On the 23rd of February, I had the pleasure of participating in a global webinar from Australia where the subject under discussion was Planning for Uncertainty: Building Blocks of Agile FP&A with speakers from the United States and Sweden. 

On the 9th of March, Larysa Melnychuk hosted an inspiring webinar about FP&A Data Visualization: Moving from Insight to Impact where three senior professionals focused on discussing three pillars of FP&A storytelling.

FP&A function is changing rapidly together with our world. xP&A means “Extended Planning & Analysis” and is now slowly taking place of the traditional FP&A. FP&A Business Partnering Maturity Model as below is showing us three stages of different aspects of core FP&A competencies. xP&A is covered under the "Leading State" column. 

In times of uncertainty, we found out that traditional business planning does not work very quickly. Budget and forecast become irrelevant whereas multidimensional and integrated scenario planning is a must-have. This is where you see the importance of the concept of xP&A.

During the pandemic, we witnessed how quickly traditional budgeting and planning process become irrelevant. Traditional controlling does not work anymore. We need to ensure all our planning processes are integrated vertically and horizontally and ensure everyone that plans in the organisation work together.

To navigate the uncertainties in 2020, FP&A had to change their way of working. On the 4th of February 2021, during The Digital Swiss FP&A Board, we looked at the Scenario Planning via different perspectives. The insightful meeting was delivered by a board panel of 4 distinguished FP&A Board members. This article summarises the key case studies and polling questions.