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Amsterdam FP&A Board, 23 Sep 2025
Amsterdam FP&A Board Registration Form - 23 Sep 2025Participation in the FP&A board's events is strictly by-invitation-only, with 25–30 attendees per meetingIt is exclusive to practitioners at the CFO, FD, and Head of Finance levels

Please fill in the registration form below:

Stockholm FP&A Board, 18 Sep 2025
Stockholm FP&A Board Registration Form - 18 September 2025Participation in the FP&A board's events is strictly by-invitation-only, with 25-30 attendees per meetingIt is exclusive to practitioners at the CFO, FD, and Head of Finance levels who are in active employment

Please fill in the registration form below:

Puzzles, Mysteries, and Big Data

By Randall Bolten, longtime Silicon Valley CFO, author of "Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You” and adjunct professor at U.C. Berkeley Extension.

Last week I led a workshop on management reporting at the IMA Northern Lights Council’s annual seminar in Minneapolis. While there, I had the opportunity to sit in on several excellent presentations.

Black Swans, Big Data, Our Intuition, and the "Birthday Paradox"

By Randall Bolten, longtime Silicon Valley CFO, author of "Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You” and adjunct professor at U.C. Berkeley Extension.

RANDALL BOLTEN grew up in Washington, D.C., the son of a CIA intelligence officer and a history professor. He is passionate about the importance of presenting financials and other numerical information in a cogent and effective way, and in his current life is the author of Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You (John Wiley & Sons, 2012).

He is a seasoned financial executive, with many years directing the financial and other operations of high-technology companies. His experience includes nearly twenty years as a chief financial officer of software companies.

He has held the CFO position at public companies BroadVision and Phoenix Technologies, and at private companies including Arcot Systems, BioCAD, and Teknekron. Before his CFO positions, he held senior financial management positions at Oracle and Tandem Computers.

He received his AB from Princeton University, headed west to earn an MBA at Stanford University, and ended up staying in Silicon Valley. 

In addition to writing Painting with Numbers, he currently operates Lucidity, a consulting and executive coaching practice focused on organizing and presenting complex financial information. He divides his work time between Glenbrook, NV and Washington, DC, and maintains an office in Menlo Park, CA.

 

At a dinner party last night, one of the guests posed a question: Imagine a roomful of people chosen at random. How many people need to be in the room for there to be at least a 50% probability that at least two of the people have the same birthday?

Adding Value to Entrepreneurs through FP&A

By Karl Kern, Accountant / Lecturer / Writer

This blog post looks at the ways of how FP&A can help entrepreneurs to accomplish their goals. The action that entrepreneurs take is described through financial reports. Financial reports establish a communication process that reveals what entrepreneurs want to do and how they will do it.

Three Stages of Rolling Forecast Maturity

By Larysa Melnychuk, CEO and Founder at FP&A Trends Group and International FP&A Board

Rolling Forecasts  are an essential tool for financial planning and analysis (FP&A), with a potential to radically transform corporates’ traditional budgeting process. The London FP&A Board of senior practitioners’ most recent meeting focused on why Rolling Forecasts  are ideal for financial planning and analysis (FP&A) professionals.

The Purpose of Planning and Why It Often Fails

By Michael Coveney, Analytics Thought Leader and Author

Most people will agree that planning is a vital activity for every corporate body.  It is often carried out according to a management calendar.  Long-range and resource planning tends to take place on an annual basis, forecasting tends to be quarterly, while reporting is monthly driven. 

Evolving FP&A: What are the Key Planning Activities?

By Michael Coveney, Analytics Thought Leader and Author

Believe it or not, organizations do not collapse if they don’t have a plan or a budget! If a business is already established then two things will impact future results, irrespective of what is planned - organic growth and external influences.

Dynamic FP&A: The Role of Planning

By Michael Coveney, Analytics Thought Leader and Author

We live in an unpredictable world where the future is uncertain. If it was then we would all make a fortune by making strategic ‘bets’ on certain outcomes. But the world is not like that.

Acquiring FP&A Skills from Unique Experiences

By Karl Kern, Accountant / Lecturer / Writer

This blog post  addresses the acquisition of FP&A skills. People who want to become financial planning and analysis (FP&A) practitioners obtain advice on how to achieve this goal.  One piece of advice is to acquire education by taking courses in subjects like accounting, economics, and finance.

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