FP&A Trends E-Books is a series of publications consisting of articles on FP&A-related subjects. The issues are regularly published on the FP&A Trends website and are available only to the website subscribers. The first issue is devoted to the rolling forecast philosophy and contains articles from Larysa Melnychuk, Steve Morldige, Richard Reinderhoff, Elena Kiristova and Thorstein Siglaugsson. 

Most professionals working in the FP&A discipline have degrees in finance or accounting and previously worked as accountants or auditors. The transition from such backend core finance functions to a highly business focused partnering function is one that requires certain shifts in mind-set as well as skillset. Below is a discussion attempting to highlight some of the key ones.

Most business people are familiar with the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Simply put, it says that 20% of inputs generate 80% of outputs. It's a very simple concept, but many people struggle to use it. When it comes to communication, the practical application of the 80/20 rule is to listen 80% of the time.

The most important decision for top management is where the money goes. Capital allocation not only defines the money flow but also who will be spending it. Since many companies are threatened by disruption, intrapreneurship is now more important than ever. FP&A specialists can hold a key-position when it comes to facilitating the process of capital allocation.

The purpose of your company’s administrative function is to support what your company sells. Support consists of departments like finance, human resources, and information technology; future articles will describe these departments in greater detail. The focus of this article is on administration as a whole. 

In this video, Stefan Spiegel, CFO at Swiss Railway Freight Logistics (SBB Cargo AG), talks about the program that they used in SBB Cargo to replace management accounting. Instead of using a classical cost-accounting system, SBB Cargo switched to Intelligent business simulation engine.