We are happy to share that the International FP&A Board has successfully expanded into the United States. It was launched in New York on 6th April 2017.
The mission of the International FP&A Board is to guide the development and promotion of best practices in global FP&A, identify and support new trends, skillsets and innovations.
On 16th March 2017 the second meeting of the Brussels FP&A Board, launched in November 2016, took place at the exclusive Business Club van Lotharingen in Brussels. It gathered 25 financial planning and analysis (FP&A) professionals from such companies as ING, J&J, Mastercard, to name but a few. As the mission of the International FP&A Board is to guide the development and promotion of best practices in global FP&A, identify and support new trends, skillsets and innovations, FP&A Analytical Transformation became the primary focus of the discussion in Brussels.
On 14th March 2017, the second meeting of the Amsterdam FP&A Board, launched in October 2016, took place in the Michael Page Office in World Trade Centre, Amsterdam. It gathered over 30 financial planning and analysis (FP&A) practitioners from such companies as ABN AMRO N.V., AkzoNobel, Cargill, Danone, Genpact, Microsoft Netherlands, and T-Mobile, to name a few. As the mission of the International FP&A Board is to guide the development and promotion of best practices in global FP&A, identify and support new trends, skillsets and innovations, FP&A Analytical Transformation became the primary focus of the discussion in Amsterdam.
On 11th May 2017 the Zurich FP&A Board gathered 36 senior finance practitioners from such leading local and global companies as Barry Callebaut, Cembra Money Bank, Citrix, Credit Suisse, Ecolab, EF Education First, GE, Gedeon Richter, MAN Diesel & Turbo, Medtronic, Quintiles IMS, Swissport, TE Connectivity, Xylem, etc. The important subject of Effective FP&A Organisational Structures became the main focus of the third FP&A Board meeting in Zurich.
Some time ago, the FP&A Board in London saw members debate whether fancy business intelligence (BI) software tools are a wise or even necessary investment. The general consenus was that boardroom members often don’t want to see complicated graphs, instead preferring to see the numbers in a flat 2D table. “I’ve worked for a chief financial officer [CFO] who hated graphs,” said one senior FP&A professional. “As a finance person, he wanted numbers, not graphs. He even got his PA to print off a dynamic clickable dashboard I produced! A lot of a presentation depends upon who you are presenting to. I’ve certainly adapted my technique and tools depending upon who is listening.”