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Michael Carpenter posted thisAI adoption is rising. Trust is not. That’s the real story in customer experience right now. 51% of people are using AI to research things. But 76% say they only trust it some of the time—or hardly at all. That gap matters. It means usage ≠ confidence. And without confidence, experiences break under pressure. The companies getting this right aren’t going all-in on automation. They’re designing for trust. • Intuit is seeing strong repeat usage—not from AI alone, but AI + human experts when it matters • Shake Shack is investing in connected systems so experiences actually feel consistent and relevant • Even small things—like language and fees—are shaping how customers interpret intent and trust The takeaway is simple: The next phase of CX isn’t about more AI. It’s about making AI feel safe to use. For leaders, that means: Don’t remove humans—use them where confidence matters most Don’t measure usage—measure repeat trust Don’t optimize for speed—optimize for outcomes people believe in AI can scale experiences. Trust is what makes them work.
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Michael Carpenter posted thisJensen Huang just killed the AI jobs panic. Not with a forecast. With a pattern. Huang: “The fact of the matter is PCs made us more busy. The internet made us more busy. Mobile devices made us super busy.” Every tool that promised to free us expanded what we could reach instead. The PC did not give accountants their afternoons back. It gave them ten times the clients. The internet did not slow anything down. It erased the geographic limit on what one person could build. The smartphone did not hand you time. It handed work your coordinates and never let go. None of them reduced what we did. All of them raised what we could. AI will not be different. It will not give you rest. It will give you a thousand things you couldn’t have built before. The people waiting for relief are reading the wrong pattern. This was never about less. It was always about expanding what one person can attempt. The panic runs on one assumption. That labor is surplus. Huang: “We are millions of truck drivers short. We are tens of millions of manufacturing workers short.” The economy is not drowning in surplus labor. It is bleeding from the absence of it. Robots are not arriving as invaders. They are arriving as reinforcements to a system already failing without them. The collapse was already underway. The machines just showed up to a building already on fire. Huang: “They’ll hire more people to manage more robots, hire more people, manage more agents.” The raw work is leaving human hands. The direction of it is not. Every company deploying agents still needs someone deciding what they’re pointed at. The question is not whether AI replaces you. The question is whether you learn to command it before someone who already has. Every tool that promised less work delivered more world. AI will be the largest expansion of that pattern in history. You are not losing your job to a machine. You are losing it to someone who learned to run one
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Michael Carpenter posted thisThe CEO says, “Our order book has been flat for the second half of the year. What is shipping volume for the market and or our competitors looking like.” Short answer: yes — a good CFO or analyst should be able to answer that question, but not from one system or one query. What the CEO is asking is actually exactly where good finance separates itself: “Our order book is flat — is that us, or the market?” That’s not a data question. That’s a synthesis question. What the market is actually doing (right now) Here’s the high-level reality based on current market data: The market has been in oversupply for the past 2–3 years Production ramped aggressively (nearly tripled from 2020–2024) Demand came in slower than expected Result: → High inventories → Price pressure → Buyers slowing purchases More recently: Supply is still high, but tightening Some production cuts and pauses Market is moving toward balance / possible deficit in 2026 And on actual flows: Chile exports (a proxy for global shipments) were down ~13% YoY in a recent month Meanwhile, production is still increasing in some regions 👉 Translation for a CEO: Shipments are uneven. Supply is still flowing. Demand is inconsistent. That creates exactly what you’re seeing: → Flat or choppy order books → Customers delaying purchases → Inventory still working through the system How a strong finance function would answer your question A good CFO / analyst wouldn’t just “search.” They would triangulate three layers: 1. External (market reality) Industry production (LCE volumes) Export data (Chile, Australia, China) Battery / EV demand trends Inventory levels 2. Customer behavior Order timing shifts (delay vs cancel) Contract vs spot mix Customer inventory positions 3. Internal performance Win rates Pricing vs market Segment performance (EV, storage, industrial) The real insight you’re looking for The goal isn’t: “What is shipping volume?” It’s: “Are we underperforming — or is the market pausing?” Based on current data, a CFO would likely frame it like this: 👉 Base case hypothesis: Market demand is uneven / slower than expected Customers are managing inventory Flat order book ≠ necessarily lost share 👉 But you need to test: Are competitors also flat? Are we losing deals on price? Are certain segments still growing (e.g., storage vs EV)? This is the real CFO value This is exactly where: “A CFO gives the CEO time back” Because instead of you chasing: industry reports sales explanations ops excuses A good CFO would come in with: 👉 “Here’s what’s happening in the market” 👉 “Here’s what’s happening in our business” 👉 “Here’s what we should do next”
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Michael Carpenter posted thisCEOs: Anthropic is hiring 18 accountants. Yes — the company that built Claude. One of the most advanced AI systems in the world. One of the largest NetSuite customers. And they still can’t automate their close. Why does that matter to you? Because it resets expectations. ⸻ Their CFO said it clearly: The books aren’t autonomous. The close isn’t automated. Every month still requires human judgment. Even there. ⸻ So when you hear: “Self-driving accounting” “Autonomous finance” “Replace your finance team with AI” Be careful. If the company building the AI can’t do it… Your business isn’t going to either. ⸻ This is actually how CEOs should think about it: AI is not replacing finance. It’s compressing time. → Lease review: minutes instead of hours → Compensation benchmarking: a day instead of a month → Data aggregation: near instant That’s not automation of judgment. That’s acceleration of analysis. ⸻ We’ve seen this before. Early ERP systems were a 60–80% fit. The rest? → Excel → Workarounds → Smart people connecting the dots AI looks very similar right now. A powerful layer on top — not a fully integrated system. ⸻ So what does this mean for you as a CEO? You don’t need fewer finance people. You need better leverage from them. → Less time in Layer 1 (manual work) → More time in Layer 2 (analysis) → And critically — more time in Layer 3 (decisions) ⸻ Because this is the real risk: Not that AI replaces your finance team. But that your team stays stuck in transactions… While your competitors move faster on decisions. ⸻ Anthropic isn’t hiring 18 AI agents. They’re hiring 18 people. Probably more analytical. More tech-enabled. More focused on judgment. That’s the shift. ⸻ AI won’t run your finance function. But it will expose whether your finance function is built to think. And that’s what actually matters. How is your team using AI today — saving time, or making better decisions?
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Michael Carpenter posted thisThere’s a lot of noise right now in finance circles: “AI isn’t really driving ROI in finance.” I’ve heard this before. Same conversation in the early 90s when ERP systems showed up. “What’s the ROI of a new general ledger?” At the time, finance teams had floors of people working off green bar reports just to gather data before they could analyze it. We made the case: → Enter data once → Reduce errors and rework → Get information faster → Spend less time collecting, more time thinking Did we always quantify the ROI? Not really. But everyone understood the shift: From 80% transactions / 20% analysis → To 20% transactions / 80% analysis That was the real value. ⸻ AI is the same shift — just faster. The ROI isn’t always headcount reduction. It’s time compression. → “Read this lease and flag issues” 60 seconds instead of 90 minutes → “Benchmark compensation by role, experience, geography” A day instead of a month → “Summarize this contract / model / dataset” Minutes instead of hours So what’s the value of that? It’s not just cost savings. It’s moving finance further up the curve. ⸻ The real unlock is this: Finance teams get out of Layer 1 faster. → Less manual work → Less data gathering → Less rework And that time gets pushed into Layer 2 and Layer 3: → Better analysis → Faster decisions → More strategic input ⸻ We used to call it: “Redeploying to higher value activities.” Still true. But undersells it. Because what actually changes is how the business runs. Decisions get made faster. With better information. With less friction. ⸻ You don’t implement AI to save money. You implement it to change the mix of how finance spends its time. From reporting the past… To shaping what happens next. That’s the ROI. Whether you put a number on it or not.
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Michael Carpenter posted thisMost advice around “CFO vs Finance Director” misses what’s actually happening in $5M–$30M companies. In my experience… They don’t have either. They have a controller. Or a bookkeeper. Maybe both. Which means: Nobody owns Layer 3. ⸻ Layer 1 eats the calendar: → Close, reconciliations, reports → Keeping the numbers clean Layer 2 tries to keep up: → Some FP&A → Some analysis → Usually backward-looking Layer 3? → Strategy → Capital allocation → Forward-looking decisions That’s where the real value is. And it’s usually missing. ⸻ So when people say: “You probably just need a Finance Director…” I don’t agree. Because now you’re paying for: → A controller → A Finance Director And still might not get real strategic finance. ⸻ Here’s the reality: If all you have is someone operating at the controller level… There is massive opportunity cost. → Pricing doesn’t get challenged → Hiring decisions aren’t modeled → Cash issues show up late → Growth decisions rely on instinct And more importantly: Things get missed. Not because people aren’t good. Because no one is accountable for thinking ahead. ⸻ That’s why, in many of these companies, a Fractional CFO is the better answer. → Brings Layer 3 thinking without building a full team → Works with your controller, not on top of them → Focused on decisions, not just reporting → Adds leverage without adding permanent overhead ⸻ And there’s one more piece most people overlook: A good CFO doesn’t just improve finance. They give the CEO time back. → Time to focus on customers → Time to drive growth → Time to work on the business instead of reacting inside it That leverage alone often pays for itself. ⸻ You don’t need to overbuild finance. But you do need to cover all three layers. If nobody owns Layer 3… That’s the risk. And the opportunity. Which layer is your business actually operating in right now?
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Michael Carpenter posted thisMost companies don’t hire a CFO. They try to compress an accountant + bookkeeper + controller + CFO into one role… And pay it like bookkeeping. Then they wonder why: — margins are unclear — cash is tight — decisions feel reactive — The CFO you hired leaves I’ve been in this exact situation — more than once. It looks fine on the surface. Until it doesn’t. Because no one is actually responsible for financial thinking. ⸻ A CFO is not a cost. A CFO is the person who: — sees where profit is actually made — identifies where it leaks — structures pricing, costs, and cash And turns all of that into decisions. Companies with real CFO leadership tend to grow faster — not because of better spreadsheets, but because of better decisions. ⸻ For many companies, the answer isn’t building a bigger team or hiring a full-time CFO. It’s a Fractional CFO: → CFO-level thinking 2–4 days a month → Focused on the decisions that actually move the needle → Flexible, without the $250k+ commitment → Pattern recognition from companies that have been here before Because the goal isn’t to build a bigger team. It’s to make better decisions. ⸻ In many cases you probably dont need a full-time CFO. But you do need CFO thinking. That’s where a fractional CFO changes everything. ⸻ Revenue hides problems. Profit exposes them.
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Michael Carpenter posted thisCEOs: your FP&A team can create real value — if it’s coached and used the right way. But most aren’t. FP&A teams that spend most of their time building reports have already failed. Not their fault. It’s usually a leadership and design problem. FP&A doesn’t exist to produce reports. It exists to answer some key questions: What should we do next — and why? Everything else — the models, dashboards, variance analysis — is just infrastructure to answer that question better. At its core, FP&A should be driving three things: → What did we plan vs. what actually happened? → What changed — and what should we do about it? → What does the next month, quarter, and year look like now? When FP&A turns into a reporting factory, you start to see the breakdown: → The business stops listening to finance → Finance stops understanding the business → Decisions get made without financial logic (or finance gets pulled in to justify a decision already made) But when it works, it looks very different: → FP&A is in the room before decisions are made → Plans are continuously trued up with actuals — not reviewed once and forgotten → Tradeoffs are clear, and resources get reallocated in real time → Output isn’t Excel — it’s direction The best teams don’t treat FP&A as a reporting function. They treat it as a decision engine. The challenge? Most companies don’t have the leadership layer to make that shift stick. For many, the answer isn’t building a bigger FP&A team or hiring a full-time CFO. It’s a Fractional CFO: → CFO-level thinking 2–4 days a month → Focused on the decisions that actually move the needle → Flexible, without the $250k+ commitment → Pattern recognition from companies that have been here before Because the goal isn’t to build a bigger team. It’s to make better decisions. FP&A is a thinking function. Treat it that way. Curious — is FP&A at your company driving decisions, or documenting them after the fact?
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Michael Carpenter posted thisFive signs your financial model isn’t working for you: Only one person understands it If your model breaks when someone goes on vacation, it’s not a tool — it’s a liability. You can’t answer questions in real time “What happens if we hire 3 more reps?” If that takes days instead of minutes, you’re flying blind. Every scenario lives in a separate file Version chaos = decision paralysis. You should be able to toggle assumptions, not rebuild the model. Board reports take a week to build If reporting is a fire drill, your model isn’t built for decision-making. You don’t trust the outputs So you default to your gut… which defeats the entire purpose. A good financial model doesn’t just track the business. It helps you run it. Real finance looks like: → Scenario planning before decisions are made → Clear visibility into runway and tradeoffs → A capital allocation lens that keeps optimism in check → Insight from someone who’s seen how this plays out before For us, the answer wasn’t a full-time CFO. It was a Fractional CFO: → CFO-level thinking 2–4 days a month → Focused on the decisions that actually move the needle → Flexible, without the $250k+ commitment → Pattern recognition from companies that have been here before Because the goal isn’t to build a bigger team. It’s to make better decisions. Looking back, the question I wish I had asked sooner: Who is challenging our financial thinking before we act? If the answer is no one — that’s the gap. What’s a decision you’re making right now that would benefit from a second set of eyes? If your model isn’t giving you clarity, speed, and confidence — it’s not doing its job.
Experience & Education
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Chrgrplus, LLC
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Projects
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FoxPress
Reorganize and clean up accounting records. Post transactions and reconcile accounts. Get clean relevant financial information from the system. Build cash flow models. Build a rolling forecast. Line up rolling forecast with CEO owners vision. Understand business drivers and seasonality. Assist with strategic Costing/Pricing model.
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Swyft Series A
Credibly and urgently, Reforecast the business. Build a manageable cash forecast. Renegotiate senior debt. Renegotiate several material legal settlements. Renegotiate and manage all of the current business partners. understand revenue and cost drivers. Pitch capital raise to Board and existing shareholders. Manage and support due diligence. Ultimately complete a successful series A round. All while supporting the CEO and helping drive the day too day business
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Building design
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Our company embarked on a project to build a new building to move the operation into. Built a building design data base in AI. Loaded original design, Budgets and forecasts. Went through multiple rounds of redesign. Process flow. Significant SqFT increase then a right sizing. At each point reran cost models faster than our architects/designers and our Construction risk management team. Used AI to listen to key design meetings to catch Ownership/senior management comments and questions…
Our company embarked on a project to build a new building to move the operation into. Built a building design data base in AI. Loaded original design, Budgets and forecasts. Went through multiple rounds of redesign. Process flow. Significant SqFT increase then a right sizing. At each point reran cost models faster than our architects/designers and our Construction risk management team. Used AI to listen to key design meetings to catch Ownership/senior management comments and questions in real time. Used feedback to adjust cash flow forecasts for 2026/2027 and capital allocation models
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HR benchmarking
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In preparation for annual pay compensation review...Using an AI application. Built a knowledge base and benchmarked hourly pay for our team. Loaded actual. Created job roles. Reached into at least 10 external data bases. Iterated the output a few times. Added an experience level factor. Produced a position by position pay range for a 50 person business. Saved At least a month of research and iteration of excel.
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Practice/business assessment and benchmarking.
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Prepared a knowledge base in an AI application regarding historical results of the practice. Added Metro area statistics on growth and income... And propensity to require our services. Input a description of our major producers individual practices. Produced a benchmark at the producer level and business level of how our business stood relative to revenue, collections, staffing... and then compared us to others in our marketplace
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Expense reporting
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Directed an initiative to streamline credit card expense reporting. Built team. Engaged vendors. Project team completed rollout and training.
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Architect/design/staff accounting, finance, financial planning/analysis and billing group
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Design and execute accrual/GAAP financial reporting. Reconfigure and recruit team members. Collaborate with business unit leads regarding financial forecast and implement rolling forecast. Understand the CEO agenda and design reporting to support the CEO agenda. Engaged Sales director and Business unit leads regarding sales opportunity pipeline. Correlated the pipeline opportunities and closed deals to the top line revenue in the rolling forecast.
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Accounting Reorganization
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Advise and assist a commercial real estate organization on the structure and staffing of the legacy accounting department. Advised regarding the use of technology already in place plus some tactical add ons to improve workalike balance and productivity
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CellControl Series A
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Credibly and urgently, Reforecast the business. Build a manageable cash forecast. Renegotiate and manage all of the current business partners. Meet and present to 42 individual shareholders and solicit bridge funding, successfully. Pitch capital raise to Board and existing shareholders. With CEO present and pitch our story to many VC firms(probably 50 presentations). Manage and support due diligence. Ultimately complete a successful series A round. All while supporting the CEO and…
Credibly and urgently, Reforecast the business. Build a manageable cash forecast. Renegotiate and manage all of the current business partners. Meet and present to 42 individual shareholders and solicit bridge funding, successfully. Pitch capital raise to Board and existing shareholders. With CEO present and pitch our story to many VC firms(probably 50 presentations). Manage and support due diligence. Ultimately complete a successful series A round. All while supporting the CEO and helping drive the day to day business
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APMT/Fluuence Analytics Series A
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Reforecast the business. Build a manageable cash forecast. successfully. Pitch capital raise to Board and existing shareholders. With CEO present and pitch our story to many VC firms(probably 15 presentations). Manage and support due diligence. Ultimately complete a successful series A round. All while supporting the CEO and helping drive the day to day business
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Technology Virtual Training Organization
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Advise and assist a virtual reality training company on selecting new financial and inventory management software.
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Global Transportation Company
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Analyze, assess and design a global business services organization for a large global transportation company. Large project team. Rationalize Current infrastructure. Understand and advise regarding customer service vision and relationship to the design. Advise regarding rationalization of legacy back office functions.
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Multi Billion Fortune 100 Telecommunications company
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Leading practice SOX controls design and improvement project. Organization wide in scope. Large project team with extensive company process owner involvement. Enterprise controls, Financial reporting system processes and controls, controls and security through ERP systems, rationalization of controls and compensating controls.
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Multi Billion Revenue Technology/Financial services organization
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Leading practice SOX controls design and performance improvement project. Project team with extensive company involvement. Enterprise controls, process controls, IT general controls, controls and security through ERP systems, rationalization of controls and compensating controls.
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Multi Billion Multi Plant Process Manufacturer
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Leading practice SOX controls design and performance improvement project. Tight deadlines. Large project team with extensive company involvement. Enterprise controls, process controls, IT general controls, controls and security through ERP systems, rationalization of controls and compensating controls.
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Fortune 100 Global Energy Company
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Leading practice SOX controls design and performance improvement project. Global in scope. Large project team with extensive company involvement. Enterprise controls, process controls, IT general controls, controls and security through ERP systems, rationalization of controls and compensating controls.
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Manufacturing distrribution/Distribution
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Modernized IT infrastructure. Reimplemented ERP system, Assisted in planning financial reporting and management reporting design.
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Public company SEC reporting and secondary offerings
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Delivered/Managed SEC client and private company Audit/Accounting engagements, SEC filings and publicly traded securities offerings. 1990 to 2006 Sox compliance engagements. SOC 1 and SOC 2 reporting.
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Food manufacturer
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Implemented ERP system and Sales and operations planning process to monetize $10M of inventory. CEO of CPG firm wanted to free up cash for shareholders. We developed a plan, a process and supporting systems (ERP, sales forecasting, production scheduling, inventory management). Successfully converted $10M of inventory to cash while maintaining sales and customer service levels.
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Automotive manufacturing
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Turned around “failed” ERP implementation for auto parts manufacturer. Client had issues post -ERP implementation. Found execution level management had “worked around” the new system, creating serious inventory and customer issues. With process change, communication, visibility to information, we balanced production schedules to sales fulfillment to inventory to save $50M.
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Several oil field service M&A due diligence and acquisition audits.
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Several different oil field construction, well services, marine transportation, drilling fluid, ship yard, tubes/piping, environmental engineering, equipment rental, vessel rental. Acquisition audit and M&A due diligence project of various size and scope.
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M&A
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Many different bank mergers. One regulatory assisted merger of a failing bank. Performed due diligence. Significant dive into loan and other asset valuations. Presented due diligence findings and rearchitected financial position to regulators at Memphis HQ. Successfully received regulatory capital and investor capital to restart the bank.
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Backup and Recovery Technology
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Software Company. IPO process preparation. Five year look back audits. S-1 preparation. Comfort Letters. Investment Banker meetings.
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Good Bank Bad Bank
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Advise and assist with organization and IPO of a Start up bank to house and liquidate troubled loans and other assets. Deep dive into loan and asset financial parameters and valuation. Advise and assist in supporting valuation teams, investment banking teams and attorneys.
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