Ian Schnoor, executive director of Financial Modeling Institute, is a globally recognized authority on financial modeling and the intersection of AI and financial modeling. Over more than two decades, he has trained more than 20,000 students and finance professionals in practical modeling skills. Ian created the Financial Modeling Practical Skills Module for CFA Institute, now a key component of the CFA Program. Earlier in his career, Schnoor worked in investment banking at Citigroup and BMO Capital Markets. In 2002, he founded The Marquee Group, which grew into a leading financial modeling training and consulting firm before its acquisition by Training The Street in 2023. Schnoor makes the decisions about the finance and accounting technology used at the Financial Modeling Institute.
What’s in your tech stack?
Excel, always. It’s the most commonly used tool for finance professionals globally, and the one I keep coming back to. Last year, we surveyed hundreds of financial modelers around the world and 84 percent said Excel is their “only option” when building models.
Beyond that, I use Claude for drafting and thinking through problems; Zoom for webinars—we deliver content globally and I find it works really well for keeping people engaged; and HubSpot for managing our accreditation community and partner relationships. We’re a small team, so the stack is pretty tight.
What’s your joy and what’s your headache?
It’s been 30 years, and Excel still brings me joy. It’s such a simple concept: just rows and columns. But I have built my career, and multiple businesses, on Excel’s ability to tell a financial story in such an elegant way. The fact that I am still learning the power of Excel is delightful.
My headache is how people are using AI agents in financial modeling. Professionals are integrating AI into their modeling now, and the issue is that the AI logic can be convoluted…or wrong. At FMI, we believe that financial models are the most important decision-making tools in finance. If a formula is incorrect, it has real-world consequences. I believe the technology is getting there, but it’s not there yet.
If you could wave a magic wand, what would you make software companies do for you?
Honestly, I feel like they’ve already done it. I have been using Claude for the past few months and it has become the closest thing to a thinking partner I have found. It helps me develop content faster, sure. But it also makes me laugh. My wife catches me giggling and then realizes Claude said something funny. I have apparently trained it on my exact sense of humor.
What’s your best piece of tech advice for other leaders?
It’s interesting: Most professionals develop their technical skills early in their careers and don’t maintain them as they progress. So the executives I worry about are the ones who saw a demo and figured the problem was solved. I’ve seen first-hand how powerful AI in financial modeling can be. But it’s also unreliable in ways that aren’t obvious. The goal isn’t to avoid the technology, it’s to understand where you can trust it and where you can’t.
