Ashok Manthena has supported FP&A teams at some of the biggest and most well-known companies on the planet including Google, GAP, and Ingersoll Rand. This included a period at Google which was striking because of “the amount of resources available for finance” particularly when it comes to killing manual finance processes. He says there is an in-built DNA to “automate manual processes”. He says: “This bubbles up naturally when they find there is an, there is a manual process and everyone comes together and thinks about how to automate that process.” In a second career stage Ashok has been a leader in AI finance carrying out practical research, giving keynote speeches and providing practical advice on transforming businesses through the use of AI. Rapid fire questions: Why I want to meet Gandhi – to doing Doing sensitivity analysis in ChatGPT  Why we should all be embarrassed by the  stat that 70% of FP&A is spent on getting the data (vs only 30% on insights)  The power of meetups meetups and the return of face to face meetings for finance learning  What my career FP&A career at Google taught me  The near future of automation and AI including running daily reports to the CFO  Why data priority needs to be the #1 priority alongiside faster surfacing of data issues to leadership How I became a leading AI finance speaker and writer and started a tech startup Two ways AI is going to revolutionize FP&A Departments forever  How ChatGPT will be a new interface for finance – practical examples  The playbook for smaller finance teams and businesses to  thrive in the AI age Advice to get started with AI in FP&A The role of data science in the future of FP&A FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails,the AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform.  Keep your own Excel financial models and spreadsheets and benefit from AI for data consolidation, reporting and planning. Follow Ashok on LinkedIn YouTube video of the episode Follow Paul Barnhurst on LinkedIn  Follow Datarails on LinkedIn