There’s a lot of buzz nowadays with regards to digitalization and how we all need to be ready for significant changes in our working environment and businesses.

When preparing the implementation of a planning and forecasting system I am often asked if we can just take the existing spreadsheet solution and squeeze this into the new system. Invariably my answer is: Yes, we can do this, but we should not. Why?

Many believe that one of the future roles of Finance, and FP&A, specifically, will be to provide real-time, data-driven decision support for the business. This will transform Finance from a mere ‘cost center’ to a ‘profit center’ function, raising its importance within the organization.

The statistics reveal that 60%-90% of strategy implementations fail and only 14% of executives are satisfied with the execution of a strategy. Why do companies systematically fail to set meaningful and achievable targets that can help close the strategy gap? What should be the role of the FP&A in Strategic Planning?

I like to think of the various EPM/CPM methods as an analogy of musical instruments in an orchestra. An orchestra’s conductor seeks balance and guides the symphony composer’s fluctuations in harmony, rhythm and tone. 

The information age is forcing the office of the CFO into a more data-driven, strategic role away from the back-office accounting role of the past. For CFO’s to be successful, they need their FP&A teams to step out of the data collection and validation and play a larger more strategic, customer facing role.