Sea Cloud Consulting

Author: Mike Duncan

  • Launch of Sea Cloud Consulting: Strategic FP&A For Early-Stage Growth Companies

    I’m excited to announce the launch of my FP&A consulting business, Sea Cloud Consulting. When I was working full time, I always wished that I had an experienced resource that I could call when times were busy, either for project-based work or as a second set of hands. That is what I’m now offering. My focus →

  • 4 Strategic Approaches for Finance in R&D Management (Cost Savings 3 of 3)

    During an interview for an FP&A role at a biotech company several years ago, the head of R&D asked how I would evaluate their sizable annual R&D investment. I suggested project-level discounted cash flows (DCFs), but my answer was impractical and incomplete. R&D is often a challenging area for finance professionals, requiring a delicate balance →

  • Maximizing G&A Efficiency: Cost-Cutting Strategies (Cost Savings 2 of 3)

    When the pressure is on to reduce costs, G&A often finds itself on the chopping block. It’s seen as an easy target (“just overhead”), but this view can be oversimplified and even misleading.   This is the second post in my series on cost-cutting strategies. In the first I covered how to cut costs without →

  • Strategic Cost-Cutting Without Layoffs (Cost Savings 1 of 3)

    Controlling costs is a critical part of FP&A, both during budgeting and as actuals are reviewed each month.  However, catalysts such as a revenue shortfall or an acquisition may require rapid cost-cutting measures. In these cases, you need to maximize savings without compromising the company’s ability to execute its strategy and ideally without impacting anybody’s →

  • How to Balance Your Forecasted Balance Sheet

    A few months ago, I spoke with a financial analyst who didn’t know how to efficiently balance a forecasted balance sheet. It’s a common challenge, so I thought I’d share a simple approach that might help those diving into 3-statement modeling. The key? 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗯𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽, rather →

  • What Makes a Great Financial Model in Excel?

    In past FP&A roles, I often used the slower days around the holidays to refine and improve my models.  It’s a great time to step back and reflect, and ask the same question that I have posed to candidates over the years: What does good financial modeling look like in Excel? Below is my answer: The →

  • How to Validate Financial Models Effectively

    I have seen a lot of posts on how to create a financial model. But how do you check a model done by somebody else? This is how I do it: (1) Validate the change in the forecast with simple mathNo matter how complicated the model, somebody will try to do math in their head. →