This is the summary article in a series of eight articles about the Operational Budget (OB) and its associated Operational Income Statement (OIS). These articles have described the significant enhancements the OB and OIS provide to the traditional budget and related financial processes and techniques.
Many Finance professionals have an incorrect perception of the word “insight” but here is a simple way to validate if you provide insight or “just” data. Ask yourself, what decision a business can make based on the data you have provided? Insight is something valuable and not yet known by the business, but when known the business uses it to make decisions that are data-driven.
FP&A Digitalisation was discussed at several FP&A Boards in the past but the recent mindset shift has changed the perspective. It went from anxiety before the implementation to peace of mind in fully controlling the processes and confidence in the quality of provided FP&A insights.
This article applies to all private sector firms, not just Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Private Equity (PE) firms. The technique described here can also be used to rank the profitability of five financial planning alternatives to the traditional budget.
‘If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes’, said Albert Einstein.
The current COVID-19 disruption has led to a historical change requiring adaptability and increased visibility for CFO and the executive team. At the First Pan-Australian Digital FP&A Board, the panel of 7 high-profile speakers discussed how financial planning and analysis (FP&A) can adapt to the "New Normal".