Although it’s still hot across most of the country, we here at CFO Brew are getting ready for fall. And we’re also boning up on some finance and accounting fundamentals with this month’s cheat sheet roundup. This month we’re sharing deeper looks at different types of FP&A roles, integrating Python and Excel, and speeding up the month-end close.

Our usual disclaimer to the wise: You should always look for additional resources and expertise when doing complicated finance work because it can be very difficult to accurately sum up sophisticated concepts.

With that said, take a look at these useful finance cheat sheets we found on LinkedIn this month.

• Christian Wattig’s “The five types of FP&A roles”: FP&A is increasingly becoming an important strategic part of the finance and accounting function for organizations. FP&A involves critical tasks like budgeting, scenario planning, forecasting, and analysis that help organizations navigate the uncertainties of our current economic climate. In this cheat sheet, Wattig, an FP&A trainer based in New York, explains the five different types of FP&A roles and breaks down the various skill sets each role requires. He also offers potential career paths that can grow out of each FP&A role.

Click here for more finance and accounting cheat sheets.—DA

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What’s that thing that Taylor Swift said about August? That it “sipped away like a bottle of wine”? Sure, we’ll go with that. But even if August slipped and/or sipped away, plenty of CFOs found time to make some T. Swift-level business moves.

Jack of all trades, Master of Coin. In one of the biggest CFO shakeups of the month, Tesla’s CFO Zach Kirkhorn unexpectedly stepped down after 13 years with the company. His departure became effective on August 4, and the carmaker’s chief accounting officer, Vaibhav Taneja, took over as CFO.

The move was a shocker primarily because Kirkhorn seemed like a potential successor for the famously finicky Elon Musk.

Instead, he tapped out. “As I shift my responsibilities to support this transition, I want to thank the talented, passionate, and hard-working employees at Tesla, who have accomplished things many thought not possible,” Kirkhorn wrote in a LinkedIn post confirming his departure.

Salary: TBD

For more CFOs on the move, click here.—NP

3M has agreed to pay out $6 billion to settle hundreds of thousands of claims that earplugs it manufactured damaged veterans’ hearing, multiple news outlets reported last week. The settlement would resolve one of the largest tort claims in US history and could award money to more than 240,000 plaintiffs.

3M has denied liability in the settlement. In a statement, it asserted that its earplugs “are safe and effective when used properly.”

The $6 billion settlement comes just two months after 3M agreed to pay out $10.4 billion over 13 years to settle claims that it allowed perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to penetrate the water supply. PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” have been alleged to contribute to cancer, birth defects, and lowered fertility. 3M denied liability in that settlement as well.

“3M negotiated a pretty good deal for itself” on the earplugs settlement, University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias told Bloomberg. Analysts had predicted it would cost the company from $8 billion to $15 billion.

Keeping reading.—CV

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 9.4%. That’s the decline in after tax corporate profits last year according to the Commerce Department. Slowing inflation, rising labor costs, and the end of the pandemic bubble all contributed to the drop. (the Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “On the heels of what has arguably been the slowest IPO market in 20 years, investors are hungry for new ideas and VCs are getting impatient. We see evidence of this in the increased number, and nature, of calls we are receiving and the type of due diligence we are currently undertaking.”—Rob Wotczak, CEO of Freedom Capital Markets, on the Amer Sports IPO, which could value the company at $10 billion. (Business Insider)

Read: Drought is choking traffic in the Panama Canal traffic, potentially threatening global supply chains. (CNN Business)

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