if you knew this because I know you and I
have talked a lot, but I actually my first job at a college before and got my MBA, I was a journalist.
So I ended up being a print journalist. I was one of those guys. I've got a face-for-radio or
face-for-podcast and then a voice-for-print. So I was a journalist in the Navy actually and I was
a very dedicated student back at that time and I missed being the honor graduate, the top graduate
in our whole cohort by some fraction of a point. The reason I missed it is there was one
instructor who was from Alabama and it was in broadcast journalism and he had a thicker
Southern accent than I did, except when he went on air, he turned into complete just Walter
Cronkite, just no accent. So he dinged me because he couldn't let go that I had a Southern accent
and that I couldn't correct it on the air. So that turned me away from broadcast journalism,
but now I mean, there are so many people with podcasts that I feel like I don't have to try to
sound like Walter Cronkite and I can come in and not try to hide my Southern accent and talk
about some geeky numbers stuff. But you know, people have asked me through the years if I wanted
to host a podcast and I had always said no, but there's the data rails opportunity, the audience
that this podcast has, the people I get to work with and the subject matter, it's all just right
in my wheelhouse and I know I lean towards and I keep talking about AI, but it's all related and
it's just it's the latest tool. It's still FPNA. Yeah, so this just seems like a great opportunity and
the kinds of people you get to talk to and in your lead up when you were talking about what you
gained from it. I mean, that's my say, ambition here is to gain knowledge from talking to all these
brilliant people that have I mean, how many people are lucky enough to be able to sit around and talk
to finance nerds all day, you know. Thank you for sharing the backstory. I didn't know all of that
funny enough. I started my career working for the Navy. I was civilian, but I was stationed on a
Navy base. So it's not like we have a few things in common, the marathons and avi, the podcast,
so that's great. A lot of fun. But you'll do great Glenn. I'm sure of that. I mean, the audience is
in good hands and I'm excited to see where you take it to new heights. But before we end, any questions
you want to ask me, here's your chance to play host. Yeah, I'm going to I thought about it would be
funny if my first time I tried to ask a question if I just froze up like a deer in the headlights and
just freak out the data rails people. We've made a terrible mistake. But yeah, so you asked me and
you're certainly, I don't know, this may be a harder question for you, but do you have a favorite
episode? So I have an episode that's very personal to me and it's my favorite for that. Not that I
think I did the best job interviewing or that it was the most listened to episode, but we did an
episode on mental health. We had on two ladies that talked about the importance of taking care of
yourself mentally and making sure that you take care of your employees and focus on their mental
health. And that's passionate to me because I've lost a brother to mental health. I've lost other
family members. It's something I've dealt with. So that that is my favorite episode because it's
very personal. I mean, I've shared this quite a bit on Lincoln and I'm open about it and I had a
brother that unfortunately took his own life. And so anything I can do to help in that area is
something I'm deeply passionate about. Wow. And it's one of those things that in a work environment,
it's hard, you know, you don't talk about it a lot. So for you to be able to bring that to the
listeners here and to be to have that vulnerability, but also to broadcast that it's okay. It's not
not just okay. It's we should be talking about this. This should be important. And that's a great
thing about the power of this this podcast that you were able to take an important message like
that and bring that to the listeners and viewers. So that's that's incredible. Well, thank you. It's
definitely a said his message. I share on LinkedIn and one I'm passionate about that we all need to
talk about. That's great. And I know you're going to continue on here. I don't know all the details,
but what's next for you? Where you where you headed post F P and A today here? What do you got going?
I know you've got a lot of things going on. You know, a lot of exciting things. I'm currently working
on some course content for the new Wall Street prep certificate that's coming. I think you're also
doing a little bit around that. That's a conjunction between Wharton Wall Street prep. The Christian
Whittegs working on. I also am, you know, I have my third generation market guide. That will be out
by the time this is released. It'll be becoming out just before then. I'm also going to be continuing
to do some podcasts on my own. So I'm really excited about that. You know, you could always check
those out and then continuing to train companies and build community and be a voice out there for
F P and A and how we can make it better. That's great. I mean, you're the F P and A guys. So no
matter where you go, you're going to be the F P and A. F P and A guys. I'm from the B and A guy.
People can still find me. I'll still be talking about business partnering and all those things that
make great F P and A. All right. Three lightning round questions because I know you're a little
bit pressed for time today. So the first one is, and I'm putting you on the spot here, you got to,
we're going to test your creative mind. If you're the F P and A guy, I don't have a nickname. What
should I be the dude? Yeah. I was going to say you might have been thinking of something you
couldn't say on air. I threw out a few names. There you go. Okay. Next just real quick and
weak. We can throw in the show notes too. Obviously, but how can people stay in touch with you
past F P and A today? Yeah. So of course, they can find me on LinkedIn. That's probably the easiest
way. They can also go to my website, the F P and A guy calm and people can email me. P barn
herst at the F P and A guy calm. I'm always around. So feel free to find me on any of those platforms.
Awesome. All right. Last question. You ready? I'm ready. What is your favorite Excel function?
You know, it's not a function. It's a feature. Power Query. Nice. And I love on pivot. If I had
to pick something in power query, I love me some on pivot. Excellent. Well, now we know. So I
don't am I closing out the show? Are you closing out the show? I don't have an outro written.
So I'm ready. Ready. One, two, three. No, I'll go ahead and take us out. Well, thank you, Glenn,
for interviewing me and for being a guest as well. In closing, I'm just want to sign off for one
last time. Say thank you for being a loyal listener for the last two years. What a great opportunity.
The shows in great hands with Glenn. I'm confident he'll do fabulous things and take it to new heights.
And with that, we'll say goodbye. Signing off for the last time.
F-P-N-A guy. Thanks, Paul.
