A couple of weeks ago I joined the meeting of the Amsterdam FP&A Board where we discussed the subject of the FP&A analytical transformation. In the course of the meeting the participants mentioned their current main concerns, some of which such as Data ownership, Data quality, and Business Glossary (‘Speaking the same language’). This surprised me.

It is difficult to think of another business process that is as universally detested as annual budgeting. The list of complaints will be familiar to anyone who has run a budget process or has been subjected to one…and that probably means everyone reading this article.

Heuristics are rules of thumb.  Psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer believes heuristics are a necessary part of an individual’s decision making process.  Heuristics can be used in FP&A as a way to make decisions about how organizations earn revenues and incur expenses. Here is a heuristic that I use to make decisions about how organizations earn revenues:

A purpose of FP&A is to help people acquire insight into how organizations function.  People acquire insight from a variety of sources; they can acquire insight by reading reports, talking to people, or walking through facilities.  A reason people choose a certain source to acquire insight is accessibility and as a result FP&A practitioners should make their insight accessible. 

The concept of ‘Beyond Budgeting’ has been around for nearly twenty years now. Although it has helped transform many businesses and has become part of mainstream management thinking in some parts of the world, I talk to many business people who have still not heard of Beyond Budgeting.

Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is a coordinated approach to planning that is designed to achieve greater alignment between the Strategic, Financial and Operational levels within an organization. Since the birth of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM/CPM), Integrated Business Planning has always been touted as the ultimate “future state” environment that all organizations should aspire to.