Ultimate Resource Guide for FP&A and Private Equity Professionals

The Question I Get Most...

"Chris, do you have any resources to help me get better at FP&A or Private Equity?"

Goal of this Article...

Compile a list of the best resources I can find to help FP&A and Private Equity professionals.

This is a "living document" as we used to say in my corporate days...

So, it will be updated often.

Super fast to skim, no fluff.

Skimming Guide

Article goes in order of Free to Paid

?? Green circle = Private Equity

?? Blue circle = FP&A

?? Orange circle = Data & Analytics

?? Purple circle = Helpful to all

Need a Service Provider Instead?

If you need a service provider (contract CFO/FP&A, business advisory, software, coaching, buyside M&A, sell-side M&A, etc.) please message me and I can make an introduction (or possibly help you directly).

Where Should I Start?

There's a lot of info here.

My (unsolicited) advice is to just work your way down from the top.

Pick one section per week to research, see what interests you, and take it from there.

This article is pinned to my profile so you can always come back to it.

Last Thing (promise)...

I do not warrant the efficacy of any product or service on this list. Do your own research before purchasing anything. Some resources are my own products or have affiliate links.

Content Creators:

FP&A Content Creators (A-Z):

• ?? Aliyyah Abdullah : Strategic and Operational Finance Leader
• ?? Anders Liu-Lindberg : Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on how to succeed with business partnering
• ?? Asif Masani : Leads the FP&A function for APAC and India at one of the world’s most successful online education companies
• ?? Carl Seidman : FP&A advisor, training specialist, and Founder of Seidman Financial
• ?? Chris Ortega : Finance, FP&A and CFO partner and CEO of Fresh FP&A
• ?? Christian Wattig : Teaching FP&A skills to finance teams and business leaders
• ?? Kathy Svetina : Fractional CFO for women-owned growing businesses. Her content focuses on FP&A in small businesses and how they can use it to be financially healthy & sustainable
• ?? Lance Rubin : Founder of Model Citizn and Co-founder of EXL Cloud
• ?? Larysa Melnychuk : Founder and CEO at FP&A Trends Group
• ?? Nicolas Boucher : Practical accounting and FP&A advice for finance professionals
• ?? Paul Barnhurst : Founder of the FP&A Guy
• ?? Robert Bendetti : CFO of Life Engineering and started the CFO Council in South Carolina
• ?? Tejas Parikh : tons of thought provoking content in FP&A
• ?? Terrell Turner : 40 under 40 CPA and NY Times featured CFO

Private Equity Content Creators (A-Z):

• ?? Chris Reilly : Guess I'll put myself on here — I post about Private Equity, FP&A, and teach financial modeling.
• ?? Mike Kimpel : Founder & CEO at Finance|able. A lot of nice content around M&A, PE, & Banking.
• ?? Viswanathan M B : founder of Profectus Academy, Viswanathan posts extremely thought-provoking content related to FP&A, Private Equity, and Financial Modeling. A must-follow for anyone interested in this space.
• ?? Do you know others?? Please let me know!

Data & Analytics Content Creators (A-Z)

• ?? Danielle Stein Fairhurst : Danielle founded the Financial Modellers’ Meetup groups and is the author of “Using Excel for Business and Financial Modelling” Third Edition and “Financial Modeling in Excel For Dummies”
• ?? Enterprise DNA Ltd : Empowering organizations to transform raw data into unmatched insights using Microsoft's Power BI suite of tools.
• ?? George Mount : Founder of Stringfest Analytics, George works with leading bootcamps, practice organizations and education institutions to develop analytics talent.
• ?? Helen Wall : LinkedIn instructor for Microsoft Power BI, Excel, R, and AWS
• ?? Jordan Morris Goldmeier : One of the leading global minds on data science, data visualization, and analytics. His content (& client list) speaks for itself.

Newsletters

FP&A Newsletters (A-Z)

• ?? Finance Transformation Times : Learn the Next Generation Of Finance And Stay Abreast Of All The Latest Developments In Finance & Accounting.
• ?? FP&A Professionals : Asif Masani's goal is to help 1 million students, professionals and executives develop essential FP&A skills.
• ?? FP&A Tuesday : A bi-weekly newsletter where Christian Wattig shares what he learned during his 12 years in FP&A leadership roles at P&G, Unilever, and Squarespace.
• ?? Here's the Future of FP&A and Business Partnering : The CFO wants more value from Finance. It is on FP&A to deliver but how? A weekly newsletter.
• ?? Nicolas Boucher Online : Monthly newsletter sharing practical advice for Finance Professionals
• ?? The FP&A Guy : Updates, resources, and tools for FP&A professionals.
• ?? Trends in Finance & Accounting : Change is everywhere! Also in the finance function. This series will keep you updated on the latest trends and changes.

Private Equity Newsletters (A-Z)

• ?? Axios Pro Rata : Dive into the world of dealmakers across VC, PE and M&A. By Dan Primack, the best-sourced deals reporter, with a weekend edition by Kia Kokalitcheva.
• ?? Exec Sum by Litquidity : Daily newsletter that curates major news spanning Wall Street to Silicon Valley, with a touch of humor and memes. Read by investment bankers, institutional investors, venture capitalists, and more.
• ?? Hey, still reading?? Most private equity newsletters are paid subscriptions. Know any free ones? Please — let me know!

Data & Analytics Newsletters (A-Z)

• ?? The Data Bridge : from Helen Wall , a newsletter about why the context of the data matters more than the numbers themselves.
• ?? The Intelligent Business : Moving from Data as a Technology to becoming a Data Driven or Intelligent Business.

Podcasts

FP&A Podcasts:

• ?? FP&A Today : hosted by Paul Barnhurst — FP&A Today is the podcast for Financial Planning and Analysis. The weekly show dives into the challenges and opportunities within the world of FP&A, interviewing FP&A leaders, CFOs and other finance pros in order to give you the freshest insights and takeaways.
• ?? The Being Planful Podcast with some great FP&A, CFO and Finance leaders hosted by Rowan Tonkin.
• ?? The Finance & Accounting Show : practical insights for business where Accounting and Finance meet Business Strategy

Private Equity Podcasts:

• ?? the Private Equity funcast : awesome podcast from ParkerGale that gives great insight into the world of PE. A must listen for PE professionals.
• ?? The Full Ratchet : more of a VC focus but goes into great detail on early stage companies with some awesome guests — by Nick Moran .
• ?? Next Wave Private Equity : hosted by Winna Brown , EY Americas FAAS Private Equity Leader — she explores the emergence of NextWave Private Equity and its impact on the economy and society.

Data & Analytics Podcasts:

• ?? the Financial Modelling Podcast : hosted by Matthew Bernath — an awesome deep dive into the world of building financial models.

YouTube Channels:

FP&A YouTube Channels:

• ?? Fresh FP&A : channel that accompanies Chris Ortega's Fresh FP&A.
• ?? The Finance & Accounting Show (YouTube) : channel that accompanies the Finance & Accounting Show Podcast.

Private Equity YouTube Channels:

• ?? Mergers & Inquisitions : from Breaking into Wall Street (BIWS) — great modeling-focused videos that cover a variety of topicsContent Creators
• ?? Financeable Training : videos to help you gain the core skills you need to succeed in a career in Investment Banking, Private Equity, or Hedge Funds, including interview prep.
• ?? Again, we're light on the PE side. Know any? Please let me know.

Data & Analytics YouTube Channels:

• ?? Profectus Academy : comprehensive modeling channel from Viswanathan M B that will take your skills to the next level.

Books

FP&A Books (A-Z)

• ?? Corporate Financial Analysis: 3 in 1
• ?? Create value as a Finance Business Partner
• ?? Financial Intelligence, Revised Edition
• ?? Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management
• ?? Financial Planning and Analysis with SAP
• ?? HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers
• ?? The CFO Guidebook
• ?? The Financial Controller and CFO's Toolkit

Private Equity Books (A-Z)

• ?? Barbarians at the Gate
• ?? King of Capital
• ?? Mastering Private Equity
• ?? Private Equity Operational Due Diligence
• ?? Private Equity Secrets Revealed
• ?? Term Sheets & Valuations
• ?? The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital
• ?? The Private Equity Playbook

Data & Analytics Books (A-Z)

• ?? Advancing into Analytics
• ?? Becoming a Data Head
• ?? Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling
• ?? Performance Dashboards and Analysis for Value Creation

Courses & Education

FP&A Courses:

• ?? FP&A Modeling Certification : from Wall Street Prep, a comprehensive FP&A program & modeling certification
• ?? FP&A Bootcamp : From Christian Wattig — Learn how to tell the financial story of your business, lead the forecasting and planning processes, and get insights through business partnering and financial modeling. It's four 2-hour long workshops delivered live via Zoom. The course is highly interactive, so you can connect with like-minded professionals and immediately apply what you learn.
• ?? Wall Street Prep FP&A Technical Mastery Boot Camp : The program focuses on technical analysis, risk management, business cases, growth planning, and advanced Excel.
• ?? Seidman Financial Learning Programs : FP&A teams and professionals at many Fortune 500 companies and consulting firms are trained through these programs.
• ?? Full Stack Modeller : an online learning and membership community for finance professionals who want to master financial modeling
• ?? Become a High-performing Finance Professional : from Nicolas Boucher , he said, "this is the course I created if I wanted to teach the younger me all the tips and knowledge that helped me succeed in finance."
• ?? Association for Financial Professionals : The leading professional association for FP&A offers a wide array of training and development programs in financial planning, data analysis, and treasury.
• ?? FMVA Certification from Corporate Finance Institute : program designed to teach practical applications of accounting, Excel, finance, financial modeling, valuation, presentations, and other critical skills that financial analysts need.

Private Equity Courses:

• ?? Financial Modeling for Private Equity : a real-life LBO in the middle-market (this is my flagship course)
• ?? Private Equity Masterclass : from Wall Street Prep. Also features my LBO course, but gives you public company exposure, due diligence prep, and CPE credits.
• ?? A Simple Model : amazing models & simple videos from Peter Lynch .

Data & Analytics Courses:

• ?? Advanced Microsoft Power BI : Helen Wall guides you through the advanced capabilities of Power BI.

Helpful to All Courses:

• ?? Three Statement Template : start with the basics — a "plug-and-play" three statement template with instructional videos.
• ?? Financial Modeling Institute : Differentiate yourself with the modeling community’s most highly sought after model building accreditation.
• ?? Certified Value Growth Advisors : a value creation system for business advisors.

Financial Modeling Add-ins / Resources (free & paid):

• ?? Wall Street Macros : free Excel plugin with shortcuts geared towards financial modelers. Been using it for almost 15 years.
• ?? ASAP Utilities : another excellent (paid) Excel plugin with a focus on financial modeling.
• ?? Macabacus : paid Excel (and PPT) plug-ins focused on financial modeling and productivity.

How About Some Soft Skills?

A lot of the resources here focus on technical or "hard skills" like modeling & analysis.

But, what about soft skills?

Here's a post I made about the qualities I would look for in a Private Equity Associate .

The qualities are mostly transferrable to other areas of finance.

Closing Out — What Did I Miss?

This list will be updated often so be sure to bookmark it.

Have a resource that was a "game-changer" for your career?

I definitely want to know about it and add it to the list.

Please just DM me on LinkedIn — here's my profile .

—Chris