Podcast Summary: “The Role of FP&A in Business Strategy”

Podcast: Metrics that Measure Up
Host: Ray Rike
Guest: Christina Ross, Founder and CEO of Cube
Date: September 18, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode explores the evolving role of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) in business strategy, especially within B2B SaaS and Cloud environments. Ray Rike is joined by Christina Ross, former CFO and current founder & CEO of Cube. The discussion moves from Christina's formative experiences at GE and Deloitte to her CEO perspective, and delves into how FP&A can become a strategic business partner—not just a “numbers shop.” The conversation also addresses the perennial challenges with data, the limits of traditional FP&A tools, and what it takes for finance leaders and teams to have a genuine impact on business decisions.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Christina’s Journey: From GE and Deloitte to CEO

[01:19 - 07:36]

• Started career in corporate finance at GE during its heyday, gaining exposure to cutting-edge finance operations and a rotational culture:
  • “The language of business is the numbers...understanding numbers is like speaking a language not everyone can.” — Christina Ross [01:54]
  • Experience gave her a cross-industry understanding of financial systems and the importance of being able to “inspect” as well as manage.
• At Deloitte, Christina went beyond numbers—she realized that driving recommendations into action requires deep integration with people, process, and technology transformation:
  • "It’s one thing to say these numbers should look different, but how do you actually drive change? That’s where you break down big problems, build workstreams, talk to sponsors, and see change happening in real life.” — Christina [06:31]

2. FP&A Challenges and Inspiration for Cube

[07:37 - 12:30]

• As a multi-time CFO (at places like Rent the Runway), Christina repeatedly encountered a time drain—most of the team’s efforts went towards preparing data, not on actual analysis or storytelling.
• Attempts to adopt leading FP&A software resulted in poor adoption, heavy reliance on shadow Excel files, and returned her teams to spreadsheets:
  • “I was told by other leaders: ‘I won’t log into that thing, just send me a spreadsheet,’ and my analysts kept a secret backup model in Excel.” — Christina [09:32]
  • “Over 80% of companies that replace Excel with FP&A platforms end up going back to spreadsheets.” — Christina [10:51]
• These experiences inspired Cube: a platform designed to be “where finance teams already work” by integrating seamlessly with Excel, Google Sheets, and communications tools, rather than forcing new workflows.

3. Strategic Finance: From Storytelling to Partnering

[12:31 - 14:43]

• FP&A’s real value should be in strategic advice and translating financial data into insights about the business’s past, present, and future direction:
  • “We CFOs are almost chief translators between the numbers and the business.” — Christina [13:17]
• Most FP&A teams, however, fall short of becoming true business partners:
  • “Maybe 10, maximum 20% of FP&A teams actually have a seat at the executive table.” — Ray [14:21]

4. Why Most FP&A Teams Aren’t Strategic (and the Hierarchy of Needs)

[14:43 - 18:10]

• Christina describes a “Strategic Finance Hierarchy of Needs” (akin to Maslow’s):
  1. Data Governance & Integrity: Most teams are stuck here—getting clean, reliable data.
  2. Reporting & Analysis: Structuring data for clarity and executive requirements.
  3. Planning & Modeling: Only possible when the first two are in place.
  4. Strategic Guidance/Communication: Top of the pyramid—turning insights into action.
  • “It would sound like the right thing is to just throw some dashboards out, but there are layers, and most companies are stuck on getting data ready for analysis.” — Christina [15:19]

5. Speed of Business & Real-Time Decision Making

[17:16 - 20:13]

• The pace of business has escalated; companies need near real-time signals from all their transactional systems to forecast and act quickly.
  • “Being able to ingest all that real-time signal data and remodel quickly—that’s a huge challenge for FP&A today.” — Ray [17:41]
• Cube’s approach: integrate and automate real-time data collection and updates, enhancing speed and accuracy in scenario analysis and reporting. AI-powered notifications and workflows enable finance teams to act as “early warning systems” for the business.

6. FP&A Analysts: Path to Strategic Partnership

[20:14 - 23:46]

• Christina discusses the three main career paths to CFO: FP&A, Accounting, Audit—and how FP&A analysts can elevate from “report jockey” to business partner with the right tools and proactivity:
  • “It’s not just about time savings...it’s about saving time so I can spend it on things that drive value—credibility, insight, partnership.” — Christina [21:10]
  • Example: With Cube (or similar), analysts can shift focus from data wrangling to providing quick, credible answers, e.g., “If I add 10 sellers, what happens to revenue?” now becomes immediate and interactive—even using AI-driven natural language queries.
  • “It’s about moving from being the data person in the spreadsheet to becoming a trusted advisor, the ultimate consigliere to the CEO.” — Christina [23:15]

7. CEO Perspective on FP&A’s Role

[23:46 - 25:56]

• As a current CEO, Christina now sees firsthand the “dance” between CEO and CFO:
  • “The CEO is constantly pushing, the CFO constantly holds them back to truth—that push and pull is necessary.” — Christina [24:36]
• She appreciates the importance of CFOs as “trusted business partners” who keep risk, accuracy, and analysis in check—especially since CEOs often have to make decisions quickly with limited data.
  • “The only way to answer that question is I’m appreciating even more the dance between the CEO and CFO...I see my CFO now as a very trusted business partner.” — Christina [25:12]

8. Career Advice & Tools for Finance Leaders

[27:03 - 30:19]

• Favorite Company: Christina shouts out Carta as a “brand crush” for its simplicity, product quality, and market creation (with early ties through Henry Ward, an angel investor in Cube).
• Career Advice for Future Founders:
  • “Do 20% more than the people around you, every single day...if it were this easy, everyone would do it. When it’s hardest, that’s when everyone else quits. Just keep going.” — Christina [28:46]
• Favorite Tool (Non-Cube): Granola, a meeting recording/query tool that enables quick summation and action-tracking from meetings—saving time and improving follow-up.
  • “I’m not going to sit through two hours of recordings, but I can get a summary from Granola and then query follow-ups.” — Christina [29:54]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Finance is about telling the story behind the numbers.” — Christina [01:35]
• “Being an auditor makes you a really great inspector...you can’t expect what you don’t inspect.” — Christina [04:06]
• “Over 80% of companies that replace Excel with FP&A platforms end up going back to spreadsheets.” — Christina [10:51]
• “CFOs are almost chief translators between the numbers and the business.” — Christina [13:17]
• “[FP&A] is only as good as your ability to translate what the numbers could say to the business.” — Christina [13:25]
• “The CEO is constantly pushing. The CFO is constantly holding them back to truth and to the earth...that push and pull is necessary.” — Christina [24:36]
• “If it were this easy, everyone would do it. When it’s hardest, that’s when everyone else quits. Just keep going.” — Christina [28:46]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Christina’s Background & Path (GE & Deloitte): [01:19 - 07:36]
• FP&A Challenges & Birth of Cube: [07:37 - 12:30]
• FP&A as Strategic Partner: [12:31 - 14:43]
• Why Most Teams Aren’t Strategic—Hierarchy: [14:43 - 18:10]
• Real-Time Insights in FP&A: [17:16 - 20:13]
• FP&A Analyst Career Development: [20:14 - 23:46]
• CEO’s View on FP&A: [23:46 - 25:56]
• Career & Tools Advice: [27:03 - 30:19]

Final Takeaways

This conversation highlights the perennial challenge of FP&A: moving beyond the grind of data collection and cleaning to become trusted strategic advisors—in large part by fixing the data problem and leveraging technology that works with, not against, finance teams' workflows. Christina’s trajectory from audit to CFO to CEO provides both practical and philosophical insights into what it takes for finance professionals to truly impact business outcomes.

For more, follow Christina Ross on LinkedIn (@CFO Christina) and explore resources at CubeSoftware.com