3 Steps to structure a Finance Presentation - Soufyan Hamid

Whether you're a CFO or just starting out your career as a financial analyst. Presentations are a great way to show off your hard work and analysis.

But what makes a great finance presentation?

Soufyan Hamid, offers tips for creating great finance presentations in just three steps. Having a structure is really important. This will help you get your message across effectively. The structure is What, So What and Now What?

What?

It begins with what do you want to share. What is the topic and the analysis? Describe what you observed in your analysis. This part is technical, so it should be clear and concise.

Example: We observed that, after some disappointing months, Product A has improved performance in volumes to reach forecast level. Forecasted EBITDA is -15M € below budget because of lower sales of product C

So What?

Next, you jump to the next stage and this is actually the emotional moment. This is where your audience needs to understand that it's important for them. And that's true when you go to an executive committee or a meeting where you have salespeople and marketing people. Finance is not always their first priority, their first concern.

Example: This performance started with the promo we implemented in Region X. Volumes are according to plan, but discount affected our expected margin. The main consequence will be on our cashflow supposed to cover our tech investments next year.

"Remember, you don't need to solve everything. But you have to come up with a recommendation. And if you come with two or three, that's even better.You don't want to give the impression that you decided for them. You have to give them a choice and let them decide for themselves"        

Now What?

The third step, and this is where you cross the line from the analyst to the business partner. Remember, you don't need to solve everything. But you have to come up with a recommendation. And if you come with two or three, that's even better.You don't want to give the impression that you decided for them. You have to give them a choice and let them decide for themselves. But remember it will be our role to determine which alternative will be the best, financially speaking.

Example: We see the following options:

1. Expand the promo but target a 10% increase in volumes to compensate margin
2. Target promo on price seekers

Possibilities is to

• Reinvest marketing budget for Product C to Product A
• Cut in non-urgent costs

It's important to be also factual and to give some facts and figures. As finance professionals we should provide people with enough details, so they can decide. But not too much, so they get lost.

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