ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

Hello, I'm Nicolas Boucher.

I share practical insights on AI in finance, with short and clear examples you can use right away.

My goal is to help you save time, work smarter, and lead the AI shift in your finance team.

I saved $5,000 with this automation (you can build it in 20-mins)

So I want to ask you something. How many Excel files did you consolidate this month? I will tell you my story. ​Once I received a sales tax audit, and…

This one method will replace 3 hours of Excel forecasting (steal it)

Most finance pros I've spoken to in the last year have said some version of the same thing to me.​"I know I should be doing more with Python and forecasting…

This 1 question turns any AI chat into a reusable finance assistant

So, you have spent hours typing into ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or Claude. You’ve had a really long discussion, and at the end you finally get the output you wanted from…

This Ex-Deloitte consultant’s 4-step AI method feels like cheating (now it’s yours)

I want to tell you about something that happened on a call I had recently with a finance leader. She was frustrated because every time she tried to use AI…

Why my 10-minute cash flow beats your 2-hour version (steal this)

If you're being honest, it takes at least one to two hours to build a 13 week cash flow model, no? And this assumes that you have no interruptions, no…

How I build finance models with AI in 5-mins (without manual Excel formulas)

I made a big mistake by ignoring Claude for too long. It’s now really good at finance use cases. (Plus, you can use it in Excel now too…) You’re probably…

The 10-second Excel formula tricks 90% of finance pros miss

You’re in Excel, and you need to extract the year and quarter from a date column. So now you are opening a new tab. Googling “Excel formula year quarter”, and…

Stop looking unprepared in 2026 (30-second trick inside)

It’s 12PM on Monday. It’s your first day back after New Year, and you’ve just about cleared your inbox. Then, your phone buzzes: “Just reminding you about that working capital…

75% of finance pros miss this insane ChatGPT feature

Here's something almost nobody knows about ChatGPT. There's a mode that most finance pros have never turned on. And it's the difference between getting a basic description of your file…

How to impress your family at Xmas dinner with AI

So, you’re about to spend the holidays with your family. And at some point, someone’s going to ask what you’ve been up to. You could say “work’s busy” and watch…

How to turn 50 finance PDFs into 1 searchable brain in 20 minutes

Last Monday, a head of tax told me she found a way to consolidate all the recent tax updates across multiple documents and websites (which would normally take hours). She…

Your AI financial analysis is wrong (how to fix it in 3-minutes)

Last month, I was training a big American Saas company. In this session, I showed 35 of their finance pros two AI analyses of the same cost center data. The…

Prompting 101: The best finance pros learnt this AI secret first

Question for you: How many times when you ask AI to analyze something, have you got the exact answer you wanted? Something you could show to the board, or use…

You don’t need an AI agent (you need this instead)

Can you tell the difference between Automation, an AI workflow, and an AI agent? If you can’t, you’re not alone. The AI world right now is a mess of super…

How I created an ‘AI Digital Twin’ that saves me 100mins/week

Let me ask you this. How many times this week did you ask ChatGPT something, get back a response, and then straight away think: “This is way too generic. This…

Stop spending 3 hours creating finance visuals (use this 10 min AI trick instead)

So, you’ve finally got your models built, and your numbers are accurate. But now you are dreading the 3 hours you are about to spend in PowerPoint, trying to make…

AI did my 2-hour Excel task in 5 minutes

Are you right now busy with your budget 2026? What about if I can find you 2 hours more in your day? Check the use case below with all the…

We spent 3 hours arguing about hiring 4 or 6 people (and completely missed this)

Let me tell you about the worst headcount planning meeting I ever sat through. It was 3 hours long. We had 14 people in the room. And we spent the…

How I create presentations with AI

It’s late Friday afternoon, and your boss just informed you that the quarterly sales review, originally scheduled for next month, has been moved to Monday morning. You need to present…

90% of financial modelers disagree with me on this

The most common objection I hear from you when it comes to AI (I hear this all the time). ​ When I posted about Excel Agent Mode a few months…

I spent 3 days on board decks, now only 3 hours

Every month, in my previous role, I was spending 3 days preparing the Business Operational Review presentation. You know this feeling. Three stressful and super frustrating days of pulling data…

This CFO refused to use Python for forecasting (and why he was right)

Last week, I was running a live AI forecasting workshop with a room full of senior finance leaders. We'd just finished building revenue prediction models in Python. Seasonal adjustments, backtesting,…

Steal my AI accuracy method (from 7 years in audit at PwC)

So, your analyst is sending you the monthly variance commentary. It's well-written and insightful. It even identifies the key drivers perfectly. You're impressed. Until you check the numbers. Revenue variance?…

I wasted 3 days on finance automation and saved no time (avoid this)

Your team is excited about AI and automation. They've attended the webinars, read the articles, and now they come to you with ideas: "Let's automate our monthly reporting!" "Can we…

Stop being a finance request ‘help desk’ (free yourself in 5-steps)

How many annoying info requests from other departments did your team get last week? Questions that you have answered like 24 times already. The same questions, 2 or 3 times…

30 days to a finance team your competitors will envy (full guide inside)

CFOs have been asking me this same question for 3 years. “How do I upskill my team on AI without creating chaos or security risks?” Over the last few years,…

This 1 bad AI habit is costing finance pros 8 hrs/month (fix inside)

Month-end is super stressful (some of you still haven’t closed and we are on day 12 already). Even if your process is simple, you’re probably still spending 8 or more…

Why nobody listens to your finance presentations (3-word fix inside)

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…

The 13-minute Monday routine I stole from a VC CFO (it’s yours in 5-steps)

You have 20+ meetings per week. Investor calls. Vendor pitches. Your CEO’s “quick sync” (which is never quick). Cold calls from people you’ve never heard of. When was the last…

90% faster finance presentations (in 3-simple steps)

It’s 4PM the day before your board meeting. But, you’ve been so busy this month that you’ve not even started your presentation yet. You’re dreading the time you are about…

99% of finance pros don’t use all these 4 analysis types (AI fix inside)

Last month’s financial review started well. You walked the team carefully through the numbers. Revenue was up 8%, COGS variance was out by $127K, and operating expenses were above budget.…

After training 150+ finance teams on AI – here’s what the top 10% do differently

The main reason finance pros work with me is because they do not want to feel like they are falling behind. This feels like a big problem, especially when you…

Machine learning in 6 steps: How to make better decisions with finance data your brain can’t see

Forecasting is difficult, but making good decisions from your finance data is an even bigger challenge. Especially if you cannot afford an expensive FP&A tool (and even when you have…

Which 1 AI tool should your finance team use? (hint: you already have it)

Last month, I had a call with a CFO who was asking me which AI tool his team should use. ChatGPT? Copilot? Claude? Gemini? His finance team was all over…

How to keep your finance data safe using AI in 3-steps (plus safe list inside)

People ask me all the time this: “Nicolas, how do we keep our data safe using AI?” And, you know what still shocks me, even now? Every week I see…

Your team is delivering 10x more inaccurate work with AI (here’s the fix)

Tell me, do you spend a lot of time reviewing the work of your team, because you’re worried AI made it up? How many times have you asked yourself these…

How to turn 15 hours of contract headache into 15 mins using AI

It’s 4pm on the last Friday of the month. You need to finish the revenue forecast by the end of the day. The only thing missing is the contract terms…

How to cut Forecasting time by 90% using AI

Let me ask you something: How many hours did your team spend on last month’s forecast? If you’re like most of the finance teams I’ve coached, the answer is between…

Excel can build your financial model in minutes (here’s how)

If you still build models cell-by-cell, you’re wasting hours you’ll never get back. I thought this would take more years…but it’s already here Microsoft Excel’s new Agent Mode is here,…