FP&A professionals know their trade very well when it comes to the technical skills used to plan, forecast, and execute the strategy of a company. However, to truly influence the strategic directions they need to be able to influence their stakeholders.

Being a business partner will increase your scope and you will be more dependent on others. Learning to delegate, choosing the battles to fight for, saying no without compromising the relationship, continuing to expand your knowledge, surrounding yourself with the right people and supporting them would be the keys to success.

Business Partnering is what will make not only the FP&A team more successful but more importantly also improve the overall company performance. So, what’s stopping you from getting started right away?

Communication is a key soft skill that FP&A professionals should master. Getting it right the first time enables FP&A professionals to be more effective and efficient. What are the top 10 considerations for effective FP&A communication?

One important skill finance professionals are never taught during their formal education is the power of personal engagement with operations and using these relationships to deliver bottom-line value. There is too much focus on models, processes, procedures and systems without regard to the fact that all these have to be developed, operated and interpreted by people. 

Being a business partner requires a specific skillset. Furthermore, specific conditions should be in place to increase the chance of success. In the article, Anders Liu-Lindberg describes two main option for the implementation of the concept of FP&A Business Partnering.