In this paper, we will explore these different areas to explain what they are, how they have benefited other organisations and the steps an organisation can take in making the transition.

I hope to show the analytical power that is now available to the FP&A practitioner and how it can drive business change in a structured manner; a method that involves considerably less effort than I had to apply all those years ago.

FP&A must drive profitable business decisions. As companies increase investments in advanced analytics, CFOs and their FP&A leaders are well-positioned to provide precise forecasts and actionable insights to support quick and accurate decision making.

Being adaptive to changes in the surrounding world and changing yourself is the only way to progress today. Continuous transformation of planning and analysis approaches becomes a lifestyle. Digital Transformation forms a fundamental part of it. At the same time, changes bring risks and the only way to manage them is to be prepared.

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.

With the pace of change currently relentless, it isn’t always easy to keep up.