They say a picture is worth a thousand words… Telling a story is one of the most important tasks FP&A professionals are facing, and data visualization is a powerful tool to reveal stories. This tool can help filter out the noise and generate valuable business insights.

In this article, I will share several challenges and dilemmas in building a strong FP&A department and also describe how they can be overcome. I‘ve gone through this process in 3 different companies as a Head of FP&A, so I can give my observation and say what are the crucial conditions to make the FP&A department successful and to minimise the ambiguity. 

Networking; the mere mention of the word is enough to strike fear into the heart of many finance professionals. Perhaps we view it through a prism of insincerity; repeating to ourselves that finance is a technical role and hard work and ability will get me where I need to go.

High uncertainty was the other name for 2020, and FP&A's have been going through massive challenges and transformations to adjust to the New Normal. What are the top 10 Financial Planning and Analysis trends to watch in 2021 and beyond?

The increasing levels of business partnering and integration, new opportunities in functions outside finance are becoming possible. Having personally witnessed some successful cross-functional movements by FP&A professionals, I am a strong believer in the capability as well as the value of such movements. 

Is FP&A a generalist or a specialist? I believe it can be a mixture of both.