Jack Welch was quoted as saying, “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, then the end is near.”

For FP&A, effective communication centres on 'storytelling' — the art of conveying numerical analysis as a cohesive narrative instead of a set of disjointed figures. It is hard to overstate the importance of storytelling. How FP&A professional presents their data determines how they are viewed

The financial planning and analysis (FP&A) storyteller has emerged as one of the five critical roles within the FP&A function. In a data-driven world, the volume of data that exists is exponentially increasing. Equally, the time available for managers to process insights from this data is decreasing. Therefore, the requirement that these insights be taken and used to drive leadership decisions has never been greater.

The New Normal means that planning is no longer an extrapolation of the past. Similarly, business drivers that worked last year may no longer be relevant for the future. The reality is that organizations face multiple possible futures. Each one can be triggered by a crisis or an unforeseen event that will require the company to adjust or even change course.

So how should FP&A adapt to this New Normal?

The role of the CFO is changing: It’s moving away from compliance and optimization, towards a more strategic; customer facing disruptive role. How are FP&A teams delivering strategic value in today’s world?

A plan, for an incompetent manager, is just an administrative task that needs to be completed to satisfy the boss and headquarters. Nothing else. There is no attempt to think about objectives, goals, roadmaps or any of the classic planning principles. For a boss this behaviour should be easy to detect, but if they are unaware of their inherent incompetence, then the incompetent managers will remain undetected.