One of the biggest transformations in the finance departments recently, has been the shift for an Accountant to move from a compliance and governance based individual, to an insight driven value added business partner. In the past, accountants could get by doing monthly reporting, statutory accounts and tax returns and justify their role within an organisation.

Back in 2004 I spent a large portion of time overseas travelling around France. I would often find when talking to a “local” the first question I would ask was:  “Do you speak English?” Most times, the response I got was a short, sharp “No!”

Looking to leverage your FP&A team into strategic partnership? One question to ask is how does FP&A drive strategic partnership & value? Strong FP&A teams have a neutral perspective and bring data driven decision making into the partnership.

The concept of business partnering is more than two decades old and till now employees, at all levels, have not fully understood the fundamental point of Business Partnering roles. Even the companies which consider themselves ahead of the curve on implementing business partnering, have only thought of the functional and operational elements of business partnering role.

The 21st century has allowed us to communicate in a number of effective and innovative ways. Email, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Tinder, Hashtags, the list goes on and on in relation to forms of communication which are anything but the simple and most basic form of communication; conversation.

One element for FP&A teams to provide value is strategic partnership. Therefore, with any change in direction or focus, it is important to understand how to start. Below, I will cover a simplified and quick start guide for starting the strategic partnership process.