We at CFO Brew discovered that the axiom, “cheaters never win,” isn’t always quite true. Since launching “Cheat sheet roundup” in May, the monthly column has become one of our most popular features.
To cap off a busy 2023, we’ve decided to look back through all the LinkedIn cheat sheets we found and pull out some of our favorites. And in keeping with this year’s main themes, we have cheat sheets on becoming CFO, navigating AI, the difference between accounting and finance, and the omnipresent Excel. Enjoy!
- Howard Katzenberg’s “10 skills accountants must build to become CFOs”: It may not be every accountant’s goal to become a CFO, but for those with an eye on the top finance spot, Katzenberg drills down into the essential skills necessary to make the leap into the C-suite. Katzenberg, a former CFO and founder of Glean.ai, a vendor spend management software company, lays out ten skills for accountants to develop on their way to CFO, including analytical thinking, cost management, tech savvy, and customer relations, among others.
He then explains how and why each of the ten skills is necessary. For example, when it comes to developing tech savvy, he recommends “get[ting] comfortable using tools that help analyze business data easily to inform business strategies.” - Jack McCullough’s “Opportunities and risks for CFOs in the age of AI”: The CFO Leadership Council founder and president is an authority on all things CFO through hisvast network of finance professionals. At the moment, there arevery few issues dominating the CFO space like the potential—and challenges—of generative AI. This guide offers a look into what AI may really mean for finance professionals.
McCullough explains how AI may present some opportunities for CFOs in critical areas like cost optimization, talent and skills development, and revenue growth. But AI isn’t all sunbeams and clear skies. McCullough lays out some of the possible risks of AI for finance, including cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and ethical implications. - Oana Labes’s Accounting vs. Finance Cheat Sheet: Shared with the comment, “Because Accounting is Not Finance,” this sheet sends both fields to their respective sides, and compares them. There are examples of different KPIs, required skills, and career paths, and then certain information that’s more important for accounting or finance. It’s hard to choose just one cheat sheet from Labes to share, because her LinkedIn feed is full of infographics on everything from cash flow to profitability. She seems to be assembling almost a textbook full of information on her feed.
- Nicolas Boucher’s “100 Excel tips”: All right, hands up, who still loves Excel tips in this AI world? We see a lot of hands up, and Boucher, a corporate finance trainer and keynote speaker, offers 100 Excel shortcuts, formatting tips, and formulas for finance professionals. He includes both a list of tips and a handy one-page guide for quick reference.
Readers can find tips on how to autosum adjacent cells, link cells from different sheets, and create a data validation list.