Your Finance Team: Strategic Partners or Just Excel Jockeys? (And Why It's Not Their Fault)
- Austin Camacho
- Apr 8
- 4 min read
We say we want strategic insights from our finance teams. But look at most mid-market companies and you'll find FP&A staff trapped in endless cycles of data manipulation and reporting. The disconnect is real, and it's not the fault of the analysts themselves.
Let's be honest: We expect strategic FP&A partners but are creating Excel operators instead.
The Reality of FP&A: Sarah's Story
Sarah, who is a former colleague now CFO at a prominent SaaS company, couldn't understand why her FP&A team wasn't delivering the strategic insights the CEO demanded. She'd hired an analyst with impressive technical credentials and equipped them with the latest tools.
"I need you to tell me what these numbers mean for our business strategy," the CEO would say during executive meetings. But when Sarah turned to her analyst, he'd respond with more charts, more data cuts, and more variance analyses—rarely with actionable recommendations.
The breaking point came during annual planning when the CEO asked, "How would extending our sales cycle by two weeks impact our cash position?" Sarah's team couldn't answer without building a new model from scratch. They knew the numbers were cold but couldn't translate them into business implications.
After reflection, Sarah realized her mistake: she'd hired for Excel proficiency but hadn't developed her analysts’ business acumen. He spent 70% of their time gathering and validating data, leaving almost no bandwidth to understand the underlying business drivers or connect with frontline operations.
The Excel Operator Trap
In many finance departments, the typical day for an analyst looks remarkably similar:
68% of time spent gathering, validating, and reconciling data (EY Finance Survey)
22% producing standard reports and presentations
10% or less on actual analysis and business partnership
This relentless focus on mechanical tasks creates technically proficient spreadsheet experts who lack the business context to deliver meaningful insights. When executives demand strategic input, these analysts can provide accurate numbers but struggle to translate them into actionable recommendations.
The Strategic Partner Difference
True finance business partners move beyond reporting what happened to shaping what should happen next. They:
Connect financial outcomes to operational decisions
Anticipate risks and spot opportunities before they appear in the data
Translate complex financial concepts into business language
Influence strategy rather than simply documenting it
According to McKinsey research, finance functions that successfully make this transition become 70% more effective at supporting business decisions (McKinsey).
The Development Gap
But are our financial leaders actually empowering FP&A professionals to gain meaningful business visibility—or are we just handing them Excel models and telling them to "get us the numbers"?
It's a two-way street. If we want analysts who can articulate our value proposition, understand our business drivers, and deliver strategic insights, we need to invest in developing their critical thinking alongside their technical skills.
Building Strategic Finance Partners: A Framework
Creating a finance team that delivers strategic value requires deliberate focus in four key areas:
1. Expose them to the business
Include finance in customer and product meetings
Schedule rotational assignments with operational teams
Create opportunities to experience frontline operations firsthand
Share competitive intelligence and market trends
2. Invest in business acumen
Provide training beyond financial modeling and Excel
Discuss the "why" behind metrics, not just the "what"
Encourage curiosity about customer needs and market dynamics
Facilitate conversations with business leaders outside finance
3. Automate the mundane
Implement tools that reduce manual data processing
Create standardized, repeatable processes for routine reports
Focus analyst energy on exception analysis, not data collection
Build systems that free up time for higher-value activities
4. Elevate expectations and accountability
Set clear expectations for strategic contribution
Evaluate performance on insights delivered, not just reports completed
Recognize and reward business impact
Create safe spaces to develop and test hypotheses
The Case for Change
Organizations that successfully develop strategic finance partners gain significant advantages:
Most importantly, they build a pipeline of future finance leaders with the balanced perspective needed to guide the business through uncertainty and change.
Beyond the Spreadsheet
The strongest finance teams aren't just technically proficient—they're given context, invited to strategy discussions, and challenged to think beyond the spreadsheet. They understand why customers choose your company and what makes your business unique.
This broader perspective doesn't happen by accident. It requires leaders who intentionally create environments where business acumen grows alongside technical skills. It means investing in people even when deadlines create pressure to just "get the numbers."
Finding the Balance
If we want better FP&A partners, we need to create environments where understanding the business is as important as mastering the model. This means balancing:
Short-term reporting needs with long-term capability building
Technical training with business exposure
Process efficiency with strategic effectiveness
Quantitative analysis with qualitative understanding
Is your finance team stuck in Excel hell instead of driving strategy? Let's talk. I've helped finance leaders transform their teams from number crunchers to business partners who deliver both accurate reporting and meaningful insights.
About the Author
Austin Camacho helps growing companies build finance teams that drive strategy and growth through efficient processes and business-focused capabilities.
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