In 1999, I started an internship at McKinsey in the finance department, where I was given a set of reports to compile manually in Excel every month for a dozen departments.  Monotony and curiosity drove me to automate that process from 1 week down to 1 day via Excel macros and VBA.  I left that internship to go work in investment banking, equity research, alternative data, and finally CFO advisory.

20+ years notwithstanding, I find myself working again with finance departments that compile reports manually in Excel every month for a dozen departments. Joking aside, I’m fortunate that my technical toolset and knowledge have grown significantly over the years around optimizing the finance function. Below are some things I have learned and opinions I have formed along the way.