In episode #356, Ben shares the results from the FP&A category of his 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey, highlighting the top financial planning and analysis solutions used in software companies today.

With 37 FP&A solutions named in the survey, this remains one of the most competitive and fast-moving segments in the back-office tech stack. While spreadsheets still dominate usage—by a wide margin—dedicated FP&A platforms are gaining traction, especially as companies scale past $10M+ ARR and investor reporting requirements increase.

Ben also compares this year’s results to prior years and explains how FP&A tool adoption shifts by ARR size.

Resources Mentioned

• 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey: https://www.thesaascfo.com/surveys/finance-accounting-tech-stack-survey/

What You’ll Learn

• The most widely used FP&A solutions in SaaS and AI companies
• Why spreadsheets still dominate financial modeling workflows
• Which platforms are gaining momentum (Drivetrain, Mosaic, Aleph, Pigment, Planful, and others)
• How FP&A adoption changes as companies scale beyond $10M ARR
• Why enterprise-grade tools like Workday appear in larger organizations
• How funding and competition are reshaping the FP&A software landscape

Why It Matters

• FP&A systems power your forecasting, budgeting, and board reporting
• Spreadsheet-based processes eventually break as complexity increases
• As ARR grows, investors expect more sophisticated financial modeling and analytics
• Selecting the right FP&A tool impacts forecasting accuracy, KPI visibility, and strategic planning
• Understanding market adoption trends helps founders and CFOs benchmark their financial systems

In episode #355, Ben breaks down the top invoicing solutions used by SaaS and AI companies based on his 7th Annual Tech Stack Survey.

With 57 different invoicing solutions named in the survey, this category shows far more fragmentation than core accounting. The top five solutions account for 55% of reported usage, but there’s still a long tail of specialized billing and revenue management platforms.

Ben walks through the most widely used tools and explains how invoicing increasingly overlaps with revenue management, subscription billing, and payment processing.

Resources Mentioned

• 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey: https://www.thesaascfo.com/surveys/finance-accounting-tech-stack-survey/
• Metronome, sponsor of the invoicing category: https://metronome.com/

What You’ll Learn

• The top invoicing and billing solutions used in software companies
• Why QuickBooks and Stripe remain dominant in early and growth-stage SaaS
• Which newer platforms are gaining traction
• How fragmented the invoicing and billing landscape has become

Why It Matters

• Invoicing is a critical link between bookings, cash flow, revenue recognition, and ARR reporting
• Poor billing infrastructure can break your MRR schedules and retention calculations
• As pricing models evolve (subscription, usage, hybrid), your invoicing system must handle complexity
• Revenue management tools increasingly sit between CRM, payments, and your general ledger
• Clean invoicing data is essential for accurate financial modeling, KPI tracking, and due diligence

In episode #354, Ben shares the results from his 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey and reveals the top accounting solutions used by software, SaaS, and AI companies today.

With participation across 22 software categories, this year’s survey highlights both the consistent market leaders and the rise of newer, AI-first ERP platforms. While legacy players continue to dominate, new entrants are gaining meaningful traction.

Ben breaks down the “Power Six” accounting platforms and what their market concentration tells us about the current state of financial systems in tech companies.

Resources Mentioned

• 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey: https://www.thesaascfo.com/surveys/finance-accounting-tech-stack-survey/
• Light, sponsor of the core accounting category: https://light.inc/

What You’ll Learn

• The top accounting and ERP systems used by SaaS and AI companies
• How the “Power Six” now dominate the accounting stack landscape
• Which newer AI-first ERP platforms are gaining traction
• How concentrated is the accounting software market among SaaS companies
• Why accounting system selection matters as companies scale ARR

Why It Matters

• Your accounting system is the foundation of your financial reporting, SaaS metrics, and KPI tracking
• Poor financial systems limit your ability to calculate ARR, revenue retention, and other recurring revenue metrics
• As revenue grows, moving from SMB accounting tools to more robust ERP and financial systems becomes critical
• Investors and auditors expect scalable accounting infrastructure as companies mature
• Understanding market trends helps founders and CFOs evaluate whether their current financial systems can support growth

Calculating SaaS metrics sounds straightforward—until you actually try to do it. In episode #353, Ben Murray breaks down why SaaS metrics are so difficult to calculate at scale, why spreadsheets eventually break, and what it really takes to produce CFO-grade metrics that stand up in the Boardroom and in due diligence.

Drawing on insights from the 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey, Ben explains why 58% of companies still rely on spreadsheets and highlights the growing mix of tools aimed at solving the SaaS metrics challenge.

At the core of the issue? SaaS metrics require clean, structured data from four distinct systems—and most companies don’t have that foundation in place.

Resources Mentioned

• 7th Annual SaaS Tech Stack Survey: https://mailchi.mp/thesaascfo.com/its-here-the-2026-saas-finance-ops-tech-stack-report
• Waitlist for Ben's SaaS Metrics app: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeMMKm1N6g0PifGBNhFacivqA-lqePH9id93dCGKxNeBOWbFw/viewform?usp=dialog
• SaaS Metrics Foundation Course with App: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/the-saas-metrics-foundation

What You’ll Learn

• The four key SaaS finance data sources required to calculate accurate metrics
• Why SaaS metrics are difficult to automate (and why most companies struggle)
• Why spreadsheets are the default starting point—and why they don’t scale
• The most common tools companies use today to calculate SaaS metrics
• Why understanding the manual process is critical before implementing software
• What “CFO-grade SaaS metrics” actually means

Why It Matters

• Without structured financial data, your metrics won’t stand up to board or investor scrutiny
• Disconnected systems create inconsistencies that undermine trust in your numbers
• Spreadsheet-based processes break as transaction volume and complexity grow
• Accurate SaaS metrics require integrating financial, bookings, HR, and customer revenue data
• If your data foundation isn’t solid, automation tools won’t fix the problem

In episode #352 of SaaS Metrics School, Ben explains why SaaS and AI founders need to get control of their Stripe data early — before transaction volume and product complexity make it unmanageable. Drawing on years of fractional CFO experience, he explains how messy Stripe data can undermine revenue accuracy, MRR schedules, retention metrics, and due diligence readiness if the data flow isn’t clearly mapped from day one.

Resources Mentioned

• Ben’s 7th Annual Tech Stack Report: https://www.thesaascfo.com/surveys/finance-accounting-tech-stack-survey/

What You’ll Learn

• Why Stripe data becomes difficult to manage as transaction volume grows
• How Stripe feeds into revenue reporting, MRR schedules, and retention metrics
• What a “revenue by customer by month” (customer cube) actually requires
• How multiple product IDs and revenue types complicate Stripe reporting
• Why mapping payment, fee, and revenue flows early saves major cleanup later
• The role Stripe data plays in due diligence and investor scrutiny

Why It Matters

• Stripe is often the source of truth for self-serve and PLG revenue
• Poorly mapped Stripe data makes MRR waterfalls and retention metrics unreliable
• Due diligence requires defensible revenue-by-customer schedules
• Fixing Stripe data problems later is far more expensive and time-consuming
• Clean Stripe flows enable accurate forecasting and financial clarity as you scale

In episode #351 of SaaS Metrics School, Ben breaks down one of the most misunderstood areas of SaaS finance: the difference between bookings, invoices, and revenue. Using the SaaS revenue cycle as a framework, he explains how a signed contract flows through invoicing, revenue recognition, and ultimately cash collection — and why confusing these concepts leads to bad metrics, poor forecasting, and cash flow surprises.

Resources Mentioned

• Blog post: https://www.thesaascfo.com/bookings-vs-invoicing-vs-revenue/
• SaaS Metrics Course: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/the-saas-metrics-foundation

What You’ll Learn

• What a booking actually represents in a SaaS or PLG business
• How bookings differ between sales-led and self-service models
• Why invoices are not the same as revenue under accrual accounting
• How deferred revenue works and why revenue must be recognized over time
• The full SaaS revenue cycle: bookings → invoices → revenue → cash
• Why understanding this flow is critical for financial modeling, forecasting, and cash flow planning

Why It Matters

• Prevents overstating revenue or ARR in Board and investor reporting
• Improves accuracy in cash flow forecasting and runway planning
• Ensures go-to-market metrics like CAC payback and cost of ARR are built on the right data
• Reduces confusion between CRM data and accounting system source-of-truth
• Creates better alignment between finance, sales, and leadership teams

Justifying investment in customer success is far harder than justifying spend in sales and marketing. In episode #350, Ben walks through a practical framework for evaluating the ROI of customer success and retention programs by tying customer success investment directly to ARR, MRR, and revenue retention performance. Instead of relying on vague qualitative benefits, this episode outlines how finance and SaaS leaders can quantify retention improvements and translate them into real financial impact.

Resources Mentioned

Blog post on quantifying customer success and retention ROI: https://www.thesaascfo.com/quantifying-investments-in-customer-success-and-retention/

SaaS Metrics Course: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/the-saas-metrics-foundation

What You’ll Learn

• Where customer success should be classified on the SaaS P&L (COGS vs. Sales)
• Why customer success ROI is harder to quantify than CAC or go-to-market efficiency
• How to use MRR and ARR waterfalls as the foundation for retention analysis
• The difference between gross revenue retention and net revenue retention in ROI modeling
• How expansion, contraction, and churn act as independent levers in retention
• A scenario-based approach to estimating ARR impact from retention improvements

Why It Matters

• Helps justify customer success spend with real revenue and ARR impact
• Improves financial modeling and long-term financial strategy decisions
• Connects retention performance to unit economics and scalability
• Avoids over-investing in customer success without measurable outcomes
• Provides a clearer framework for board and investor discussions

Many SaaS teams try to use their CRM to report ARR and MRR, but this creates serious risks—especially in forecasting, retention analysis, and due diligence. In episode #349, Ben explains why your CRM is rarely the correct source of truth for recurring revenue and where ARR should actually come from to ensure financial accuracy and credibility with investors and acquirers.

Resources Mentioned

• How to Disclose ARR: https://www.thesaascfo.com/cfos-guide-to-disclosing-headline-arr-numbers/
• Ben's SaaS Metrics Course: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/the-saas-metrics-foundation

What You’ll Learn

• Why CRM-based ARR reporting is often inaccurate and easy to break
• The difference between bookings data and revenue-based ARR
• What qualifies as a true source of truth for ARR and MRR
• How invoicing, revenue recognition, and the general ledger fit together
• Why CRM-reported ARR frequently fails under due diligence scrutiny
• When (and only when) a CRM can be trusted for recurring revenue metrics

Why It Matters

• Prevents misleading ARR, MRR, and revenue metrics
• Ensures your financial systems can support investor and buyer diligence
• Reduces risk when calculating retention, CAC payback, and unit economics
• Improves confidence in Board reporting and long-term financial strategy