10

INFOGRAPHICS
FOR FINANCE

SWIPE BY
BY NICOLAS BOUCHER
NICOLAS BOUCHER
 10 INFOGRAPHICS FOR FINANCE

PART 1

CFO TOPICS

BY NICOLAS BOUCHER
 Road to becoming a

Chief Financial Officer

BY NICOLAS BOUCHER

1 Which type of CFO do you want to be?

CFO of a CFO of a CFO of a

Start-up Medium-sized Listed
Company Company

CFO of a CFO of a
Small Company Division

2 Which skills do you need?

Leadership Business partnering
You will be a leader in the You need to work hand in hand
company and you need to drive with the other departments to bring
the people value to the company

Technical skills
Leverage on your knowledge in
accounting, corporate finance,
FP&A, tax, treasury and systems.

3 Experience
You can acquire the experience by navigating Start with smaller team and get more and more
between technical and analytical jobs which gives responsibilities along your career or get a
you a broader profile diversity in the role you get

You need a proven track record where you Make sure you get an operational
have demonstrated the skills listed above experience

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 HOW TO
BECOME A CFO
BY NICOLAS BOUCHER

PROVEN TRACK RECORD

Leadership
Demonstrate that you have led people and organizations
Business partnering
Show how you work hands in hand with other departments
to bring value to the company
Technical skills
Have a good understanding of accounting, corporate finance,
FP&A, tax, treasury and systems.

HOW TO ACQUIRE GET OPERATIONAL GET

EXPERIENCE
Navigating between
technical and analytical
jobs to get a broader
profile.
Get experience in one
industry is a main
differentiator factor,
especially in high growth
industries.
EXPERIENCE
Get at least a 2-year
experience in a
production site or in an
operational business
unit, especially if you
have worked only in
central organisations.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Understand your industry
and have a sense of
commercial mechanisms
with all stakeholders
involved.
Take part of strategic
discussions & learn how
other departments. operate.

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9 levers to improve your
Cash Flows Made by Nicolas Boucher

Improve payment terms with clients (negotiate down

1 Sales payments and short payment terms), accelerate the
closing of deals

Automate reporting, improve understanding of cash flow

2 Finance statements, bring transparency to management,

escalate collection issues, use factoring to accelerate
cash payment from receivables

Collection of
3 overdues
Automate the dunning process and escalate significant
issues to management & key account manager

4 Project Compute and monitor the cash balance of each project

Sales Optimise the process between a cash milestone

5 administration
achievement and the issuance of the debit note to
your client

6 Procurement Avoid down payment and push the payment terms as

far as possible

7 Inventory
Monitor level of inventory against forecasted sales,
reduce lead time, optimise stock buffer, reduce delays

Translate cash targets in team & individual objectives, put

8 Management cash on the management reviews agenda, follow up cash
as KPI

9 Culture Communicate, explain, repeat: it’s a culture shift

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 10 INFOGRAPHICS FOR FINANCE

PART 2

ACCOUNTING

BY NICOLAS BOUCHER
 CapEx vs OpEx BY NICOLAS BOUCHER

CAPITAL OPERATIONAL
EXPENDITURES EXPENDITURES
Definition: Definition:
Refers to costs associated with acquiring, Current expenses and refers to the day-
maintaining or improving fixed assets. to-day costs of running a business.
Can be depreciated over time.

PROS PROS
Provides long-term benefits in terms Opex costs can be managed more
of increased productivity, efficiency & easily since they do not involve large
competitiveness. upfront costs.

Helps build a company’s asset base Flexibility to adjust spending levels in

which can provide additional income response to changing market
in the future. conditions or customer needs.

Examples of CapEx: Examples of OpEx:

New factory building, machines, Salaries, rent, office supplies,
licenses softwares for multiple years advertising & marketing expenses...

CONS CONS
Has substantial upfront costs with high Tend to increase over time due to inflation
impact on cash
Lacks the long-term benefits that come with
No guarantee that the investment CapEx investments in terms of increased
made will yield desired results in terms productivity, efficiency and competitiveness.
of profits

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 Cash vs Accrual
BY NICOLAS BOUCHER

CASH
ACCOUNTING
ACCRUAL
ACCOUNTING
Is recorded when a payment from a client is Expenses recorded when the service incurred or
received (cashed in) or when a payment of a when a good is received regardless of when the
supplier is made (cashed out). money is actually paid.

CASH SERVICE
IN INCURRED

CASH GOOD
OUT RECEIVED
Does not recognize accounts receivable or Used by middle and big companies to reflect the
payable. More often used by small business due economic reality of debit and credit positions in a
to its simplicity. specific period of time.

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 10 INFOGRAPHICS FOR FINANCE

PART 3

FP&A TOPICS

BY NICOLAS BOUCHER
 FP&A vs
CONTROLLER BY NICOLAS BOUCHER

FINANCIAL CONTROLLER
PLANNING ANALYST
Focused on analysing and forecasting. In English speaking countries, a Controller
is in charge of Accounting and Financial
The role is more focused on the future of Reporting.
the financials. It’s like a senior manager accountant.

Main activities: The role is more focused on the past and

Budgeting & Forecasting current financials.
Financial analysis
Scenario modeling Main activities:
Management reporting Transactional finance
Insights from financial and non financial Oversees accounting
data Standard financial reporting
Business partnering Cost controlling
Finance Storytelling Internal controls
Processes & tools

DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS IN EUROPE

In continental Europe, the definition is different.
Controlling (Analysis, Budgeting) is differentiated from Finance (Accounting). Hence, you might find
controlling roles in Germany or France which are actually the same roles than a FP&A role in USA.

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Analysing What are the types of
analysis you can
perform if you are in

Headcount charge of analysing or

controlling headcount?

Source Nicolas Boucher

Full Time Equivalent

Headcount Full Time Equivalent is based on
the contractual hours of an
Evolution per month employee. A full time contract
and vs budget represents 1 FTE, but a part time
employee with 50% represents
only 0.5 FTE

Flexibility
% of Direct employees number of temporary workers,
numbers of hours in time
a direct employee works account: this will help you know
directly on a project or how much you can reduce or
production order, whereas increase your activity to adapt to
an indirect employee has the business demand
more a supervisory or a
support function role

Turnover rate
Capacity number of employees
compare the gross capacity leaving the company
(hours before holidays, compared to the total
sickness, leaves) as well as number of employees. You
the net capacity. Identify the can see if there is some
root cause of differences in anomaly in some
your capacity. It can help you departments or some
explain why there is less or regions
more hours worked

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BALANCE SHEET
ANALYSIS BY NICOLAS BOUCHER

Quick Ratio
Goal: Check the solvency of a company and how fast can they repay
their short term debts with their quick assets.

Formula: Quick Assets / Current Liabilities

(where Quick Assets = Current Assets - Inventory)

Asset Turnover
Goal: The higher the number, the less assets you need to make revenues.

Formula: Turnover / Net Tangible Assets

Working Capital
Goal: Measure the capital used to finance the daily operations.

Formula: Current Assets - Current Liabilities

Inventory Turnover
Goal: Measure how many months inventory do you have on your
balance sheet.

Formula: Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory

Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)

Goal: Check how many days you need to convert your cash out (for
inventory in cash in (from sales)

Formula: Days of Inventory Outstanding + Days Sales Outstanding - Days

Payable Outstanding

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FP&A to CFO BY NICOLAS BOUCHER

BUILD EXPERIENCE BUILD THE SKILLS

Get exposure to different roles within Get a strong finance and accounting
FP&A, Controlling and Finance. understanding.

This experience is there to help you build Understand how these 3 financial
the skills, relationships and knowledge statements interact with each other: Income
you need to become a good CFO. Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flows.

BUILD YOUR BUSINESS BECOME A LEADER

ACUMEN OF THE COMPANY
Understand your industry and have a You will have to cover a lot of many
sense of commercial mechanisms with non finance topics (HR, commercial,
all stakeholders involved. strategy, tools, legal, ESG…).

Take part of strategic discussions, Start to think and act like a leader now.
contract negotiations with clients/suppliers Participate in all leadership discussions with
& learn how other departments operate. strategic implications.

LEARN HOW TO BUILD A TEAM YOU TRUST

You will need to surround yourself with
people who can help you translate the
strategic objectives of the company in
productive daily tasks.

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 5 FP&A SECRETS
that you need to know!
Source: Nicolas Boucher

1 B.O.T.E
Stands for "Back Of The Envelope
Technique". Here is how to use it:
-Only aim for a rough estimation
-Know your key figures
-Use Arithmetic shortcuts & principles
Price
2 Volume Mix
It's the best analysis method to
compare sales or margin between two
periods or actuals and budget.
It fragments shows if the variances
come from change in price, volume or
mix.

Excel &
3 Storytelling 4 PowerPoint
1. Block time to prepare yourself and your
stakeholders before a meeting
Learn how to master the pivot function
2. Know which messages you want to give
and learn index/match for Excel.
3. Prepare your voice, your set up and
prime yourself with good energy
In PowerPoint, use SmartArt to make
4. Check up the expectations of your
your slides look more professional
stakeholders before the meeting

Listen to your
5 business partners
Go out, meet your operational business partners
and make sure you spend your time on the
business priorities.
Doing this is the best way to become a successful
finance professional.

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