Most people are familiar that all businesses go through a life cycle – establishment to start up, startup to growth, growth to maturity, and then finally into decline. Similar to companies, careers have a lifecycle as well. 

Design thinking is a creative and practical approach to problem-solving. It involves the creation of multiple options which are then scrutinised through varying viewpoints and lenses to determine the most effective solution.

For most marketing managers doing the annual budget is a bore or waste of time. With most transactional services outsourced and financial management centralised in the home country of the company, local financials spend more and more time with planning, budgeting and forecasting.

Collaboration is important, as “goes without saying”: “We must collaborate to solve this problem” or “They don’t collaborate!”, about an unsuccessful team. On one hand it is obvious what collaboration means – working together, duh! However, I came across a phrase which defines collaboration clearly and to the point.

This article highlights some of the common cognitive biases that the author has come across in his career and how awareness and mitigation of these could lead to our becoming better finance and FP&A business partners.

FP&A professionals have various desirable attributes. This article looks at these attributes from a diamond perspective – cut, colour, clarity and carat – plus culture.