Critical and committed - these are two important qualities for an FP&A professional. How can they be cultivated? Find out in this article.
At a time when finance is being challenged to add more value, getting the right attitude and mindset becomes critical to attract finance talent that is fit for purpose. This article zooms in on two important qualities of a good FP&A professional – Challenging and Compassionate.
I have previously written about 8 qualities which I believe characterize good FP&A performers. The article will explore what 2 of these – Curiosity and Creativity - can mean for Business Finance and FP&A in particular.
The image of a silo is one that is sealed off from its surroundings. It is insular and protected. In the organisation, this has tended to manifest itself in functional silos. Meaning Finance, HR, IT, R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing etc. It can, of course, apply broader to also divisions within an organisation or even regions / markets. How does this relate to Finance?
FP&A helps create sources of future value whilst being on top of how much value is being created at present. Neither of these two things is as easy to measure at any one point in time. So, how can we answer the question “is FP&A delivering what is expected of it”?
The explosion in computing and data processing power has led to an exponential increase in data available to the business. Paradoxically, this has led to business leaders becoming more uncertain about what to do with this data. Hence, business is scrambling to put the appropriate “analytics” capability in place. This generates a lot of friction and tension because business leaders and managers, who have been brought up in a very different world, have to scramble to learn new languages and redress their relationship with data.
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This article is about a basic understanding of main value creation concepts and how those impact the work of FP&A. We take a look at value creation from a financial lens – the DuPont analysis framework for calculating return on investment (ROI).
FP&A challenges around leveraging better technology have been well documented but relatively little has been written about the environment that FP&A works within. How that can help FP&A have more impact?
Change is inevitable. And a process of change – a story – starts always with a question. Why do FP&A professionals need to ask more effective questions? Where should you start?
While rolling forecasts have clear benefits, their successful implementation needs to consider several risk areas. The purpose of this article is to explore what consequences and costs a move to rolling forecasting has for the other actors involved in the process.