Frank Slootman built ServiceNow into one of the most success software companies of all time. His playbook for IT Service Management (ITSM) informs the future of Finance Service Management.

Future finance leaders (and really all G&A for this matter) will think of themselves as product managers. The key mindset shift is they’re responsible for a portfolio of products and services that they provide to the business (i.e. budgeting, headcount, spending, analysis, etc.).

I’ve met a handful of finance teams at high-performing public and late-stage private companies forecasting weekly or bi-weekly. Many finance leaders are trying to figure out how to do the same. Here’s a bit more about why and how.

Get your finance team organized. See how with the month-by-month playbook for best-in-class finance operations.

Finance is in the business of maximizing value creation by providing strategic support. Here are 4 tips for Finance to be more strategic.

Get a single source of headcount truth to replace multiple, manually maintained spreadsheets. See how with Trace headcount management.

An exploration into the breaking points and pitfalls to help Finance leaders prioritize their technology investments. Reasons to go with a planning system first generally include losing faith in the reliability and integrity of your models. If the above items don’t ring true, then you’re likely dealing with issues related to the distribution and collection of information with your business partners and reconciling plans to what’s happening or happened.

Empower your budget owners with role-based budgets. Lighten their load with project requests. And help them understand budget-to-actuals variances with G/L drill-down.

As a finance leader at a start-up, it’s on you to help people manage their budgets, execute their hiring plans, and understand their spending—all in a way that works within the context of a high-growth business.

Download the free presentation to socialize your finance strategy and operations with your team, leadership team, and board of directors. The 20+ slides include everything you need to improve finance execution.

Read the Finance Calendar to learn the operating playbook inspired by Facebook, Zenefits, GE, and interviews with hundreds of growth-stage and enterprise finance executives.

Trace has raised $8.3M from Greylock and Uncork Capital, with support from Redpoint Ventures and Nyca Partners.

Finance Service Management is the scope of work performed by people, processes, and systems to satisfy the financial needs and requests coming from the business. It drives efficiency in operations, promotes collaboration between finance and business partners, and delivers insights and automation across systems.

Stop forecasting your payroll expense using shortcut methods. Utilize the readily available data to project a more accurate payroll expense schedule.