A key function of effective FP&A is to create a data-driven decision-making culture throughout the enterprise. Data management is, therefore, a crucial part of FP&A's agenda. 

Digitized FP&A Business Partnering is now the latest trend that is going well beyond just Finance involving the entire organization to move FP&A and planning to the next level.

Being adaptive to changes in the surrounding world and changing yourself is the only way to progress today. Continuous transformation of planning and analysis approaches becomes a lifestyle. Digital Transformation forms a fundamental part of it. At the same time, changes bring risks and the only way to manage them is to be prepared.

These uncertain times demand increasingly agile and analytical Financial Planning & Analysis. How do we build FP&A teams that succeed in the world of ‘unknown of unknowns’?

The New Normal means that planning is no longer an extrapolation of the past. Similarly, business drivers that worked last year may no longer be relevant for the future. The reality is that organizations face multiple possible futures. Each one can be triggered by a crisis or an unforeseen event that will require the company to adjust or even change course.

So how should FP&A adapt to this New Normal?

There has never been greater uncertainty and a faster pace of change than over the past months.

And yet, at a time that requires speed and agility, and in a function that needs these qualities more than others, we cleave to our traditional management accounting methods and adhere to our longstanding processes.