Finance Business Partnering is not a new concept to the many who have been doing it for years. What is new is that it has recently been given a new exciting title, and with that comes the fear that accountants and finance professionals need to be doing something new and in addition to their current duties. And that they need to find time for it.

Do you believe cross-functional projects help in improving FP&A Business Partners’ interpersonal skills, strengthening their relationships with stakeholders and increasing their business acumen? To answer these questions, I would like to share the below business case from my experience in working at a global FMCG company.

In this FP&A Talks, we speak with Thomas Lundell, Finance Director and Chief of Staff for Enterprise Countries at NetApp. Thomas shares his story of how he took part in building and transforming the FP&A team at NetApp. FP&A Talks is a collaboration between FP&A Trends Group and Anders Liu-Lindberg

This article focuses on how to ensure that your team adopts business partnering because long-term it is not feasible to maintain quality of the work if you are trying to do it all by yourself. And quality is what makes partnering stick.

How can FP&A partner with the business to enhance enterprise value? By optimising the decision-making process and supporting critical investment decisions, FP&A can drive the business forward.

As an FP&A professional, one of the key foundation points is to build trust and respect with the business. Trust comes in many forms and is built over time, and is something that cannot be obtained immediately. Respect relies on providing quality and timely outputs that the business can rely on as a trusted partner. 

So how did I get there? This article is a snapshot of Turgut Kapisiz's journey and the steps involved.