In this episode of CFI’s Member Spotlight, we sit down with Alex Murray, a UK-based financial analyst whose path into finance started far outside the typical “cookie-cutter” route. This conversation traces how Alex moved from studying History (with a deep interest in the Renaissance and the evolution of double-entry bookkeeping) to building a career in…
The numbers from AICPA and CIMA’s Future-Ready Finance: Technology, Productivity, and Skills Survey are striking: 88% of finance professionals believe AI will be the most transformative technology trend in accounting and finance over the next 12 to 24 months, yet only 8% say their organization is very well prepared to manage that transformation. When it…
Most FP&A teams have at least one person who forecasts well. Someone who builds driver-based forecasts from models and strong business acumen, who knows which assumptions actually move the numbers, who can walk leadership through a scenario analysis without losing the room. The problem is that their approach tends to stay with them. Everyone else…
When finance leaders think about process improvement for finance teams, the conversation usually turns to technology. A better financial planning platform. Automation to reduce manual consolidation. Dashboards that surface variance faster. These investments matter, and many yield real gains. What gets less attention is the skills dimension of finance process improvement. Technology can accelerate a…
There is a version of a finance team that most finance leaders can picture clearly. It is the team that does not just report what happened but explains why it matters and what to do about it. The team that finishes a planning cycle with a forecast that leadership actually believes in. The team that…
Finance managers carry a lot of responsibility for their team’s development, but very little infrastructure to support it. Most have a genuine interest in upskilling their people. What most lack is a clear framework for where to start, what to prioritize, and how to know whether anything they do is actually working. We work with…
We surveyed hundreds of finance professionals and finance leaders to understand how organizations are managing skills development across their teams. What we found was striking: 67% of finance organizations report struggling with a skills gap, and 65% of finance professionals are personally concerned about gaps in their own capabilities. Those numbers tell an important story….
In this episode of Corporate Finance Explained on FinPod, we break down competitive moats and the financial mechanics that allow a small subset of companies to sustain outsized profitability for decades, while most competitors see margins eroded. A moat is a structural advantage that interrupts the normal economics of competition, where excess returns attract entrants…
In this episode of Corporate Finance Explained on FinPod, we examine dynamic pricing and why pricing is one of the most powerful and misunderstood levers in corporate finance. While often viewed as a marketing tactic, pricing decisions sit at the core of margin protection, cash flow management, and capital discipline. This episode breaks down why…
If you’re exploring careers in finance, you’ve likely come across two popular options: financial analyst and investment banker. Both roles involve working with numbers, building models, and supporting major business decisions, but the day-to-day work, lifestyle, and long-term career paths look very different. This guide breaks down the key differences between financial analysts and investment…
