Insights
Insights on Financial Leadership
26 practical articles on cash, budgeting, profitability and governance, drawn from more than 25 years of financial leadership in Saudi companies.
Liquidity and Cash Flow
When Cash Is Tight: The Right Order of Cash Levers Before Cutting Costs
When cash is tight, the instinct is to cut costs. That is usually right about the problem and wrong about the order.
The Cheapest Financing Is Already on Your Balance Sheet: Release Working Capital Before Going to the Bank
Before you go to the bank, look at your own balance sheet. The cheapest money you will ever raise is already sitting in it.
Why the Most Profitable Month Comes Closest to Missing Payroll: What Growth Does to Cash
The month a business looks most profitable is often the month it comes closest to missing payroll. That is not an accounting error.
Revenue Is Growing, Profit Is Growing. So Why Is Cash Falling?
REVENUE IS GROWING. PROFIT IS GROWING. SO WHY IS CASH FALLING? This is one of the most important questions FP&A should help management answer.
Profitable on Paper, Three Weeks from a Cash Problem: The 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast
Profit is an opinion; cash is a fact. A company can be profitable with a healthy P&L, then fail to meet obligations in one specific week.
Budgeting and Financial Planning
Most of Next Year's Budget Was Decided Last Year: Reviewing the Cost Base
The budget cycle starts in September, but most of next year's budget was decided long before that. Open the model and look at where the money sits.
A Budget Within 2% of Actual Can Still Be Worthless
A budget can land within 2% of actual and still be worthless. That sounds wrong to most finance teams. Variance is the scorecard.
The Budget Is Not a Forecast, and Treating It Like One Is Why Yours Fails
Every September, a version of the same conversation happens. Finance sends the templates out. Department heads fill them in.
Why Most Budgets Fail Before the First Number Is Typed
Budget season is coming. Most budgets will fail before the first number is typed. Not because the models are wrong.
Variance Analysis: "8% Below Budget" Is Not Analysis
Most variance reports stop exactly where the useful work begins. They tell management the size of the gap, then move to the next line.
Budget vs. Rolling Forecast: Why Your Company Needs Both
A budget is a commitment; a forecast is the truth. When a budget is asked to predict, it fails at both jobs.
Profitability and Margins
Three Points of Margin Lost to the Calendar: Repricing Against Rising Costs
Nobody decided to give away three points of margin. It happened on a calendar. Your costs reprice continuously.
Which Five Percent? How Price, Volume and Cost Move Operating Profit
Every budget I have seen asks for the same thing: grow revenue by five percent. Almost none of them say which five percent.
Revenue Up 40%, Margin Down 6 Points: Why Growth Erodes Profit Margin
Revenue up 40%. Margin down 6 points. Nobody can explain why. One of the most common patterns in Saudi growth companies and one of the most dangerous…
Financial Leadership and Governance
The Decision Nobody Makes: Capital Allocation in the Mid-Market
Ask a founder what their strategy is and you will get an articulate answer about markets, products and customers.
Beyond the Numbers: How CFOs Make High-Stakes Business Decisions
A CFO is not simply responsible for reporting what happened. The real value of a CFO is often created before a major business decision is made.
Five Numbers Every Owner Should See Each Monday, Before the Monthly P&L
By the time the monthly P&L reaches you, the month is over. Whatever it tells you, you can no longer do anything about it.
A 45-Page Board Pack with the Decision on Page 38: How to Build Board Reporting
The board pack was 45 pages. The decision was hiding on page 38. We review a lot of board and management packs.
The CFO Function: The Financial Leadership That Holds a Scaling Company Together
Behind every company that scales with confidence, there is one function holding the structure together: financial leadership. Strategy sets the direction.
A Dashboard with 40 KPIs Measures Everything and Manages Nothing
Every quarter adds a metric and none is removed, until management reviews forty numbers a month and acts on none of them.
The Difference Wasn't the Forecast. It Was Decision Speed.
Two companies in the same market facing the same shock. One acted in March, the other in June. By year-end, only one still controlled its own strategy.
Accurate Numbers Are Not Enough
After more than twenty-five years in finance, I have learned that accuracy is not the end of the CFO’s role. It is the starting point.
From the Early Foundations to the New Rules of the Market
In 2017, NHC was not the company the market knows today. It was still in its early stages, operating within a large and complex sector, with ambitions that…
Financial Risk
Before You Run Out of Cash, You Run Out of Choices: Covenants and Room to Act
Most owners think about running out of money. Few think about running out of choices, which happens a long time earlier.
Customer Concentration Risk: When One Client Is 42% of Your Revenue
If one client is 42% of your revenue, you do not own a business. You own a contract. Concentration is the risk that never appears in the accounts.
Prime Intelligence and Financial Diagnosis
Media and Events
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