FP&A Today

For FP&A, the most dangerous revenue number may be the one that looks credible enough not to question.

A $100 million acquisition was just three weeks from closing. The target had been audited, the opinion had come back clean, and the deal looked compelling. Then Devon Coombs, CPA, spent a weekend digging through the contracts and came back with a very different conclusion: the revenue story did not match the contractual rights and cash flows underneath it.

In this episode of FP&A Today, Devon explains why FP&A cannot automatically treat invoicing as revenue, how principal-versus-agent decisions can make the same transaction appear as either $100 or $3 of reported revenue, and why worsening cash flow can reveal problems that a strong top line hides. The conversation also looks ahead to AI and consumption-based pricing, where minimum commitments, usage, overages, invoicing cadence, and contract structure can make forecasting and revenue recognition substantially more complex.

The bigger lesson for FP&A is simple: understanding revenue means understanding the contracts and economics behind the number, not just the number itself.

Key Moments

Revenue and cash flow need to tell a coherent story. Rising revenue and income should trigger questions when operating cash outflows continue to deteriorate.

An invoice is not automatically revenue. Recognition depends on contractual rights, performance obligations, and when those obligations are actually satisfied.

Gross versus net revenue can dramatically change the top line. The same $100 transaction could result in $100 or $3 of reported revenue depending on the company's role in the transaction.

Good diligence starts before management explains the numbers. Devon describes looking at the financials first, forming an independent view, and then going directly to the underlying contracts.

Contracts are an FP&A input, not only an accounting or legal document. Pricing, billing, and commercial terms can materially affect forecasts and the economics FP&A is trying to model.

Standardization reduces revenue risk. Clearer offerings, pricing structures, contracts, and RevRec processes make it easier to scale without discovering problems during a transaction.

AI and consumption pricing are changing the forecasting problem. Minimum commitments, overages, usage, breakage, and billing cadence can produce very different revenue patterns.

Finance teams need a revenue architecture strategy. FP&A should understand how pricing, contracts, billing, revenue recognition, and forecasting fit together as one system.

Timestamps
05:29 — Should the same transaction produce $100 of revenue or $3?
08:15 — Why invoicing does not necessarily equal revenue
12:30 — The $100M acquisition everyone wanted to move forward with
17:58 — Devon's diligence method: start with the numbers, then read the contracts
18:42 — How the buyer avoided a $100M mistake
40:40 — Why SaaS, AI, and consumption-based pricing are changing the revenue model
48:45 — Practical steps for aligning offerings, contracts, and RevRec
56:05 — The revenue architecture question every FP&A team should be asking

Earn CPE Credits

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Further Reading/Listening
Devon Coombs — Website & Resources:
https://www.devoncoombs.com/

Connect with Devon on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/devoncoombs/

The 10 Laws of Finance:
https://www.devoncoombs.com/book

Top FP&A business consultant Anders Liu-Lindberg joins FP&A Today four years after his first appearance on the show to talk about the radical changes in FP&A and CFO transformation over that period. In the time since, Anders has cemented his reputation as one of the most in-demand consultants for finance transformation, sharing his practical, on-the-ground experience.

4 years on: what's changed in FP&A transformation

How career-minded FP&A professionals are enjoying the best era ever

A real example of a finance transformation that didn't land

3 metrics to measure the impact of business partnering

Why CFOs should obsess over value

If you would like to earn CPE credit for listening to the show, visit earmarkcpe.com/fpna. Download the app, take a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

Further reading/listening

Communicating Financials to Executives: by Anders Liu-Lindberg (Author), Christian Frantz Hansen 

FP&A Today: More than 12 ERP implementations later…Cindy Vindasius

Peter McKenzie, GM at a Blackstone portfolio company, professor at IESE Business School, and speaker at 50+ conferences across the world, talks frankly about executive presence for finance professionals, developed through 25+ years of C-suite experience   He coaches FP&A teams and CFOs on what exactly separates the executives who get recognised from the ones who don't (Communicate with influence, not just authority and focus on strategy and what boards actually want). 

In this episode

What the board reads (and skips) in a board deck 

What “business partnership” actually means 

What knowing the numbers means 

How to draw a narrative “red line” 

Now that AI writes a competent narrative, what's the role for finance?

After two years in the host's chair, Glenn Hopper passes FP&A Today to its new host, Sarah Schlott:  a 20-year FP&A leader. The two swap stories on their unlikely paths into finance (including Glenn's forgotten 2006 indie film ), then dig into what's next for the show: more curiosity, more challenging of FP&A's "sacred cows". 

 

Glenn's new book: The AI-Ready CFO: A Strategic Guide to Evaluating and Implementing AI, Automation, and Analytics https://www.amazon.com/AI-Ready-CFO-Evaluating-Implementing-Automation/dp/1394415885

 

Two recommended follows for AI content

 https://www.youtube.com/@AIDailyBrief 

 https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@matthew_berman⁩

Colin Moss worked for more than 10 years at Mars, which produces some of the world's best-loved brands including Royal Canin, M&M’s and Snickers. In this role, he partnered with the global Finance leadership team to design to stand up the new FinTech function, strengthening the connection between Finance and IT and leading a portfolio of 40+ initiatives, establishing resource and financial management disciplines (before that he was at famed confectionary maker Cadbury). In 2025 he took the leap to set up his own business, CM Strategies working  with organisations navigating growth and complexity, helping them redesign how the finance department partners with the business and builds capability .

 

His message about the function of FP&A is resonant and powerful:

“One  of the ways that I've seen it described is that your business, and  leadership team is, is the “head”, and FP&A is the “neck” because FP&A is showing that team where to look. In this context, FP&A is helping what's the context we're operating in? What's the strategy that we're executing against? And what does that mean for where we focus? What do we put our attention on? And that can be showing up in what KPIs we look at, but also what processes we need to improve.?”

 

In this episode

Path to creation of my own business (in a “hard to leave” business)

Early audit roles as the foundation of my career

My early lessons about business partnership at Cadbury and Mars 

Lessons from global finance transformation at Mars including KPI design and management reporting

Power of judgement in FP&A 

 

Find out more about CM Strategies at  www.cmstrategies.co.uk