FP&A is quickly becoming one of the most important fields within corporate finance. How does someone not currently in FP&A enter the field?  How does someone already in FP&A succeed in their role and ensure they're at the forefront of the function's evolution? This article will explain.

Businesses exist in order to improve the well-being of others.  One approach businesses use for achieving this goal is the concept of people/process/technology.  In businesses the element of people is the responsibility of human resources; human resources is responsible for the acquisition, compensation, and teaching of people.  How can human resources improve its ability to acquire, compensate, and teach people?  An answer is financial planning, thinking about how businesses can accumulate wealth.

Most business people are familiar with the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Simply put, it says that 20% of inputs generate 80% of outputs. It's a very simple concept, but many people struggle to use it. When it comes to communication, the practical application of the 80/20 rule is to listen 80% of the time.

Both diversity and inclusion are important considerations in the modern finance world. There are clear benefits associated with organisations that are successful in driving this agenda – both in terms of employee satisfaction and also to the bottom line in terms of profit.

The purpose of your company’s administrative function is to support what your company sells. Support consists of departments like finance, human resources, and information technology; future articles will describe these departments in greater detail. The focus of this article is on administration as a whole. 

Generally, certified accountants have not had a reputation for deep involvement with operations, marketing, and sales management nor being a strategic advisor to their executive team, although articles by the media, consulting firms, and IT analysts have been claiming this is a trend and direction for them.