The perfect formula for FP&A and Beer – Pavels Cvetkovs at Carlsberg
The perfect formula for FP&A and Beer – Pavels Cvetkovs at Carlsberg
Grab a beer and listen to this special episode. We are joined by Pavels Cvetkovs FP&A director at Carlsberg Group who reveals the formula of FP&A at the famous brand. Carlsberg was founded in 1847, has 140 brands, and 30,000 employees – and FP&A is core to their success, says Cvetkovs.
In this episode:
- How my career in the Big Four (and audit) served as “finance military school”
- Moving from business controller to FP&A
- The essence of Carlsberg – innovation in brewing and sustainability
- Distinct shareholder structure at Carlsberg run by Carlsberg foundation
- What’s so special about the beer and beverage industry and our FP&A practices
- Power of inventory management, sales seasonality, and supply chain and cost planning in brewing
- Forecasting and planning and achieving highest levels of collaboration
- FP&A set up and management of 10-20 KPIs at Carlsberg
- Business partnering as a mindset at Carlsberg
- Visiting sites in operations at Carlsberg
- Biggest challenges overcome in budget season
- Refining my financial modeling skills
Follow and connect with Pavels on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavels-cvetkovs-471b231a
Lies, Bias, and ESG in the finance function – Prof Alex Edmans
Lies, Bias, and ESG in the finance function – Prof Alex Edmans
Alex Edmans is a professor of Finance, non-executive director, author, and TED speaker. He is regularly interviewed and writes for WSJ, Bloomberg, BBC, CNBC, CNN, ESPN, Fox, ITV, NPR, Reuters, Sky News, and Sky Sports. He was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.
In this episode we talk to Alex about his new book “May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About. He is also a co-author of the classic text book, “Principles of Corporate Finance” and top business book (his first book) Grow the Pie, How Great Companies Deliver both purpose and Profit. His Ted Talk on what to trust in a post truth world has alone been viewed nearly 2m time.
So many thought-provoking takeaways for anyone in FP&A!
- Leaving Morgan Stanley to become a professor of finance
- Why I give Ted Talks rather than just publishing research
- How CFOs and FP&A leaders can think about purpose
- Is ESG a tick-box exercise for finance?
- How FP&A and finance leaders can check their biases
- How you can control your addiction to bias
- Silicon Valley Bank and why financial models were affected by bias
Follow Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aedmans/
Links to Alex’s new book:
May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases―And What We Can Do about
From Philadelphia Eagles to Sports FP&A
From Philadelphia Eagles to Sports FP&A
Over the last 12 years, Jason Hershman led financial planning & analysis at successful, hyper-growth companies in the sports arena.
But his career started as a ballboy at the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a job he spent months pursuing at 14 years old. This experience taught Jason a key lesson. He says: “things that seem out of touch, out of reach are not, it just takes a little hustle, a little effort.”
This attitude has stayed with him as he has led multiple finance teams and embarked on everything from redesigning the chart of accounts, owning the month-end close, building financial models from scratch, raising millions in equity, renegotiated debt, to IPOs.
Finance highlights included leading the $400 million sale of Appetize, a B2B SaaS business in the sports industry (Appetize is the software provider for all of the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL stadiums as well as theme parks such as Six Flags, Disney, and SeaWorld). After this, Jason launched his own fractional CFO business, Point FP&A, providing FP&A to some of the most exciting companies in the sports industry. He has the luxury of turning down clients who are not in the sports world.
In this episode:
- The Philadelphia Eagles as a ballboy for 5 years – things that are out of touch are not
- Learning accounting and FP&A on the job in my first online retail startup in New York – which eventually became public
- Getting hired at sports startup Appetize (B2B SaaS)- combining my passions for sports and finance + getting to exits
- The power of rebuilding a financial model as central to my career
- Going to market as a sports FP&A fractional CFO at Point The ideal balance and differences between accountancy and FP&A
- Secrets to rebuilding the financial model
- Being honest on my journey with AI and FP&A
Connect with Jason on LinkedIn
Check out Point at www.pointfpa.com
Finance and passion always in fashion for 175-year old company
Finance and passion always in fashion for 175-year old company
Evgenia Elezova, Head of Regional Finance, Lindström joins us to talk about FP&A and finance transformation at the 175-year old textile giant. Helsinki-based Lindström is one of Europe’s leading textile service companies employing over 5000 people in Europe and in Asia with turnover of 496€ million in 2022. Elezova herself has transformed the finance function during 14 years, during which time she’s driven M&A initiatives, to leading finance projects. Highlights include a two year development program for business controllers at Lindström, designed to move finance from back office roles to strategic co-pilots for management.
In this episode:
- Being responsible for M&A Due diligence and integration
- Experience in successful M&A
- Business Partnering at Lindstrom
- Focusing on future scenarios
- HowControl assists strategy at Lindstrom
- Our two-year long finance training Lindstrom Finance Business Development Program
- Moving from back office in finance to having impact on business
- Lindstrom’s approach to budgeting/target setting
- Core KPIs in a global textile company
- Seeing change in controller work
- Coaching finance leaders
Connect with Evgenia at https://www.linkedin.com/in/evgenia-elezova-513ba12/