We live in an era with an interconnected global economy, where constant change and uncertainty are taken as a given but planning for such an environment is not easy. Flexible and dynamic financial planning and analysis (FP&A) can help firms to cope.

FP&A goes by many names. In Germany, it is called “Controlling”.  From my previous visits to Germany, I know that German Controllers are different from Accountants: they are forward-looking, analytical and often very technical in their approaches. Recently, I got a great opportunity to learn how FP&A is evolving in Europe’s strongest economy.

The past 5 years have seen significant transformations in the FP&A world. I have been fortunate enough to have travelled extensively and seen these changes. I saw a lot of changes in the FP&A World first-hand: both successful and painful. I met a lot of FP&A professionals – hard working, exciting, inspiring and often burned out.