Cheat sheet roundup: FP&A, Python in Excel, and month-end close

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.
  
  For example, Wattig looks at the revenue and expense-focused FP&A role, which he calls “most common in medium and large companies.” He says relationship-building may be one of the key strengths for that type of position and how having one of these jobs can set you up for a range of future specialized positions. Wattig also examines FP&A roles that he describes as reporting-focused, project-focused, “centers of excellence,” and full P&L.
• Mynda Treacy’s “Python in Excel cheat sheet”: When Microsoft announced the release of Python in Excel in late August, Excel users could now seamlessly use Python in workbooks to run analytics. Treacy, a Power BI and Excel teacher, shows new users how to get started.
  
  She includes an inventory of the libraries Python supports in Excel, as well as data sources, potential errors, and dataframes. She also provides a handy chart with visual examples of Python formulas and error messages.
• Nathan Liao’s “Faster month-end close in 10 steps.” No matter how much the CFO role is evolving, there are still foundational finance and accounting tasks that need to get done. The month-end close is still a critical part of the finance function’s duties. In this cheat sheet, Liao, a finance trainer based in California, offers 10 strategies to speed up the month-end close process.
  
  Liao recommends standardizing processes, automating when possible, distributing the workload, and preparing for exceptions. He includes a chart that further explores each of his steps in greater detail.