This is an exciting time to be in Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A). Because of Brexit, COVID-19 and ongoing digital transformation, organisations are demanding more than ever from the FP&A function. This culture of expectation encourages FP&A professionals to go above and beyond what has been achieved before.

In anticipation of turning the pandemic corner, companies are contemplating the return to the office or some form of the “Next Normal” working model. So how will your FP&A team find optimal ways of working in this new and evolving landscape?  

There are probably a lot of tips and learnings you have picked up as you went on your journey as a finance business partner, but you may still be up for some surprises from the list here.

The key to modern FP&A teams is through empowered organisational governance, underlying a rich collaborative exchange of words, data and information.  This article explores how technology changed the way FP&A teams’ organisations in order to meet a more challenging landscape.

Despite the current circumstances of the COVID-19 epidemic, many FP&A teams have been able to adapt to the challenges and even become more effective during the crisis. Remote working or part-time working has led to more collaboration and is paving the way for new opportunities for both people and organisations. This article will describe the current FP&A challenges and the ways how FP&A teams can address them.

Increasingly, FP&A’s most valued skill is turning data/facts into a story and putting these into context. However, there is generally too little focus on the actual art and science of storytelling, the primary tool in business partnering. This article on Storytelling will evolve around the three core elements of a good story – the narrative, visuals and data and cover how combining these allows FP&A to fulfil our goal in life of influencing change.