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.

Does your finance department add true value to the business? Do you see finance influence decision making in your organisation? Is finance always invited to attend strategic business meetings? If the answer to any of the above questions is “no”, it means a transformation from controlling to finance business partnering function is needed.

Most professionals working in the FP&A discipline have degrees in finance or accounting and previously worked as accountants or auditors. The transition from such backend core finance functions to a highly business focused partnering function is one that requires certain shifts in mind-set as well as skillset. Below is a discussion attempting to highlight some of the key ones.