If there is no financial planning, there is no financial control. Since financial planning and analysis (FP&A) is connected to all departments within a business, its fiduciary duty is to secure the realised value. There are three areas where the quality of financial planning can be leveraged to maintain this value.
Some people believe that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will eventually replace humans within FP&A. Thought leaders and experienced AI users feel that this is completely wrong. For AI to be effective, it needs to be combined with human intelligence (HI).
Annual Operating Planning is an important activity in many organisations. Some refer to it as budget season and every organisation has its own nomenclature such as AOP, OB, LRBP, etc. This article covers best practices for a successful planning season, explains what best-in-class organisations do to create a solid annual operating plan and answers three burning questions.
By gaining a deep understanding of the key performance drivers outside of finance, and by expanding its field of prescriptive action into all functions across the enterprise, FP&A can move the next level up and transform itself into an extended Finance & Analysis (xP&A) organisation. This article explores why many of us still think in silos and reasons why traditional business controlling should evolve into extended planning and analysis (xP&A).
Irrespective of the industry you work in, I am sure all of you would have noticed a huge change in the way your business operates in the last decade. You may have seen competition from previously unforeseen competitors, your CIOs talking about new digital ways of doing business and the utter lack of ready talent in your teams to manage this new challenge.
Improving financial planning and analysis (FP&A) means investing in people and systems. It only takes three pages to design a process and identify new roles and responsibilities. This method is described in this article and has been used to introduce new financial processes and operational reports.