Why Blocking AI Won't Save You ... But Governance MightAI is already in your business. Surprise!Yet the question isn't whether people are using it ... it's whether leadership is governing it.That was one of the clearest takeaways from my recent conversation with Mark Birkinshaw on the CFO Access Podcast. We discussed AI, shadow IT, [...]
The Real Question Isn't "Should We Adopt AI?" There’s no longer a debate about whether AI belongs in finance. The debate has moved on to “what does adoption actually mean?” We hear the same three questions from CFOs and finance leaders across Australia: What do we actually mean by AI, beyond the marketing language? [...]
The Committee Pricing Trap ... Why Too Many Voices Can Crush Commercial Clarity Everyone wants input on pricing: - Sales wants conversion. - Marketing wants positioning. - Operations wants simplicity. - Finance wants margin. - Leadership wants growth. These are all very valid, but when nobody owns the final commercial logic, the [...]
by Wyn Hopkins How many ‘Copilots’ is Microsoft actually selling you? In summary Microsoft has a range of products called “Copilot”: This post is focussing on the most common for business users: Copilot Chat (free) and the Paid Add-on, Microsoft 365 Copilot There’s also a Microsoft 365 Copilot Business but it is essentially the [...]
Why CFOs Need to Stop Treating Payroll as a Back Office Function For many finance leaders, payroll sits firmly in the operational bucket. It's essential, tightly regulated and often seen as something that simply needs to run accurately and on time. But after speaking with Steven Furman on the CFO Access Podcast, [...]
AI, Human Judgement and Why Leadership Must Stay Personal There's no doubt that AI is changing the way organisations operate. In finance, the implications are significant. Automation is improving reporting processes. Forecasting tools are becoming more sophisticated. Decision support is becoming faster. Communication, workflow and analysis can all be accelerated. For CFOs, [...]
Why CFOs Need to Take Brand More Seriously There's a tendency in business to divide the world into hard and soft disciplines. Finance is usually placed in the hard category. It deals in numbers, controls, accountability and measurable outcomes. Branding and marketing are often placed in the soft category, associated with creative [...]
by Wyn Hopkins Vibe coding is the new macro recorder I saw a lovely analogy from Eugene Meidinger on BlueSky the other day “Vibe-maintaining an app is like cleaning with a dirty mop. No matter how hard you try, you seem to leave a layer of dirt and filth” Cast your mind back to [...]
The Best CFOs don't Avoid Risk. They Help Businesses Take Better Risks There's a common misconception about risk in business. It is often framed as the thing responsible leaders are supposed to minimise, constrain or avoid. We sometimes speak as though good governance means saying no, slowing things down or preventing uncertainty [...]
Price Is Not Value: The M&A Lesson CFOs Can't Afford to Miss If there's one misconception that quietly undermines many transactions, it's this: people assume that a valuation settles the question of value. It doesn't. The difference between value and price, particularly in the context of mergers, acquisitions, and business sales, is just [...]
by Wyn Hopkins Why I Prefer Building Reports in Power BI I recently presented a session at the Global Excel Summit in London entitled “Why Power BI is better than Excel … or is it?” Tough crowd! My co-presenter Sue Bayes and I were up against our Unpivot co-hosts Giles Male and Mark Proctor [...]
AI Is Not Just Changing Work. It Is Changing Professional Confidence Most business conversations about AI are still too narrow. They focus on automation, productivity, policy, governance and risk. Those issues matter, of course, and Boards should absolutely care about them. So should CFOs, and executive teams should also have their point of view. [...]
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