An Evaluation of the FPI AI Program and How 3 Finance Pros Are Using AI Today
In this episode of FP&A Unlocked, host Paul Barnhurst is joined by Nitesh Mukhi, Rohit Menon, and Sweta Jhalani to discuss how AI is transforming the FP&A profession and changing the way finance teams work. The guests share their experiences with the AI FP&A Programme, exploring practical AI applications, automation, financial analysis, and the skills finance professionals need to stay ahead. They also discuss why domain expertise, human judgment, and business understanding remain essential in an AI-driven finance world.
Nitesh Mukhi is the Finance Director at Presight AI, an AI analytics and big data analytics company in Abu Dhabi, with over two decades of experience across auditing, financial analysis, treasury, and FP&A roles at companies including Schlumberger, FedEx, and KPMG. Rohit Menon is a Regional Finance professional at Bioltec with more than 19 years of experience across multinational companies, focusing on finance transformation and developing FP&A capabilities. Sweta Jhalani is a Chartered Accountant and FP&A Manager based in India who transitioned from audit into FP&A, building experience in financial planning, analysis, and business partnering
Expect to Learn:
How AI is transforming FP&A workflows
Practical finance use cases for AI tools
The importance of financial modelling and business partnering
Why human judgment remains critical in AI adoption
Building the skills needed for the future of finance
Here are a few relevant quotes from the episode:
“AI is an enabler. It's going to enhance your work, and I think it's going to help you in your day-to-day work.” - Nitesh Mukhi
“AI is not the solution to each and every problem.” - Sweta Jhalani
AI is changing the way finance professionals approach their work, but the fundamentals of finance remain important. The ability to understand business needs, interpret data, communicate insights, and apply human judgment will continue to separate great FP&A professionals from the rest.
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Disclosure: Portions of this episode (such as the introduction or promotional segments) uses AI-generated voice narration produced under human editorial review.
Earn Your CPE CreditFor CPE credit, please go to earmarkcpe.com, listen to the episode, download the app, answer a few questions, and earn your CPE certification. To earn education credits for the FPAC Certificate, take the quiz on earmark and contact Paul Barnhurst for further details.
In Today's Episode:
[00:00] - Introduction
[01:21] - Guest Introductions
[04:09] - What Great FP&A Looks Like
[07:17] - Why They Joined the AI FP&A Programme
[12:06] - Inside the AI FP&A Programme
[14:35] - Real-World AI Use Cases
[17:15] - Key Lessons From the Programme
[22:11] - The Reality of AI in Finance
[30:14] - AI Projects and Applications
[34:03] - Advice for Finance Professionals
[36:50] - The Future of AI in FP&A
[40:21] - Essential FP&A Skills
[43:34] - Skills Needed for AI Success
[46:36] - Quick-Fire Questions
[52:20] - Final Thoughts and Advice
Full Show Transcript:
Host: Paul Barnhurst (01:25):
Welcome to another episode of FP&A Unlocked, where finance meets strategy. I'm your host, Paul Barnhurst, a.k.a. The FP&A guy. Each week, we bring you conversations and practical advice from thought leaders, industry experts, and practitioners who are reshaping the role of FP&A in today's business world. Together, we'll uncover the strategies and experiences that separate good FP&A professionals from great ones, helping you elevate your career and drive strategic impact. This week, I'm thrilled to welcome the three people on the show. We have with us, Nitesh, welcome to the show. Hi.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (02:17):
Hi, Paul.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (02:18):
Excited to have you.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (02:19):
Same here.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (02:20):
We have Rohit. Welcome to the show, Rohit.
Guest 2: Rohit (02:22):
Thanks once again, Paul, for having me.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (02:24):
Excited to have you. And Sweta, welcome to the show.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (02:28):
Thank you, Paul. Thanks for having me.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (02:30):
Yep, excited to have you. So today we're going to be talking about AI and some training all three of these people did around AI through the Finance Professionals Institute. But before we get into that, where I want to start is I'm going to ask each of you to just give a little bit of your background. So tell our audience a little bit about yourself. And in this case, we'll start with Nitesh, then we'll go to Sweta, and we'll finish with you, Rohit. So if you could just tell us the audience a little bit about yourself. Hi
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (02:59):
Everyone. My name is Nitesh Mukhi. I am currently working as a finance director with Presight AI, which is an AI analytics and a big data analytics company in Abu Dhabi. Over the past two decades, I've worn a sort of several hats such as an auditor, a financial analyst, a treasurer, and an FP&A manager. Worked across firms like Schlumberger, FedEx, and KPMG, and have worked in various jurisdictions and gone through several different kinds of experiences in finance. Thank you.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (03:32):
Thanks. Appreciate it. Sweda, go ahead.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (03:34):
Okay. So my name is Shweta Talani. I am a chartered accountant based out of India. I started my career in audit at one of the big fours, and I actually didn't enjoy it that much. Somehow I stumbled into FP&A, and I would say it's one of the best decisions that I've made in my career. I've been working as an FP&A manager at one of the subsidiaries of Thomas Cook, and it's been two plus years for me to be in FP&A, and I do have good opinions about it. So yeah, really excited to be here, Paul. Thank you.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (04:08):
Awesome. Love it. I'm glad you found FP&A. I never went the accounting route, but I've heard some people say audit can be a challenge. It's usually a pit stop, not a career for most people. All right, Rohit, go ahead. Yeah.
Guest 2: Rohit (04:24):
Hello, everyone. My name is Rohit Panin. So South Indian, born and raised in central India. It's been in almost 15 plus years in Dubai, and having worked for over 19 years, had a great opportunity to work with various multinational companies, had the privilege to work in various roles. And then I think it was the year 2023 where it was a turning point for me, and then decided to take up the FP&A course and basically try to move out of myself from the comfort zone and exploring better options because I think that's when everyone needs to also give it a thought that, okay, what skills should I adapt more to grow in finance? So yeah, I mean, that was a journey. And yeah, currently working as a regional finance with one of the medical device company called Bioletech, a European North Street-based company. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (05:29):
Well, thank you. Appreciate that background. So I pretty much start every episode with asking this question, and I'm curious to see how different they are. The question I typically ask is, what does great FP&A look like or how would you describe it? And I think for this one, we'll start with you, Sweeta. If you want to give your definition, how do you think of great FP&A?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (05:47):
Okay. So for me, great FP&A would be an anchor where business understanding and numbers work together in a way that decision-making becomes easier for the stakeholders. And by that, I don't mean that you have to present your numbers accurately. Of course you have to, but it goes beyond that. You have to show why the numbers look the way they do, what's driving them, and present it in a way that one of your stakeholders, they enter the room and they look at your analysis and they are ready to say, "Yes, I can make a decision out of it." So that's how I look at it. That's the kind of version that I want to be. Got
Host: Paul Barnhurst (06:29):
It. Appreciate that. Nitesh, I'd love your thoughts on this. What would you add to this or how do you think about it?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (06:35):
For me, FP&A is a function where it's forward-looking and not only just doing an analysis of a rear view mirror. It's basically turning the operational reality of business and explaining it in terms of its numbers and narratives. At the same time, it's decisive, drives value, and helps in bringing some benefit to the shareholders, and at the same time explains and gives a narrative the numbers. So for me, that's what FP&A, it's more forward-looking, decisive, and strategic in nature.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (07:13):
Appreciate it. Rohit, anything you'd like to add? I know it's kind of hard when you go last, but we'll give you an opportunity.
Guest 2: Rohit (07:18):
Yeah, I think Srita and Nitesh have already covered, but I think it definitely goes far beyond budgeting and reporting. And as we see now that the team in multinationals, FP&A team, the impression is changing. And Srita already had mentioned that it's not just to submit the reporting or the management back to the senior stakeholders, but also how we can present the data with the diagnostic analysis instead of just showing the root cause, like what next after that. I think this is what now management is looking at it. And yeah, I think I can say that I mean now these days with all these courses, certifications, FP&A team is definitely evolving and able to connect the financial data with the operational insights and have a better business understanding. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (08:15):
It's definitely grown in importance, and we can see with all the training out there that the role continues to change and be elevated. So it's an exciting time to work in FP&A. All right. So what I want to talk about, and we're going to be talking about this quite a bit today, is each of you took, I think, the AI, FP&A programme from Financial Professionals Institute. And so where I want to start is asking each of you why you joined. How did you make that decision to join the programme? So in this case, we'll go ahead and start with you, Nitesh. If you could tell a little bit of how you decided to join that journey to ending up taking that certificate.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (08:55):
So Paul, for me, in terms of where I was in my career, I already had spent two decades in finance and have gone through several roles in the past. And in fact, FP&A was also one of them. So the basics around budgeting, forecasting, et cetera, was something which I had already gone and experienced it in a real life scenario. But I wanted to pressure test myself with regards to current trends, especially when I took the programme, which was somewhere around mid of 2025 till end of 2025. That's when the programme went on till artificial intelligence, agents, tools, technologies had already started making its inroads as far as the finance function was concerned. And I wanted to even see how the financial planning and analysis concepts and the AI merge. And I found at that point in time, the AI FP&A and also the CGFPNA, I think the course goes by both the names, was offering a sort of insight into those elements, and hence got curious and joined the programme.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (10:03):
Got it. No, thank you and appreciate that. Sweeta, what's your take on this? How did you end up in the programme?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (10:09):
So I would say why not? Because AI is the hype right now. I mean, with all the fear mongering and almost every conversation these days is about AI. And somewhere around February, I saw that AIFPA got added to my CGFPA module. So I had enrolled for that with FPI. And I could not attend the February cohort, but I attended the May one. I have been using ChatGPT for a while now, but I wanted to understand how I could be using it in my work. So I was looking forward to a structured learning course, so that's how I entered this. Could
Host: Paul Barnhurst (10:50):
Totally understand wanting a structured learning course. And I think you touched on something that we've all dealt with. There's a lot of fear mongering, a lot of fear of missing out. And until you educate yourself, you don't understand, yes, it can help, but what's the right balance? Because you go on social media and it makes it sound like you should be doing everything with AI. And I'm going to guess if I asked all three of you, there's still lots of stuff you're not doing with AI, that it's not perfect for all your use cases. So Rohit, what was your journey? How did you end up taking the course? I
Guest 2: Rohit (11:26):
Think after completing the certification back in 2024, and of course we all know ChatGPT, but yeah, I think the drawback is you need to have that advanced subscription. So this AI FP&A, I think it got me interested with the core structure, I would say, where I myself wanted to try how I can apply AI with real business cases. And of course, when you are in that group community, there's always an opportunity to know what's going on in other business, how those industries are applying AI, or is it embraced, or they feel stuck? So I think, yeah, this was one of the thing. And also, I think when you reach to an intermediate level and then when you have a team, you definitely wanted to not just only setting up the KPIs, but also want to make sure they have the most advanced tools where you can train them and to keep on encouraging that how this can make you more efficient, free up your time.
(12:34):
So I think, yeah, these were the factors that I wanted to enrol for. No,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (12:38):
I appreciate that. And I think you mentioned in there also having team. So imagine as we have employees, there's kind of two sides of it. One, you want to lead out and be an example, and two, you don't want them to get way ahead and you're trying to understand what they're doing because I think AI has probably been the biggest technical evolution in my lifetime, I would say. Yeah, you could make the argument, maybe the computer. I am that old. I remember my first computer when we got it when I was in, I think, junior high or the internet. But definitely AI is one of those kind of watershed moments, especially as it got better and better. Is it all of sudden you're like, wow, it's actually giving good answers versus the very first when it came out and there's a lot of making fun.
(13:23):
I mean, it had good value, but there is still definitely a lot more hallucinating. So next I'd like to just get a little bit of an overview of how the programme worked. So maybe Rohit, if you could just talk a little bit of what's kind of the format? How's the programme set up for that AI FPA?
Guest 2: Rohit (13:44):
It was shorter, I would say maybe eight hours. So probably we are talking about a month if it's a weekend class. So it includes, of course, ChatGPT, which I had used it by then, but then I was looking forward to Cloud and Agentik AI and Copilot. Yeah, so two hours per topic, and then yeah, this was the whole format.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (14:10):
Okay. Anything either, Sweta, or anything you'd like to add to that, to the format?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (14:16):
Yeah, so I think Paul, I'll take that. I believe it depends on when, I think Roy took the course a bit earlier. So I think myself and Shretha probably came a bit later. And at that point in time, artificial intelligence had evolved. The people who were conducting the course such as Double and ASIF, I think in addition to the normal programmes, they also had certain special classes on weekends where they have sort of taken us through ChatGPT, Cloud. In fact, Double took us through Manus. It's one of the other platforms where you can have agents. And even Copilot, I think there were separate sessions done where you had certain people who are experienced with Copilot to give us use live cases of how things are working. Because the most important thing is, yes, we all know LLMs. It's a no-code kind of environment, but to see actual use cases, people who have done it to take you go live.
(15:13):
So I found that particular aspect quite prevalent in the course. And it was not only in the course, in between the courses as well, they kept certain special classes, et cetera, as such. So that was quite interesting. And
Host: Paul Barnhurst (15:25):
I think you make a great point. I know I was talking to Assef. He was mentioning, I was asking about one of his courses and he'd give me some recordings of one. He goes, so you can always join the August one. It keeps changing a lot. Everybody's constantly changing what they're teaching, trying to keep up with AI. And I think that's a real struggle for people. And there's a balance. It's like, do I need to know every new thing? You can catch yourself chasing what I like to call the shiny toy syndrome where every new model, you got to figure out exactly what it can do versus, well, is it doing my work well? Why don't we just focus on that right now and I'll figure it out when I have time? So I'm sure it's with the courses. We're all struggling to figure out what the right balance is here.
(16:10):
Anything you'd like to add about the programmes, Buda?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (16:13):
What I liked majorly was that they covered good case studies, which are actually applicable for my work, because otherwise I would be too reluctant to try it by myself. So they covered variance analysis, management reporting, and then there was data cleansing that they performed using really messy data. So they literally showed us how to use a tool for a certain case study that you may be performing tomorrow at work. So that's how good it is in terms of giving you the push to start using AI.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (16:48):
Yeah. Seeing actual use cases is always really, really helpful. I'd like to get some thoughts of who would you say the programme is for? Is it for someone who hasn't used AI much, someone very experienced? We'll start with you, Nitesh. If I asked you who do you think the program's for, what would you say? So
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (17:06):
I think it's a mix of people. I think it covers all levels because it starts with a very basic coverage of what FP&A is, and then it goes through basic modelling, basic variance analysis, basic management reporting, right up to use of AI, the various other tools like Power BI. And then it also talks about data presentation, data to storytelling, business partnering. So it's an advanced management reporting. So I would say it sort of covers from people who are young financial analysts, FP&A professionals, finance managers, and then also people who have come from accounting and auditing backgrounds who want a glimpse of what FP&A is all about. It also gives a good insight into that. And then it takes off and it also provides concept clearances around for CFOs and finance leaders. I'm a director of finance, so I came predominantly to see the new trends and the artificial intelligence related concepts, how I could leverage AI in my work as such.
(18:09):
Because as rightly mentioned by all of you, it's not about just knowing what the LLM models are all about. You have to see actual use case. And also they were data enthusiasts and tech-savvy finance professionals. So I think it sort of covers a broad spectrum of people.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (18:27):
And I understand what you're saying when you say need to see the AI use cases. I'm involved in, I just wrapped up a course through Claude itself, and I'm taking two other courses right now to try to get more up to speed on AI. So I can totally understand that one. So I'd love to know from your guys' perspective, what was the most valuable thing you gained from the programme? What do you think it was most helpful with? And Rohit, we'll start with you first on this one. Because
Guest 2: Rohit (18:54):
We could see that how finance is evolving. And I agree with Nitish to the previous comment that it should definitely be for growing finance professionals and understanding how this can maybe take them to the leaves depend upon whether it's a lean company structure or working in a big large multinational. So for me, I think what was the valuable thing that I was more of a concept plus system oriented. So when I had the opportunity, it definitely gave me a better understanding, better mindset that, okay, this is not going to replace me. And it is only going to help me to manage my work effectively. And then I can focus more on the business related, be a better strategic partner, business partner. So I mean, I would say that was my key takeaway. Yeah. You
Host: Paul Barnhurst (19:53):
Make a great point about it's not going to replace you. As I'll always say, yes. Will some people lose their job with AI? Of course they will. I'd be naive if I said nobody's going to lose their job. Industries, companies will change quite a bit, roles will change, but AI will augment and help us. I always say, once we hit AGI, if we ever hit that, all bets are off. But until then, it's about continuing to improve yourself and recognising how can I be better with the tools? So many people are like, AGI is going to replace everybody. Spreadsheet ended up leading to more jobs, not less. Computer led to more jobs. Internet led to more jobs. The early studies I saw were saying they expect overall AI to create more jobs, but will it be disruptive? Of course. So I think you make a great point because I see people like, "Well, I'm going to lose my job tomorrow." You could lose your job.
(20:50):
Are all the jobs going away? No. So you need to make sure you're preparing yourself for what the future looks like is kind of what I tell people. So love to get your thoughts on this one. What was most valuable for you from the programme? What was the key takeaways for you?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (21:05):
For me, I think the most valuable skill that I developed after doing this programme was to prompt well because otherwise it used to be a vague ask. And this course actually taught me how to make my prompt, keeping in mind what my context is and how do I want the format to look like, and basically designing it in a way that I get a good output. And it is totally dependent upon my question. So that's a skill that I've developed really well post doing this course. And there are more things, but yes, prompting well was one of the greatest skill.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (21:44):
Thank you for sharing that. Nitesh. So
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (21:48):
I think as mentioned by Rohit and Ashweta, I think artificial intelligence, real world applications. And I sort of concur with you as well that artificial intelligence or LLM models is just an enabler with regards, but you still need domain expertise. It can't be that you do not have domain expertise and you just start doing AI and you'll learn everything. No, I don't think it's going to work that way. It's an enabler, it's going to enhance your work, and I think it's going to help you in your day-to-day work. And what I learned in addition to probably the AI and the technology aspects, I would say is I like even a subject like strategy, the way they went about explaining strategy frameworks with case studies because you learn about all the concepts like porter five forces, pastel and PCG matrices. But to see it in use cases, it was interesting.
(22:42):
And even the segmentation, the business segmentation, the way they went about doing product P&Ls, et cetera. So it was quite interesting to see those aspects because both ASF and David come from finance backgrounds and they brought their expertise to the particular course. So I think that those were the good aspects which I learned about the courses.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (23:00):
There's something you said that has been kind of an axe I've been grinding, a point I've been making again and again. AI is a magnifier. If you know what you're doing, it will magnify that. If you don't, it will magnify that. It's just a question of when. And so I'm going to throw out a question. We'd love to get your thoughts. Anyone who has spent a lot of time on LinkedIn sees all kinds of promises with AI. I see everybody smiling. And one of them I've seen is, hey, AI can build your financial model in five minutes. Just tell it what you want and walk away. So I want to give you guys an opportunity to just give your thoughts on that because that's one that drives me crazy. So now having used AI and how you think about that. So we'll start, Rohit, we'll start with you on this one.
(23:49):
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(24:49):
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Guest 2: Rohit (25:00):
I do, but I mean, spend a decent amount of time on LinkedIn. I do see various surveys post. I think probably before I answer that, I would like to add a small survey which I end up taking up and commented. There was a survey that, okay, when you prompt and then by the time AI is giving you the output, so what do you do? You just scroll or you just go and get up and take a coffee or you actually prepare for the second prompt? What should be the one? So how I would say, and only an expert can say that, okay, a financial model can be prepared in five minutes, but of course somebody who has just started to use or believe in AI, I would say need to spend more time in the various type of use cases or prompts. And also adding to what Natish had mentioned that you need to be an expert in understanding whether this prompt is helping you or you need to change further.
(26:10):
So yeah, it's a mix. I think experts can always say it can give you resilient five minutes, two minutes, but then yeah, one need to practise it for sure. Yep.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (26:19):
Aswada, any thoughts? Anything you want to add to that? I
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (26:22):
Think when I look at such post, the first question that pops up in my head is, are your organisations really applying these tools? Because in my organisation, it is still not happening and we are still trying to figure out the real bottlenecks for which we want to use AI literally because there are too many problems. And for some problems, we really don't need AI right now. And we need to do some analysis as to really if it is beneficial or not. So AI is not the solution to each and every problem. But yes, I think it's going to take a lot of experimentation enterprise-wide to figure out where we would be using AI solution and where you would be continuing as we are already doing.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (27:09):
Great point. And I love that you brought that up of, look, AI isn't the solution for everything. I was doing a webinar on Excel and someone asked, "Well, can I just do this monthly process that I do every month with AI?" And I said, "Why? It's an easy solution with Power Query. You know one plus one always equals two. You're not going to get any variability. Why wouldn't you just build it as a proper automated process versus sending it to AI?" Not to say AI can't help, but so often like, "Well, shouldn't I just use AI for that?" I don't care what technology you use. And really your boss doesn't at the end of the day. Yes, everybody wants to show AI returns, but you make such a great point. It's about the right tool for the right job. And we're all trying to figure that out.
(27:55):
And it's going to vary depending on how clean your data is and how structured your processes are. It's not a simple, in every situation you use AI for this. It's going to vary. So go to you, Nitesh, your thoughts on this. So
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (28:08):
I think I sort of concur with all of you. And apparently when Cowork came in from Cloud and Copilot, I think the impression was that it'll come into your computers and it'll start reading the files and they'll be able to solve everything. But I think one very important element which we all forget is there is a human element in all our roles, especially the FP&A role. You have a concept of business partnering where you are engaging with operation teams, you're engaging with the human resource teams, because your budgets and your forecasts are like a living organism, because assumptions are changing on a regular basis. So yes, AI can definitely help you in crunching data. It can't make you a model in five minutes, et cetera. It can make you a basic sort of a framework model, but the assumptions and the discussions and the human element, that is something which AI can't do, that a human being has to do.
(29:06):
Thank
Host: Paul Barnhurst (29:06):
You. Yeah, I think you summarised that well of saying you have to have human judgement . Even if it builds you a model in five minutes, it doesn't mean you're done. Great point. So as you guys went through the programme, where do you think is an opportunity to maybe improve the programme or something that you would've liked to maybe be a little different? Any thoughts around that? I know it sounds like all of you really enjoyed the experience, but I always like to ask that question because I think we all know we can improve and it helps people to go in with their eyes wide open if they decided to do the programme. So we'll start with you, Aswita, on this one.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (29:40):
So there was one session where they taught us building your own GPTs. And for that, I think somebody, I mean, the audience kind of needs to have a basic understanding of Python. And I came from a background where I had no understanding of Python. So although I took that. Session, but I was half nodding and rest of the session I could not figure that out. Maybe if I go back and do it again, I'll be able to understand it better. But yes, that was one session where, because I'm not a techie, so I could not understand it so nicely.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (30:18):
That can be a challenge, especially when you have a big audience is sometimes not everybody's at the same level. So great point there. Appreciate that. Good feedback for them. Nitesh, we'll go to you next.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (30:29):
So I sort of concur with Shreta. I think few sessions were there on learning the technical codes, which was Python and the SQL language, which I understand. I think it's a critical part. But you know something when I have to build something in terms of an agent or some kind of a programme, I actually go to the LLM and sort of make the Python code. I ask them for the Python code and make the agent myself. So technically I was of the opinion that maybe I'm not the right person to learn that coding. So nothing with the programme, it's just that maybe that's something which I don't intend to do the coding aspect of it. So I think that is something which I found a bit slow in the course as such.
Guest 2: Rohit (31:11):
Okay, good feedback. I think it had covered everything, but as I said, or maybe I'd like to say is that these, you need to have advanced subscription to explore more. And the use cases, whether it is relevant to you or no. So I feel that, I mean SEF and the wellbeing expert, I mean they have a lot of use cases as Natasha also mentioned. So you need to, I think your takeaways, it's on you like, okay, whether out of these four modules, and then also as Shweta mentioned that in the organisation that she's currently working, it doesn't really have those kind of subscriptions or doesn't even encourage. So you need to see that, okay, whether it is ChatGPT or Copilot, which is now currently I'm using it. Cloud for sure it's being used at the group level. So I do know that, okay, I would come across certain use cases, which I can capitalise it.
(32:15):
So one needs to also know that, okay, what are your organisation capabilities? Because of course nobody would say, put the data out there in the unsecured AI and then yeah, you're compromising your company's data. So that is something one needs to be mindful of. Otherwise, I think overall the content, everything was good. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (32:35):
Yeah. I mean, being careful of data is always an important one that we have to understand. I'm curious to know what's your favourite thing you've built or maybe automated you've done with AI so far? You could share in work or you could even share personal if you want. Those are always interesting to hear as I know we also use it in our own lives. So we'll go ahead and start with Rohit. We'll let you go first on this one.
Guest 2: Rohit (33:03):
Sure. I think, yeah, as I said, the curiosity of before joining the goals, how I'm going to apply this into real business. So yes, I think I've done recently analysis on the healthcare financials. So implemented to see how I can do the profitability analysis better. Build a process documentation, I would say through Copilot and also drafting a policy locally. So I think these were the few implementations which have recently done it. And yeah, it was, I think, quite saved a lot of time because if you know the content that you're looking for, if you have the knowledge of certain concepts, I think you save a lot of time. And yeah, it was accepted as well. It's been reviewed and signed off. So these were the three implementations.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:03):
Always nice when you save time. Nobody complains about that. How about you, Nitesh?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (34:08):
So as I said even earlier, for me, AI currently in terms of the LLM models, because I use Copilot Cowork in my work environment as well, it sort of does a lot of heavy duty financial crunching. So one of the projects which I work on, because I have to work with growth team quite on a regular basis. So a lot of data crunching in terms of the data which we get in terms of targets for the financial analysts and to figure out whether the return on equity is a creative or not. So there is some agent which I have developed which does that. In addition to that, it does a basic check of going through the net and working out the cross-border taxation rules and the foreign direct investment rules, et cetera. So at least you have a basic profiling ready before you look at the deal.
(34:59):
So I think that's something which I'm quite proud of in terms of what I have done.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (35:03):
Thank you. Appreciate that. And we'll go, Sweeta, how about you?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (35:07):
I've been using Claude personally a lot for my LinkedIn post where I create infographs and any carouses, and that's been very helpful for me. Other than that, at work, because I was recently involved with the business transformation project and I was supposed to give a business requirement document to a software developer. And I did not have access to Claude at work, but they had. So I used their Claude and gave my requirement and got a business requirement document in a couple of minutes. And I think I really got very surprised because anybody who has done it, they know that those documents are really dense and difficult to draught. So I was really happy about it. And yeah, I mean, it was surprising for me.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (35:51):
I think it is. It can be really surprising, especially when you mentioned Claude. To me, it felt like there's kind of a watershed moment about six months ago, especially on the modelling side when I see all of you nodding. When Opus46, now we have Opus48 came out. It felt like the tool made a big jump in a lot of areas for the work we do. And not to say it was bad before, but I think people who maybe tested it early on were like, "Ah, it doesn't work well." It's like, okay, you always have to be testing. It's getting better and better. And I know what you mean by dense documents. I've given it some things and comes back and it's like, okay, I probably would've spent a couple hours doing that. And now I got to spend 20 minutes reviewing it versus three hours writing it.
(36:32):
Huge fan of when it does stuff like that. So I want to ask each of you, if someone's watching this episode and they're thinking about joining this programme, what advice would you offer them? And we'll start with you, Sweta, on this one, and then we'll go to Rohit, and then we'll let Nitesh go last. So we'll just go in that order.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (36:52):
So my advice would be that you should do it not because AI is going to change your life, but because this course will give you that structured learning stage. You will develop that urge to try AI in one or the other task at work or even personally. Otherwise, you'll keep saving reels and hacks, and you will never really go back in those folders to see what works, what doesn't. And if you do this course for four weeks, it's just what, eight hours. You give those eight hours and then you'll have that tendency to use AI. So the willingness to experiment, I think you should do it.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (37:32):
All right, thank you. Appreciate that. Rohit?
Guest 2: Rohit (37:34):
Whether a basic or advanced level user on AI or you wanted to know more, I think this probably changes your mindset. And then yeah, as we all know that it's going to be a technical expertise world where each and every role requires certain amount of technical expertise. So we need to go with that flow. And AI definitely I think leaves one message, which is the human judgement . There's always good to have some kind of system capabilities which can give you better results or at least impression that, okay, it always helps to create something new and something which will also push you out of your comfort zone because during the process you would come up with your own real cases, business scenarios, things like that. So yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (38:34):
Thank you. Nitesh.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (38:35):
So I think you should do the course because I think it is first of all an organised structure which is in place with which they're giving the course. And in addition to that, the AI part, yes, I think as spoken by. But also dwell upon the experience of the people giving the course because they have the domain expertise and they've worked in finance for so long. So I think that is something which you don't get with LinkedIn reels or the other web-related videos as such. It's sort of a context setup and a use case, which is very important for you to understand the concept.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (39:15):
Thank you. Appreciate that. Now I want to ask each of you, what are you most excited about as we go forward, kind of future of technology and AI? What has you most excited? Or if you want, I'll even flip it around. What are you most concerned about? I'll give you the opportunity to take it either way because I think we obviously feel a little bit of both sometimes. And we'll go ahead and go Rohit, sweat it, and we'll finish with Nitesh on that one. So go ahead, Rohit. FP&A guy here. We'll get back to the show in a minute. This section is unscripted. When I started my business, I had two main goals, to be trusted and for my content to come across as authentic and helpful. I've heard from many of you that I've accomplished those. Today I have three goals, to be trusted, authentic, and have the best beard in finance.
(40:03):
All right, enough with the jokes, enough with the fun. What I'm asking for is I'm asking for you to help me out. If you've enjoyed the show, if you've enjoyed an interview, if you found it helpful in your career, can you please leave a rating and review? That helps more people find the show, helps me grow the show, helps me grow my business. So I'd really appreciate it if you could take a moment and leave me a review. You can do it on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you listen, or you can go to my website, thefpandaguy.com. That's F-P-A-N-D-A-Guy.com. Go ahead and go to Walla Love, go down to the bottom, and you can click to leave a testimonial. Thanks for doing that. Thanks for listening.
Guest 2: Rohit (40:46):
Probably I would say that it's going to be more of access being given to experts who can really change the process. And I think for sure during the process, you're going to feel that it's going to free up a lot of time and then you can use that time on businesses, developing those relationship with the stakeholders, other departments, and add more value to the business, I would say, to reach to a sustainable growth. This is what I think the senior leadership team always looks for. So I think the future is going to be like that. So yeah, I think I would encourage that, especially people at intermediate level to senior level. So yeah, this is definitely for that. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (41:38):
Alrighty, thank you for that. Sweeta, we'll go to you next.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (41:41):
I am excited about how my role is going to evolve and using technology, how much time I'll be able to save, because there are a lot of redundant tasks that even I want to avoid and use on something which is interesting. And also I am more excited about these enterprise level implementation for AI tools, what kind of bottlenecks we are going to solve. And firstly, figuring it out. The entire process of speaking to stakeholders, trying to figure out what AI tool we should implement, and then doing trials and errors. So that's what I'm pretty excited about because I've worked in smaller setups and I know how many issues they have.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (42:25):
I love something you brought up, the excitement of the enterprise. I think that's an area where a lot of people are struggling. AI is kind of being implemented a lot one-off in a lot of companies, not all. Some companies have done a really good job, but I think the true benefit becomes when it's an intelligent layer, which requires an enterprise solution because you got to make sure it can take in all of your data and really help everybody be smarter. So I really appreciate that. I think that's one of the things that's most exciting is we really start to figure out how do we leverage this across the entire company with all our data? But I'll go ahead and let you share your thoughts, Nitesh.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (43:03):
It's quite exciting. The way I see it, Paul, is it sort of freeing you up with a lot of data assembly, data crunching, and especially if you're able to implement at an enterprise level, then it also does a lot of a basic level correlation of data, et cetera. And it frees up your time to think in much bigger and larger areas and become having a more sort of a support in terms of your decisions. So I think it's going to free up you and take up more strategic kind of decisions in terms of what you are actually currently doing.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (43:40):
Great, thank you. Appreciate that. All right, so we're going to move into what I call, we have two standard sections. I have a brief FP&A section and then a little bit of a get to know you. The goal here is to keep these answers relatively short, 30 to 45 seconds, especially given we have three people to answer each of them. And I'm going to ask three questions. Two of these are ones I ask on every episode, and then the third one is one I kind of adjust a little bit for this episode. So I'd love to hear each of your answers. It's amazing how many different answers we get for this question. So we're going to start with Unites. What is the number one technical skill that FP&A professionals need to master?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (44:17):
Financial modelling is something, budgets, focus, this is something quite critical. They have to do that.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (44:23):
Okay. So financial modelling. Rohit, what would you say?
Guest 2: Rohit (44:27):
Yeah, I think probably I would agree with Natish if you cannot interpret the financial data into a reporting. So I think this is one of the key feature as technical skill. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (44:40):
That's no fun. You're going to go with the same answer? I'm kidding. I get that sometimes. I think the last episode I had three different answers from the people. It was really interesting. So we definitely get the same sometimes. I'm kidding you. That's a very common one. But Sweta, we'll go over to you. What's your thoughts?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (44:56):
I sort of agree with them, but just because you want a different answer, I would say both business and financial acumen. I think that's very important. If you have one and not the other, it's not going to work. So you need both.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (45:11):
Yeah, you definitely need both, right? I mean, even though I ask what the number one is, there's not just one skill you have to have. It's more just kind of curious to see how people will answer it. So now we're going to ask you, what's the number one soft skill, kind of human skill that you believe FP&A professionals need to master? We'll go ahead and go with you first, and that way you won't have to feel like you're at the end and coming up with something different.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (45:39):
Sure. I would say storytelling and also ability to build relationships with your stakeholders. So that's something that this is an asset that compounds over time.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (45:49):
Okay. Storytelling, ability to build relationships, both very important. Nitesh?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (45:53):
Sort of concur, business partnering, communication, storytelling. And I think there are two more aspects I would say is the empathy to understand the other person's view. And also very critical is to have the mental ability to achieve what the goal is. So I think these are the human elements, I would say for it.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (46:17):
I'm going to say you brought up one of my favourite answers, and that's empathy. I am a huge, huge believer that the more we can have that in FP&A, the better a business partner we can be. So now that I've biassed it, we'll let Rohit go. I'm just kidding.
Guest 2: Rohit (46:34):
Communication skill. So if you're not able to explain the best analysis and you're not able to interpret and clearly explain it to the stakeholders. So yeah, then I think you're not winning.
Speaker 5 (46:49):
Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (46:49):
I've worked with people and I've had times where I did not do a good job of communicating. I can tend to be very detailed. I've had times where my boss is like, "You've lost me. Stop. Let's go back. Walk me through it." And so it's a skill. Truly learning how to communicate, be a good listener. It takes practise. So I really appreciate you bringing that one up. All right. So this one I want to ask, obviously, given we've been talking quite a bit about AI, what do you believe is the most important skill someone needs to develop to be successful for using AI in finance? So we'll go ahead and go, Nitesh, and we'll finish with you on this one, Rohit. So go ahead, Natash.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (47:29):
So I'll still say that you need the domain expertise because as I mentioned earlier as well, AI amplifies. I agree, right prompting, et cetera, that's important. But I still feel you need to have domain expertise so that you can ask the right questions.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (47:43):
So understanding what you're doing versus giving that to AI. Love it. Go ahead.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (47:50):
Oh, I absolutely agree with them because if you don't know what to ask and where to reach, you cannot prompt it well. And also you need to have some patience to verify, at least right now. You cannot just give it a prompt, get an output and send it across. You need to have the patience to verify and maybe give it back and then get an answer. So that's a loop that you have to solve for some time.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (48:13):
100%. I would say anything I give it that's complex, I've been using it to help build a lot of websites, is I ask it three times to review or come back and say, "Here's all the changes to make." Review again. Review again. And every time it comes back with a couple more. And so I try to have it self-check itself as well as reviewing it myself because we all know that it's not going to be perfect. Just because it can save us time doesn't mean we should trust it. Rohit.
Guest 2: Rohit (48:40):
I think the better the input, better the output. So you keep improvising, first of all, as a user. And yeah, don't just stick to one AI tool because sometimes, yeah. I mean, past few months I realised that, okay, ChatGPT wasn't giving me that kind of great response. And I switched to Copilot. Copilot was giving me all the, I think, the advantage. Also in your company, if you have Copilot, it kind of integrate with your emails work. So it gives you all the most updated information. So yeah, just keep improvising the input so you get the better output.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (49:21):
I agree with you. At the moment, there's definitely differences you're going to get from each model. And there are times when it may make sense to use something else. You may not have that opportunity and work, but if you do, it's a good one. Myself, I have accounts to Claude, paid accounts Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot. And I switch between them. Certain tasks, I'll ask all three when I'm trying to decide what I want to use and I'll narrow it down and I'll ask them in kind of like a bake off. They keep going back and forth with me being in control. Most people don't get that ability at work to be able to switch back and forth between three of them, but there's times I'll even pull in a fourth until I'm comfortable that I've maximised whatever I'm trying to accomplish. Usually that's more marketing stuff and how I'm going to word something versus math problems.
(50:09):
Not your finance, typical finance stuff. But all right, we're going to move into the get to know you section. So again, we're looking for relatively short answers here. Have three questions, just kind of fun to get to know each of you a little bit better. So the first one, if you could have any superpower, and we'll start with Nitesh on this, what would it be? What would be the superpower you want?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (50:31):
Well, I can forecast everything without anything. So that once I have the superpower, that's it. I'm done. I don't have to do
Host: Paul Barnhurst (50:38):
It. So I'm taking you to Vegas if you have that superpower. Yeah, exactly.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (50:41):
We're going
Host: Paul Barnhurst (50:41):
To go make a lot of money.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (50:44):
Or the stock market.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (50:45):
Yeah, either one. Stock market usually takes a little bit of time. Vegas, we can get it all in one night. Swita, how about
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (50:54):
You? I think I would want to be invisible and want to know what my stakeholders really thought about the analysis after I've moved out of the room. So I want to be invisible when they're discussing once I'm out.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (51:07):
Invisible. All right. So yeah, superpowers in forecasting, invisibility. Let's see what Rohit's superpower is going to be.
Guest 2: Rohit (51:14):
I think of course it's pretty much relates reading the senior stakeholder's mind because it's like sometimes you just prepared a presentation and then yeah, you just come out of the room. And then yeah, you see in the next five minutes you have a new email or maybe a better breakdown of what you have already presented. So reading that, I think mine, which we all know, I think over a period of time that okay, this might be the possible expectation, but yeah, sometimes it gets difficult. I
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (51:45):
Think these days they're also giving us solutions that you could have done this via AI. Look, I have done this. So that's really frustrating, but it's happening.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (51:56):
One thing I found interesting is I think all three of you tied your superpowers to work. I'm not sure I would've tied my superpower to work, so I like it. It shows how dedicated you are. I probably would've went with something totally unrelated to work. I don't know, being super strong or something like that. Okay, so next one. If you could recommend a book, maybe a favourite book you like to read or something you think the audience would enjoy, what would you recommend? And Rohit, we'll let you go first.
Guest 2: Rohit (52:23):
A book by Morgan Hughes. It's about explaining about the money part, which is not important that you have the money, but how you behave. And it teaches you certain strategy being basically a difference between rich and wealthy. So I think I would recommend that. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (52:45):
The one on money. What was the name of the book again?
Guest 2: Rohit (52:47):
I think it's by Richard Morgan. It's Psychology of Money. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (52:53):
Okay. Yeah, I've heard of that. Psychology of Money, Richard Morgan. Great. Nitesh. I
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (52:57):
Have two books. Both are from PE Investors because I like to understand the concept of investors. The Most Important Thing by Harvard Marx and Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits because they tell you aspects which you should look at it when you are evaluating your business.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (53:16):
Okay, great. Sweetheart, how about you? What's your book?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (53:19):
So there are a couple of books that I would recommend. There's one on strategy by Harvard Business Review. I've not completed it, but it does cover a good number of case studies. So that's one. And then there is Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, which is also a nice read if you want to change yourself. So yeah, those are my two recommendations.
Guest 2: Rohit (53:42):
Sorry, Paul, if I may add one more book, because I think this is something really, this was with my last organisation, the CFO actually gifted me this book, The Cultural Map. So when you work in an MNC, you work with various nationalities. So how you, as a leader, how you interpret their personalities. Don't being judgmental in the very nation state. So things takes time to open up and each culture or nationality has its own way of expressing. So I think that is one of the book, which I think it's a must read for everyone. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (54:20):
Thank you. All right. So next one is, if you could have dinner with one person alive in the world today, who are you going to take to dinner? Nitesh.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (54:32):
Probably Warren Buffett because sort of really admire the person as to how he has gone about running a successful organisation and he's been a successful investor. So definitely Warren Buffet.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (54:44):
Is he retired now or is it the end of this year?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (54:46):
I think he's retired. He's sort of not in active kind of. That's what
Host: Paul Barnhurst (54:51):
I thought. I thought he had retired now, which is, I mean, he's like 90, so you got to eventually retire, right?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (54:57):
So effectively, I can ask him if he's interested for dinner.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (55:01):
Yeah, exactly. Well, let me know how that goes. And if you can get a plus one, let me know. I'll come with
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (55:05):
You. Yeah, sure. I'll do.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (55:08):
Rohit, who are you taking to dinner?
Guest 2: Rohit (55:09):
I think Sweta Jhalani, I think, because it aligns with AI, the person who brought the AI and then what he did with Microsoft. So yeah, I think probably him to understand more from the senior leader's point of view.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (55:27):
Yeah, he'd be a great one to pick his brain, so appreciate that. And how about you, Sweta? Who are you taking to dinner?
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (55:34):
I think, Paul, I would like to have dinner with you because you are a treasure trove of all good and rich FP&E content. So I would like to go on a dinner with you.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (55:46):
All right. Well, I'm going to make that my new commercial now. I think you're the first one that said they were taking me to dinner, so there we go. Alrighty. Well, thank you each of you for joining me. It was great getting to know each of you a little bit, chat with you. I think this will be great for our audience. And before we wrap up, I'll just let you each go around and any last thoughts, anything you want to leave the audience with. And we'll go with you, Sweta, first. We'll go with Rohit, and we'll give Nitesh last word here. So we'll go in that order.
Guest : Sweta Jhalani (56:15):
So I would say that first of all, if you are in FP&A, this is the right time when most people are at the stage of learning AI. This is an opportunity which will not come to many in a few years down the line. So it's a place where everybody's trying to learn and you can have leverage if you learn quicker, faster, and sooner. So I think do that. Start learning in whatever ways you can. Just try. Try experimenting.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (56:44):
Great advice. All right, Rohit.
Guest 2: Rohit (56:47):
I think it's most of the professions, especially non-finance professions that taking up a certification is very key in this stage of their career. And FP&A is one of the famous name and one should definitely take up this course, not only to learn more conceptual learning, but also to bring additional or add-ons in terms of what AI can build capabilities within the FP&A function. So definitely look out for this course and yeah, you are going to just feel happy about it after completing the course. Yeah. All
Host: Paul Barnhurst (57:23):
Right, thank you. Nitesh, any last thoughts?
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (57:25):
So my thoughts are: don't fear AI. Human civilization is full of examples of new inventions and new events coming, and humans have survived it. It's just a new way of doing things. The domain expertise still counts. The fundamental way of doing things still counts. Invest in yourself because learning compounds, and that is what will keep you instead for the future and sort of do the certification. I think that'll add a lot of value to you.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (57:54):
So I love that. Continue learning about compounds. Well, thank you all three of you for joining me. I appreciate it. I appreciate you carving out some time on a weekend as we're recording this on a Saturday, so I really appreciate it. So thank you so much for joining me.
Guest 1: Nitesh Mukhi (58:09):
Thank you very much, Paul. It was a pleasure.
Guest 2: Rohit (58:10):
Nice to meet you all.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (58:12):
That's it for today's episode of FP&A Unlocked. If you enjoy FP&A Unlocked, please take a moment to leave a five-star rating and review. It's the best way to support the FP&A guy and help more FP&A professionals discover the show. Remember, you can earn CPE credit for this episode by visiting earmarkcpe.com, downloading the app, and completing the quiz. If you need continuing education credits for the FPAC certification, complete the quiz and reach out to me directly. Thanks for listening. I'm Paul Barnhurst, the FP&A guy, and I'll see you next time.