Please forgive me for my persistent rant and criticism against accountants who budget poorly or continue to calculate the substantial and growing high indirect and shared costs originating from resource expenses such as salaries, supplies, power, information technologies, and travel. I cannot seem to hold back my frustration.

Driver-based planning (DBP) is an essential part of the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) armoury, enabling organisations – ranging from the smallest non-profit to a multinational – to become quicker, more dynamic and agile in their planning and in responding to internal and external changes in the business environment. 

Criticism is defined as “the expression of disapproval of something based on perceived mistakes.”  FP&A is a learning process that creates insight into what organizations are doing and where they are going. Processes are not perfect; mistakes are likely to occur.  As a result, FP&A practitioners need to recognize that their work is subject to criticism.

At a dinner party last night, one of the guests posed a question: Imagine a roomful of people chosen at random. How many people need to be in the room for there to be at least a 50% probability that at least two of the people have the same birthday?

This blog post looks at the ways of how FP&A can help entrepreneurs to accomplish their goals. The action that entrepreneurs take is described through financial reports. Financial reports establish a communication process that reveals what entrepreneurs want to do and how they will do it.

Most people will agree that planning is a vital activity for every corporate body.  It is often carried out according to a management calendar.  Long-range and resource planning tends to take place on an annual basis, forecasting tends to be quarterly, while reporting is monthly driven.