Hey Reader,
​
Back in college I joined the fencing club.

I'd never fenced before, but I loved reading books like The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

I thought... how cool would it be to learn how to handle a sword?

A few weeks in, I was getting the hang of it. Moving faster. Feeling confident.

Then the instructor told me to stop.

"Take off your mask," he said.

"You're going way too fast. You still need to learn the fundamentals."

Then he said something that completely changed how I think about everything...

"Focus on accuracy before speed."

That lesson stuck with me. Not just in swordsmanship. But in my career. In my life.

And honestly? It's one of the most important things I can share with anyone working in finance and accounting today.

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I was brought in to help a company that had just raised multiple eight figures in capital.

They were hiring like crazy. Scaling fast.
And their books? Total mess.

My job was to fix it. But here's the problem...

They had 3 sets of books.
They had their accounting data.
Their suppliers had their set of books.
Their engineering team had their database with their set of records.

And all three constantly contradicted each other.

We spent MONTHS doing analysis. Cleanup. Everything we could think of.

It was entirely futile. Because the foundation... the DATA... was flawed.
Nothing we did could save them until we fixed that part.

Here's what I learned from that...

A tree is only as strong as its roots. A house needs a solid foundation before it can be built.

Without a proper foundation, even the strongest structure crumbles when the storms come.

And I get it.

Everyone’s obsessed with speed. Facebook’s old motto was “Move fast and break things.” But the bigger you get, the more dangerous that becomes. It's easy to steer a small boat. It's a LOT harder to turn around a massive ship.

Speed without accuracy? That's just a dangerous accident waiting to happen.

Think of a car. Think of a plane. If it got you from point A to point B very quickly but not ACCURATELY?

That's a problem. And honestly? This is one of the biggest challenges we're seeing with AI today.

LLMs are INCREDIBLY fast. They can ingest hundreds of thousands of data points in seconds.

But the answers they give back? Not always accurate.
Which is why you can't blindly trust AI. You always have to vet it.

Speed without foundation isn't an advantage.
It's a liability.

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If I had to sum up 3 pillars to a successful career in Finance & Accounting, it would be these:

Pillar #1: Understanding Accounting Fundamentals

You need to REALLY understand the fundamentals of accounting. And I’m talking about the REAL fundamentals… The accounting equation.

How to read a balance sheet (which to me is the most important financial statement because it gives you the context for cash flows and P&L).

Double entry accounting. Cash versus accrual. How to close the books.

How to manage accounting operations like accounts payable, payroll, and accounts receivable.

That’s the foundation you need to go far in a career in accounting.

And I know.. accounting is a vast field. There’s also treasury, tax, and plenty of other areas.

But these core foundations? Non-negotiable.

Without them, everything else you try to build will be shaky at best.

Feeling a bit fuzzy? Totally normal.

Start here - this YouTube playlist breaks down the fundamentals step by step.

Pillar #2: Strong Foundation in FP&A

I’m a really big believer that learning how to build a three-statement model is one of the best things you can do to build a strong FP&A foundation.

Even if not every company uses all three statements, building a three-statement model makes you way better at understanding how the financials connect and work together.

But connecting a three-statement model isn’t enough.

You need to understand how to forecast revenue (which is one of the trickiest parts because every business is different), headcount, and other P&L and balance sheet items.

We have a lot of infographics and materials on all of this. We even have courses that break it down step by step.

Not feeling fully confident yet? No problem.

Check out this free YouTube playlist - walks you through key FP&A concepts step by step.

Pillar #3: Excel Mastery

I truly believe that mastering Excel is one of the most underrated skills for anyone who works in data. And here’s my hot take…

I would rather hire someone with a mediocre understanding of finance and accounting but a STRONG foundation in Excel than vice versa.

Why?

Because accounting has formal programs, you can go to school for it.
You can major in it.
But Excel? Excel shows that you can learn things on your own.

For the most part, there aren’t any formalized programs to teach you Excel. It’s all just courses and self learning.

Focus on the fundamentals: formulas, cell references, and data structures. And then the more advanced stuff… Power Query and Power Pivot.

Without a solid Excel foundation, you’ll always move slower and fight the tool instead of using it to amplify your work.

Want to get better at Excel for accounting? Watch this free YouTube playlist - it walks you through it step by step.

Once you have all three foundations... Excel, accounting, FP&A... THAT'S when speed comes naturally.

Not forced speed. Not reckless speed.
But speed paired with accuracy.
The kind of speed that impresses clients.
That earns promotions.
That builds trust.

I still remember one of my very first meetings with a client who's now one of my best.

They were a major multinational company. Lots of complexity.

And honestly? They were kind of feeling me out. Not sure how much they were going to use me.

As they started explaining their business, I opened up a blank spreadsheet.

And using just my keyboard, I started building everything they were saying in real time.

Revenue schedule taking shape. Expenses mapping out. Assumptions are being captured. In just a few minutes, a rough forecast was ready.

They were floored at how quickly I was able to move. But more importantly?

It wasn't JUST the speed. It was the ACCURACY of what I was capturing.

That only happened because I first had all those foundations.

The fencing instructor was right all those years ago.

So how about you? Is there anything you went too quickly with before really having the foundation?

Or maybe you're struggling with something right now because the foundation isn't quite there yet?

Hit reply. I'd love to hear your story.

Have a great weekend,

Till next time,
Josh