The Future of FP&A with AI for Finance Professionals to Move Beyond Excel Analysis with Derek Baker

About this episode

Derek Baker discusses the impact of AI on financial reporting and the evolution of FP&A roles in growing companies.

In this episode of FP&A Unlocked , Paul Barnhurst chats with Derek Baker, the Head of Strategic Finance at Circle, a growth-stage SaaS company. Derek shares insights from his experience in building strategic finance functions, scaling finance teams, and using AI to optimize financial reporting. Derek Baker is the Head of Strategic Finance at Circle, a growth-stage SaaS company focused on building an all-in-one platform for online communities. He has built the Strategic Finance function from the ground up, covering areas like pricing, sales compensation, investor due diligence, and AI-powered financial reporting. Prior to Circle, Derek co-founded The FP&A Hub with Paul Barnhurst and Liran Edelist to support finance professionals. His career spans FP&A roles across SaaS, marketplace, and biotech startups. Expect to Learn: How AI is transforming financial reporting and analysis in FP&A. The role of business partnering in aligning FP&A with strategic decisions. Derek's transition from spreadsheets to AI-driven financial models. How FP&A evolves as companies scale. Here are a few relevant quotes from the episode: “Spreadsheets are great for MVP models, but AI…

People in this episode

Host: Paul Barnhurst

Guest: Derek Baker

Topics covered

• AI in finance
• financial reporting
• FP&A evolution
• business partnering
• strategic finance

Keywords

• AI
• financial analysis
• Excel
• strategic finance
• SaaS
• financial reporting
• business partnering

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Circle, The FP&A Hub, SaaS, biotech

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