Martin Luther King, Jr. said that "the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." The origin of this sentence can be traced to Theodore Parker who was a Unitarian minister and prominent American Transcendentalist born in 1810. Parker called for the abolition of slavery in the USA in an 1853 collection of “Ten Sermons of Religion”.

So, what does this have to do with the mission of the Profitability Center of Excellence (PACE)? Plenty.

The current debate around Return To Office (RTO) likely heralds the biggest shift in the workplace since the emergence of the assembly line in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Is this relevant for an FP&A audience though? I’d argue it is fundamentally relevant for a number of reasons, not least because it is one of the biggest impacts of Covid-19 on the global business environment. This is a debate that, from a financial planning and analysis perspective, we cannot sit out. 

This paper, based on our interviews with 25 top FP&A practitioners and thought leaders along with case studies from the largest global network of FP&A people, captures the best practices and new ideas coming out of this fast-growing area.

A key function of effective FP&A is to create a data-driven decision-making culture throughout the enterprise. Data management is, therefore, a crucial part of FP&A's agenda. 

There are many factors that influence a significant promotion in finance - be it into a manager role or large P&L responsibility. These can be formal education and certification, past performance, experience, etc.

However, what I have seen in the past, is that many people despite checking all these boxes still couldn't get ahead in their careers

To provide the best support to the business leaders, FP&A needs to quickly leverage the accounting information at hand. This article covers three critical aspects of telling the business story behind the numbers.