GrowCFO Show

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Artificial intelligence is reshaping financial planning and analysis (FP&A), making it increasingly important for finance leaders to understand how to use AI while preserving sound judgment, reliable data, and effective business partnership. In the GrowCFO Show, host Kevin Appleby speaks with Dhaval Parvatikar, Co-Founder of the FP&A Professionals Institute, about how AI may automate parts of budgeting, forecasting, and financial modeling, and why finance professionals’ skills remain essential.

Parvatikar argues that finance professionals should focus less on finding one perfect AI tool and mo...

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Choosing AI for finance is a consequential decision: finance leaders need to weigh the promise of faster analysis against the requirements for accuracy, security, auditability, and predictable costs. In this GrowCFO Show episode, Lyndon Stickley and Rob Steele of iplicit discuss how CFOs can assess the AI market without being swept up in hype or delaying necessary finance-system changes.

They compare the current AI investment boom with the dot-com era and consider how uncertainty can make...

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Reliable forecasting is essential to sound financial planning, but AI cannot compensate for unreliable data or broken workflows. Carolina Lago, Managing Director at Tactic Financial discusses why CFOs should first establish clear data flows, a single source of truth, and dependable processes before layering AI into forecasting. That groundwork helps make forecasts more consistent, verifiable, and useful for decision-making.

The conversation outlines a practical model: use established tools and rules for repeatable calculations, apply AI where...

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As finance teams face mounting pressure to adopt AI, CFOs need a practical starting point – not a rushed, organization-wide rollout. Gavin McGahey, CTO & Co-Founder at AccountsIQ, examines the gap between finance professionals’ interest in AI and their need for confidence in its accuracy, security, and business value. The episode references a survey of more than 1,000 senior finance professionals and reports that 81% mostly or fully trust AI-driven outputs.

McGahey recommends beginning with limited, measurable use cases, such as a...

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As organizations scale AI, CFOs must balance faster, more efficient finance operations with cost control, reliable decision-making, data protection, and accountability. In this episode, the discussion frames AI governance not simply as a compliance checkpoint, but as a performance system—one that can help organizations adopt AI with confidence while supporting business value and innovation.

Bruce Mullan, Managing Partner, AI Governance Partners describes how AI adoption in finance can progress from administrative assistance, to process automation, an...

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A product’s strong gross margin does not always translate into strong profit. When support, sales, customer service, and other indirect costs are left out of product-level analysis, a high-margin product can consume more resources than it generates. In this episode, Pauline Healey explains why businesses need to look beyond headline margins to understand the true cost of serving each product and customer.

Pauline Healey, founder of Logical BI, discusses how her fractional CFO work co...

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For fifteen years the software P&L was a settled question: hosting was a rounding error, gross margins held above 80%, and investors underwrote growth against a predictable annuity stream. That assumption is breaking. AI and cloud infrastructure has become one of the largest and least predictable costs on the P&L, moving faster than most finance teams have built the vocabulary or forecasting discipline to handle it. Ed Barrow, Founder and CEO of Cloud Capital, joins Kevin Appleby to unpack...

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Rapid advances in AI are transforming how finance teams forecast cash flow, detect fraud, and automate routine reporting, raising difficult questions about what happens to traditional roles when machines can achieve in minutes what once took analysts days. At the same time, many economies are grappling with skills shortages in some areas and structural unemployment in others, especially among younger professionals trying to break into the industry. Understanding whether new technologies are eliminating jobs, reshaping them, or creating entirely...

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High-achieving leaders often pride themselves on attention to detail, relentless drive, and demanding the best—from themselves and everyone around them. Yet the very qualities that fuel success can quietly erode team confidence, autonomy, and performance. When expectations become uncompromising, people stop taking initiative, avoid risks, and operate in fear of making mistakes. A critical leadership challenge is learning how to maintain excellence without creating pressure that stifles creativity, burns people out, or drives the best talent away—and how...

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In today’s finance function, the question is no longer whether AI will have an impact, but whether it will fundamentally change team size and structure. This landmark 300th episode of The GrowCFO Show asks directly: will AI actually reduce finance team headcount, and how should CFOs prepare? Dan Wells, Founder & CEO of GrowCFO, examines how automation, machine learning, and generative AI are reshaping core finance activities—from reporting and month-end close to forecasting and transactional processing—and what that means...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/6btUL4oyp02GAFIzpP2kja Becoming a CFO by 33 takes far more than technical finance skills; it demands strategic breadth, deep business exposure, and the confidence to operate at board level. In this GrowCFO Show episode, Kevin Appleby talks with Audrey Lagresle, CFO of Automobile On Direct, about how she reached the CFO seat so early in her career and why today’s CFO must be a value creator and change leader, not just a chief accountant. Audrey sh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/4dDqz9crVX05wHlwbFskwN A CFO role is no longer just about reporting the numbers; it’s about driving strategy, shaping growth, and leading with commercial insight. For ambitious finance professionals, understanding how to deliberately design a career that accelerates you into that top seat has never been more important. From gaining the right breadth of experience to leveraging technology, networks, and non‑traditional opportunities, there are practical ways to intentionally fast‑track your journey to CFO. In this e...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/0zOed7gVBbs25h2TaJetQo For tax professionals wondering what comes after traditional compliance work, this episode offers a practical roadmap for evolving into a more strategic, better-paid role. As AI and automation increasingly handle routine tax tasks, the real opportunity lies in stepping up as a trusted financial guide to business owners, not just a form-filler or historian of the past In this episode, host Kevin Appleby interviews Scott Winters, CEO & Chairman of the Board at Financial...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ZGZXsiAU9uEVPsIAGbSUj AI is now embedded in almost every corner of the finance function, powering forecasts, reports, and board-ready insights at unprecedented speed. Yet when powerful systems are plugged into weak data, broken processes, or poor governance, they don’t just make mistakes, they do it with absolute confidence and immense credibility. For CFOs, the real risk isn’t that AI is wrong; it’s that it looks so right no one stops to question it. In this G...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/6BAhYyRQAlmf5YteAOrCI0 As automation and algorithms take on more financial analysis, the role of the finance leader is under increasing scrutiny. Boards and founders are asking what truly requires human judgment at the top of the finance function, and what can be handed over to machines. In this episode, Kevin Appleby talks with Rick Sanchez, Managing Principal and CEO of Robyn Consulting Group, about whether AI can replace the CFO. They explore how AI can accelerate decision-making...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Wf1pMCeUmlEym9EYVRF37 In the coming years, finance leaders will operate in an environment shaped by rapid technological disruption, new business models, and rising stakeholder expectations, where a role once focused on reporting and cost control now sits at the center of strategy, value creation, and transformation. In this context, traditional accounting and compliance expertise must be complemented by fluency in data, technology, and AI, as well as much stronger leadership, communication, and collaboration skills; capabilities that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/1UpfxeVtifPbatGQtj5bFV Understanding why some companies run short of the one resource they simply cannot operate without, cash in the bank, even when they are hitting revenue and profit targets has become an essential leadership skill. Cash flow problems rarely appear in the headline numbers, yet they can quietly derail growth plans, strain supplier relationships, and, in the worst cases, threaten the survival of an otherwise profitable business. For founders, CEOs, and finance leaders, success depends on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/38fJP7clsDYlUsNT51JxH5 In today’s finance landscape, corporate reporting is undergoing one of the most profound shifts in decades. Boards, investors, regulators, and lenders are no longer satisfied with backward‑looking financial statements alone; they expect CFOs to explain how evolving risks, regulation, and stakeholder expectations will shape business models, capital allocation, and long-term resilience. For finance leaders, this is no longer a peripheral compliance task but a core strategic responsibility that will increasingly determine market cred...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/6raW3lf3gJuwTrYNbdkf0F Too many organisations are pouring time and money into AI only to find that the promised efficiency gains and cost savings never materialise, leaving CFOs struggling to justify the investment. Understanding why most AI projects fail to deliver ROI, and what finance leaders can do differently, is now a critical skill for anyone responsible for steering strategy, systems, and spend. In this GrowCFO Show episode, host Kevin Appleby sits down with Sinohe Terrero...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/5rFlxuL66fW6AAkx6MShdM For first-time CFOs, board leadership is not merely a governance checkpoint; it is the arena where strategy, risk, and capital allocation converge. The board is the highest‑stakes audience, setting direction, probing assumptions, and expecting crisp narratives grounded in data and judgment. Mastering board dynamics early enables a new CFO to accelerate trust, shape decisions before they harden, and navigate uncertainty with confidence. From scenario planning and accountability to stakeholder alignment and strategic st...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/3kw8uHSos6XKFrZncc2CEa Artificial intelligence is transforming the finance function, but most finance teams are still missing the skills to use it confidently, safely, and at scale. The real competitive advantage now lies in how quickly finance leaders can close this AI capability gap across their teams.  In this episode, GrowCFO host Kevin Appleby is joined by GrowCFO Facilitator and AI training specialist Guy Weaver to unpack the AI skills gap that is rapidly emerging across f...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cW4LImOlr2eDc6opOmyPp Going public is often seen as the ultimate milestone for a successful business, yet for many great companies it marks the beginning of decline rather than a new chapter of sustainable growth. In this episode of The Grow CFO Show, host Kevin Appleby sits down with Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, to explore why so many mission-driven, high-performing companies lose their way after an IPO - and what CFOs and boards...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/47RAQ1TXbfnlvIjsxzCHwH Delaying action on emerging technologies is often seen as the safest path for finance leaders. But in today’s environment, standing still can quietly erode competitiveness faster than visible missteps. For CFOs, the choice is no longer between perfection and experimentation; it is between shaping how intelligent tools transform their business model, or inheriting a cost base, tech stack, and operating rhythm that were designed for a world that no longer exists. The real risk no...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/1O3AJJ7rl6xqzgLnf82KP8 In today’s finance function, relying solely on monolithic systems and periodic reporting is no longer enough, as rapid advances in AI transform how data is collected, processed, and turned into insight. Finance leaders are now expected to orchestrate an ecosystem of intelligent tools that automate routine work, enable continuous forecasting, and surface risks and opportunities in real time. Those who continue to treat technology as a back-office utility will quickly fall be...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/35qKYO14JG1pUeM5uoCQPg In a world of rapid disruption and volatility, finance teams can no longer rely on single‑point forecasts and rigid spreadsheets. They must understand ranges of possible outcomes, quantify risk, and communicate uncertainty in ways that enable better, faster strategic decisions, turning uncertainty from a threat into a competitive advantage. In this episode of The GrowCFO Show, host Kevin Appleby speaks with Jason Brisbane, Founder of Finhelm, about how AI and Monte Carlo si...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/0zRJsjw9He6j7fvBc1Vzkp Stepping into senior finance leadership is rarely neat or linear. The move from technical expert to strategic leader often happens sooner than expected, with higher stakes, tougher decisions, and sharper scrutiny. Yet these stretching moments are where the next generation of CFOs is really formed. In this episode of the GrowCFO Show, Kevin Appleby speaks with David Hudson, Group Financial Controller at Empiric Student Property PLC. David shares how he found himself...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/5YwnZv8yNCPYP1osEaVFY6 In a world where business models, technology, and regulation can all shift in a single planning cycle, building a finance team and infrastructure that still works five years from now is a strategic necessity. Short‑term fixes and ad hoc processes quickly turn into bottlenecks as organizations grow and face deeper scrutiny from investors and regulators. In this episode, Kevin Appleby speaks with Rishi Oberoi, Deputy CFO and CAO at Varo Bank, about designing a...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/5z9zV5mya9rDz6O8glCfy1 A high-income fractional CFO career is becoming one of the most attractive paths for senior finance leaders who want more control, variety, and upside than a traditional corporate role can offer. As businesses increasingly look for flexible, part-time strategic finance support, the opportunity for experienced CFOs and finance professionals to build profitable portfolio careers has never been greater.  In this episode, Kevin Appleby interviews Rob Nicholls, a fractional CFO, board adviser, a...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/55cBmmBgaKb7MGUsUgPtNT In this GrowCFO Show episode, Kevin Appleby sits down with Jeremy Earnshaw, GrowCFO Mentor, to unpack one of the most painful but instructive topics in corporate life. Rather than celebrating a headline-grabbing success, Jeremy walks through a deal that went badly wrong—financially, culturally, and strategically. The episode emphasizes why leaders often learn far more from failures than from smooth, textbook transactions, and why understanding what not to do in M&A can be a po...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/29EE2Ec32RWQKNVvVj2U8d In this episode of The GrowCFO Show, host Kevin Appleby, together with Michael Pytel, Technology Leader & Director at VASS, underscores why AI is now a board-level issue for finance leaders: decisions made today about platforms, data, and governance will shape an organization’s risk profile and competitive position for years to come. They frame AI not as a shiny add‑on but as an infrastructure-and-controls question that sits squarely in the CFO’s remi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/0tIFk3EkP63wzKxWBPJUeD In episode 279, Kevin Appleby and GrowCFO mentor Susana Serrano‑Davey explore a critical question for modern finance leaders: whether the rapid rise of AI is enhancing or eroding the strategic role of the CFO. They frame AI as both an incredibly powerful assistant and a potential threat to originality, judgment, and confidence if used uncritically. Throughout the conversation, they examine how tools like ChatGPT and other AI solutions are reshaping research, writing, preparation, and de...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU-RseAyGQw .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/0OACVC3ORVz0myWlYqkdz1 Stepping into a first CFO role is rarely a smooth promotion from finance manager to “bigger calculator.” In this GrowCFO episode, host Kevin Appleby speaks with Ian Goodkind, Chief Financial Officer at Smarsh, about the often‑overlooked capabilities that determine whether a new CFO becomes a true strategic leader or struggles with imposter syndrome. The conversation underscores how the modern CFO role has shifted from pure financial stewardship to that of strategic, tech‑savvy, trusted...

.entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/6VmtDMkbdfGLsDqQacuPGi This episode of The GrowCFO Show brings together David Tuck, Founder of Mayday and CFO Tech Stack, and Kate Hayward, Managing Director UK at Xero, to challenge one of the biggest assumptions in mid-market finance: that fast-growing businesses must eventually abandon Xero for a larger ERP. Drawing on real-world data from the State of the Stack report and the CFO Tech Stack community, they demonstrate how finance teams are successfully scaling to $100M+ in revenue, and running sizeable in-house finance functions, while staying...

.entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/5viwKl2fFV1BFDZGyag2rN In episode 276 of the GrowCFO Show, host Kevin Appleby is joined by Howard Francioni, Lead Auditor at Akton Boundrie Group, to explore why information security has become a core responsibility for today’s CFO. The conversation frames cyber risk not just as an IT problem but as a strategic, financial, and reputational threat that CFOs must own. Using high‑profile breaches such as Jaguar Land Rover and others, Kevin and Howard illustrate how attacks can halt production, disrupt supply chains, dest...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_IZQTzJDcg .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/54mrNA8HZaZWRvpS5wniw5 In this episode, host Kevin Appleby is joined by Gavin McGahey, CTO and Co‑Founder of AccountsIQ, to explore one of the most pressing questions facing finance leaders today: how to choose between shiny “AI‑native” tools and proven finance platforms. The conversation sets out why finance data, controls, and auditability demand a higher bar than generic AI adoption, and why CFOs cannot afford to gamble on tools that prioritise novelty over reliability. Gavin tr...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niLFK8PzZfA .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/2k0Q4tIQThBIQZ5cCfz5nq In today’s M&A landscape, the businesses that achieve premium valuations are rarely those with the best numbers alone. They are the ones with brands that command trust, preference, and pricing power. Yet, brand equity is still one of the least understood and least quantified assets in most deals, often buried in a vague goodwill line and ignored in negotiation. For CFOs, founders, and deal professionals, learning how to value br...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzUbogTP12A .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/5adKQ9IEs8J3Y9kTHp4NBd In today’s capital-constrained and AI-accelerated economy, company valuation is no longer just an exit consideration, it is a strategic priority. Investors, lenders, and strategic partners are increasingly assessing businesses not only on financial performance but on scalability, defensibility, and global potential. For modern finance leaders, valuation has become a continuous process rather than a one-off event. In this episode of The CFO Show, Matteo Turi, Chief Operating Financial Officer at...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPIiggRPhGU .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/show/7yTcgGvYdcXPxz2HbvgB2H The transition from Finance Leader to Chief Financial Officer is one of the most significant and demanding career moves in finance. While technical excellence, financial control, and operational discipline form a strong foundation, stepping into the CFO role requires a fundamental shift in mindset. It is not simply a promotion—it is a move from managing finance to leading the enterprise. The CFO becomes the strategic partner to the CEO, the external face of fi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLJhHDOeYoc .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/05kTRvPnWeF66oWELGTfsm Access to capital is no longer cheap or guaranteed. Companies that once grew by “buying” growth with aggressive spend are now being forced to prove they can scale in a way that’s sustainable, repeatable, and cash‑efficient.   Kevin Appleby sits down with Manu Diwakar, Chief Financial Officer at Virta Health, to unpack how high‑growth companies can scale aggressively without setting fire to their cash reserves  Manu draws on a career that spans Riot Games, the cr...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyAXw591D6s .entry-img img{ display:none !important; } .single .hentry .entry-img{ display:none !important; } https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Ci2KM7yh8NDxeX6Zr6QPf In this episode, Kevin Appleby speaks with GrowCFO Mentor Alan Scholnick, a finance leader with over 30 years’ experience at IKEA, to explore why so many newly appointed CFOs struggle with imposter syndrome and feelings of fraudulence. Drawing on his journey from accounting roles to VP of Finance and later into executive coaching, Alan explains how the leap into the CFO role magnifies expectations around leadership, communication, and people development, of...