The CFO Owns AI Now: Chad Gold's Playbook for Leading AI in Finance
FullStory CFO Chad Gold shares his playbook for leading AI in finance: where to start, how to build data infrastructure, and how his team cut close time 50%.
How to Succeed as a CFO?
Here you'll find insights and templates on how to succeed once you’re in the CFO role, beyond just “owning the numbers.”
You’ll find playbooks on leading the business, running a high‑performing finance team, avoiding burnout, and turning metrics into decisions executives can act on.
Our Latest AI Guide
Download 10 full-page prompts with the context and structure you can put to work right away. Plus:
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CFO Playbooks
12 Questions Every CFO Should Ask Before Investing in AI Tools
Executive Summary Most AI tool purchases fail because the decision is made before anyone asks the right questions. When there is pressure to move quickly on AI, it's easy to adopt something qui...
How to Build a Finance Function That Actually Drives Growth
Executive Summary Most finance functions are built to report what happened. The ones that drive growth are built around a different question: where are we going, and how do we get there? This a...
How to Build a Forecasting Process Your Executives Actually Trust
Executive Summary Most FP&A teams rely on a single forecasting method and wonder why their numbers keep missing. The fix is not working harder. It is thinking differently about method, mode...
Your First 90 Days as a First-Time CFO: A Practical Playbook
Executive Summary Almost every first-time CFO steps into the role carrying imposter syndrome, a calendar full of expectations, and a skill gap no training program fully closes. This article tur...
Supporting a Strategic CFO: Why CFO Direct Reports Matter More Than Ever
Executive Summary Many CFOs are hired to be strategic, but their direct reports spend most of their time on transactions and compliance. This article explains how controllers, FP&A, treasur...
The Strategic CFO vs. the Transactional Finance Function: How to Close the Gap
Executive Summary Many CFOs are hired to be strategic, but their finance function remains transactional. This article explains the “evolution gap” between a strategic CFO role and finance roles...
How to Prepare for a Difficult Board Conversation as a CFO
Executive Summary Difficult board conversations become manageable when preparation removes surprise and clarifies the decision. Strong preparation includes defining the issue, writing a one-pag...
3 Board Conversations Every New CFO Pre-Game (With a Reusable Script)
No matter the industry, and no matter how healthy the business looks today, three board conversations show up sooner or later. A number gets missed. Cash stops feeling comfortable. Or someone f...
The First 90 Days as CFO: How to Quickly Build Credibility and Take Charge
Executive Summary A new CFO’s first 90 days should leave the company feeling, “We can finally trust the numbers and the finance leader behind them,” because you’ve spent that time learning the ...
How to Do Strategic Work When You're Swamped
3 Simple Ways You Can Do More Strategic Work in Finance, Despite a Packed Schedule Practical methods to add value without adding hours If you're like most finance professionals, your days are p...
CFO Conversations
From CAO to EVP Supply Chain: How to Make a Big Career Pivot at the Executive Level
She spent 19 years at Southwire. She started in treasury, moved through business unit finance, became Chief Accounting Officer, and then made a move nobody saw coming. She left finance to run supply chain at a $9 billion company that provides cable for and electrical transmission throughout the US. ...
How Operations Experience Makes You a Better CFO, with Donna Cohen, CFO of CarMax Auto Finance (Live in Atlanta)
She spent her entire career in accounting and finance. Public accounting, FP&A, financial reporting, corporate accounting. Then she made a move nobody expected. She went into operations. And when she came back to finance as a CFO, everything was different. In this episode, I sit down in person w...
How to Evaluate a CFO Role in Private Equity Before You Say Yes - Chris Voudouris, 3x PE CFO
Most finance leaders think about making the jump to a private equity backed company at some point. Very few know what they are actually walking into. In this episode, I sit down with Chris Voudouris, a 3x PE CFO who has been on every side of the table. He started at KPMG in audit, moved into transac...
From Big 4 Auditor to CFO: How to Make People Want to Work With You in Finance - James White (Live in Atlanta)
In this episode, I sit down in person with James White, CFO of ScanTech AI Systems. We talk about what kept him in public accounting for 20 years when most people leave in five. How he made himself easy to get to know in rooms where he was often the only one who looked like him. Why he believes bein...
From 6x National Champion to Fortune 500 Chief Audit Officer - Lori Kaczynski on Leadership and Resilience
Lori Kaczynski won six Canadian national championships in speed skating and was training for the Olympics. Then, had a car accident at 18. Four knee surgeries. Three years of rehabilitation. Today she is the Senior Vice President and Chief Audit, Risk, and Compliance Officer at Graphic Packaging In...
How Finance Teams Should Be Using AI Right Now, with Chad Gold, CFO of Fullstory
He started at Ernst & Young, moved to Home Depot where he had a front row seat to one of the most operational CFOs in the country, then jumped into high-growth startups and never looked back. In this episode, I sit down in person with Chad Gold, 2022 CFO of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chron...
From High School Dropout to Global CFO of a $3B Law Firm: William Washington III on Leading Finance Across 45 Countries
I sat down with William Washington III, Global CFO of Baker McKenzie. He oversees $3 billion in revenue across 45 countries. His CFO told him he would be ready in five years. He said give me one. A year later, he had the job. We talked about the coaching session that made it happen, how he leads as ...
Mistakes founders make during fundraising (from a cfo who has done 50+ M&A and Exit deals)
In this episode, I sit down with Julianne Averill, a healthcare AI CFO, board director, and fractional CFO with over 20 years of experience helping life science and digital health companies scale through fundraising, M&A, and IPOs. She has been through over 50 transactions on both the buy and sell s...
Former Caterpillar Group CFO on The Leadership Skills Finance Professionals Must Master to Reach the Top
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, we examine what it actually takes to build a 30-year career at a Fortune 50 company and reach the Group CFO seat. Dave DeFreitas, retired Group CFO of Caterpillar Inc., shares the career moves, leadership frameworks, and operational mindset shifts that shaped o...