Thoughts

Notes on running the finance side of a company.

Written for owners rather than for accountants. Mostly about the distance between a number being correct and a number being useful — and about what software has actually changed in that gap, which is more than the sceptics think and less than the vendors say.

2026

August 18

The AI Disappointment Is Real. It's Also a Head Fake.

Companies are walking away from AI in record numbers, right as it stops being a toy. That timing is going to look very expensive in hindsight.

6 min

August 13

The people who should be scared of AI aren't the ones you think.

For the first time in a generation, the size advantage is up for grabs. Small businesses just have to reach for it.

7 min

July 23

Hierarchy was the old answer to complexity.

We are wiring machines into companies built for people. That is not a software project. It is a leadership one.

6 min

June 9

The Fractional Manifesto.

A simple rule for the AI era — humans where they’re seen, AI where they’re not — and the fractional model that follows from it.

6 min

June 4

Faster numbers beat smarter analysis.

The CFO’s most underrated job is shortening the time between the event and the number that describes it.

4 min

June 3

Your books aren’t broken. Your reporting cadence is.

If your QuickBooks is clean and you still can’t run on the numbers, the gap is between books and decisions — not in the books themselves.

4 min

June 2

When does a startup actually need a CFO?

Concrete trigger conditions, and the equally important question of when not to hire one yet.

5 min

June 1

What software gets wrong about finance.

Accounting software was built for accountants. Finance software has barely been built at all.

5 min

May 31

What AI doesn’t replace in CFO work.

An honest list of what AI is doing well today, and the work it isn’t going to touch.

4 min