The FP&A Trends Webinar: Digitised FP&A Business Partnering: The Formula for Success
Click here to view details and register
The FP&A Trends Webinar: Digitised FP&A Business Partnering: The Formula for Success
Click here to view details and register
By Ron Monteiro, the Founder of KICT Inc
What is an organisation’s most vital asset? Talent, otherwise known as human capital. That makes workforce planning particularly important: a thoughtful and integrated approach to workforce planning creates a competitive advantage.
There is a competitive advantage to a thoughtful approach to workforce planning. xP&A (Extended Planning and Analysis) can be defined as collaborative planning. It demands that FP&A individuals have the capability and desire to work co-operatively, multi-dimensionally and at different levels of the organisation. It represents a complete transformation of FP&A, which goes beyond a mere finance function to do so much more: continually challenge the status quo, educate, and shape and influence management decisions.
This article highlights the immense benefits of one of the important aspects of xP&A – an integrated workforce planning approach. Let’s examine some of the challenges this approach seeks to address.
Headcount costs represent one of the most significant expense lines for most companies. However, FP&A professionals often dread the possibility of questions concerning headcount assumptions and costs. And with good reason! When it comes to providing information to managers, workforce or headcount planning is one of the trickiest areas.
Why is it so hard to get quality information for this critical part of a business? The reasons include:
For FP&A professionals, this means going back and forth with HR to understand assumptions. Data are often traced back to detailed Excel sheets that are frequently found to be obsolete. Headcount in organisations is constantly in flux, and a manual process makes it virtually impossible to stay on top of.
FP&A and Human Resources have different financial comprehension levels, which makes seamless communication challenging. This gap results in delays in obtaining quality information.
In light of the above challenges, it’s no wonder that FP&A professionals would find the thought of an integrated workforce planning model appealing. Imagine being able to answer the CEO or CFO’s questions on the fly using dynamic reporting, including the financial implications! The benefits of integrated workforce planning include:
Knowing the huge benefits of integrated HR planning, you’re probably wondering how we can implement it? Critical factors determining implementation success include:
As talent competition intensifies, organisations that invest in integrated workforce planning will have a significant advantage. With this crucial aspect of xP&A, organisations can proactively develop strategies to ensure their workforce is staffed appropriately, with the talent to deliver the highest ROI for their company.
This article was first published on SAP blog.
In this blog we explain how companies can efficiently and accurately calculate their personnel requirements.
Businesses need to adopt and integrate the right technologies while also ensuring senior finance leaders are...
xP&A is more than an attempt to ‘fix’ the planning process. It is a complete transformation...
Traditional planning methods are well known for extracting insights and steering business decisions in short-term and...
We will regularly update you on the latest trends and developments in FP&A. Take the opportunity to have articles written by finance thought leaders delivered directly to your inbox; watch compelling webinars; connect with like-minded professionals; and become a part of our global community.