How you can become an AI CFO
Next week I am hosting my first AI CFO Masterclass of 2026.
I will teach you:
– How to automate reporting, forecasting & analysis (without writing code)
– How to cut days of manual work down to minutes
– How to adopt AI securely with confidence
If you feel you are falling behind with AI, this year is your chance to catch up.
Your team just spent 3 days delivering perfect analysis.
But they presented it to your colleagues, and…
Nobody listened.
You know this situation. The team comes super prepared to a meeting with fifteen slides of detailed analysis.
But, by slide three, half the room is checking their phones already.
And, by slide seven, the CEO interrupts: “Can you just tell me what this means for the business?”
Your team does not know what to say.
And here is the big problem.
They spent all their time on the analysis, and no time on how to explain why it matters.
They are presenting reports when the business needs stories.
Why? Because you didn’t have time (or find the time).
But now you don’t have any excuse anymore. If you use what I am about to share in this newsletter.
(Hint: Yes, it means using AI, but you will be able to use it straight away)
Accurate but Annoying
You train the team to be accurate.
You are a numbers person, and you take your data seriously.
So when your team presents, they give all the details. Because if it’s in the data, it must be important, no?
But, the problem is, when you read every data point from a slide, the room gets annoyed really fast, and switches off.
I’ve known finance pros so good at Excel, they could build a waterfall chart with conditional formatting in their sleep.
But when presenting to the team, they’d lose the room in minutes.
This is because they were giving information instead of insights.
The business doesn’t want ALL of the information. They just want to know:
- What happened (context)
- Why it matters (insight)
- What to do about it (action)
Most finance teams don’t know how to structure insights for decision-making.
“What”, “So What”, “Now What”
This framework is the reason McKinsey presentations never lose the room.
McKinsey uses it, they write about it in the Harvard Business Review, and so do Stanford and Forbes.
And now your finance team can use it too.
It works because it mirrors exactly how executives make decisions. Here’s how:
1. What
Describe what you observed in your analysis (the headline number or situation). Keep this technical part clear and concise.
Old way:
“Revenue decreased 12% in Europe. In France it was down 15%, Germany down 8%, Spain down 10%. By product line, Product A was down 20%, Product B was flat, Product C was up 5%…”
New way:
“Revenue dropped 12% in Europe.”
Keep this brief. One slide maximum.
2. So What
Identify the implications (why should your audience care?) – This is the emotional part, so tension must be high.
Old way:
“As you can see from the variance analysis, this represents a significant deviation from our forecast. We will need to review the drivers and assess the implications going forward.”
New way:
“This 12% drop means we’ll miss our annual target by €5M. It puts pressure on our cash position because we’ve already committed to Q4 marketing spend. And if this continues, we’ll need to revise our hiring plan.”
This is where you add value by connecting the data to real business consequences.
3. Now What
Define a course of action (what are the next steps?) – Give recommendations, but always keep the options open.
Old way:
“We should continue to monitor the situation closely and discuss potential options in our next leadership meeting.”
New way:
“I recommend we delay two planned hires until Q1. This protects our cash position while keeping our growth investments intact. We can reassess once we have Q4 results.”
It’s super important to give a clear recommendation.
The business doesn’t want to “monitor the situation”, they just want to know what to do!
So how can you use AI for this?
Finance Storytelling with AI (3-Steps)
The excuse your team used to have:
“I don’t have time to restructure my presentations. I’m too busy building the analysis.”
That excuse just disappeared.
AI can help your team apply this framework to any presentation in minutes. Here’s exactly how.
Step 1: Find the Insights
Before you build the story, you need to know which insights matter most.
Have your team open their AI tool (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or Claude) and use this prompt:
Important: If you don’t have a corporate license, anonymise the data or give just non-confidential information.
Focus on business impact, not just data observations.
Focus on business impact, not just data observations.
In 5 minutes, they’ll have a list of insights ranked by business importance.
Now they know what insights are story-worthy.
Step 2: Build the What/So What/Now What Story
Now take those insights and structure them into the framework.
Use this prompt:
2. Elaborate the “So What”: Explain why this information is significant. How does it impact the audience, the company, or the broader context? What are the implications, consequences, or opportunities?
You can then use it to build your presentation.
Pro Tip – If you have Microsoft 365 Copilot, paste that outline into Copilot in PowerPoint (Copilot button → Create presentation → Paste outline) to generate slides in minutes.
Now you have a presentation structure in 15 minutes instead of 3 hours.
Plus, you can use that saved time to think deeper about the “So What” and “Now What”, because AI can’t answer those as well as you and your team can.
Step 3: Practice Delivery
The framework doesn’t work if your team reads slides word-for-word.
Have each person practice using PowerPoint’s Rehearsal Coach (Slideshow → Rehearsal Coach in PowerPoint online).
The AI tracks pace, filler words, whether they’re reading slides etc.
After they present, they get a detailed report showing what to improve.
The goal is to make them aware of how they deliver, so they can fix it.
If you want more detail on using AI to create slides and practice – I covered this in depth in 90% faster finance presentations (in 3 simple steps).
Plus, watch my conversation with Soufyan (the ultimate finance storyteller) here, and learn more about his teaching here.
The One Thing to Remember
Your CEO is not interested in the data, they are interested in what the data means, and what they can do about it.
And, you are uniquely positioned to be able to tell amazing stories with your data (as finance understands data the best!).
Your team has the insights already. The framework just gives you the structure to deliver those insights as stories, not reports.
And, with AI, you can spend more time on the strategic work only your team can do: the “So What” and the “Now What.”
Bonus Tip: Prepare for Questions
Here’s one last thing to ask your team to do before each presentation.
Have them upload their presentation to their AI tool (if you have a corporate license). If not, just explain the goal of the presentation and the main info without giving confidential information.
Then use this prompt:
This prepares your team for the tough questions before they walk into the room.
Your Move
Pick a recent presentation and re-build it using “What, So What, Now What.”
Use AI to help you answer the questions:
- Is the “What” brief and clear?
- Does the “So What” explain business impact?
- Does the “Now What” give a clear recommendation?
- What questions might you be asked that you need to prepare for?
The framework is simple. And now with AI, it’s never been easier to become the finance business partner that people remember. By telling the best stories.
Start right now.
Best,
Your AI Finance Expert,
Nicolas
P.S. – What did you think of this? Will you use it? Hit reply (I read all replies)
P.P.S. – See more of this in my interview with Soufyan, an expert in financial storytelling, to see how he uses AI to build clear finance decks. Watch the video “BEST Way to Use AI to Create Financial Presentations” here.