The COVID crisis is significantly challenging companies’ resilience i.e. their ability to face the crisis. It largely depends on their level of preparation. FP&A should keep a permanent assessment of this resilience and potentially promote plans to improve it. How can we do this?

The way a company FP&A suite is organised (i.e. its setup) covers the way data are organised and analysed, the way the reporting and the forecasting are produced and performances are measured. What will qualify as the best FP&A set up? How will it be accepted by the company?

Decision making requires a formal process to ensure that sound bases are taken into consideration and to ensure accountability and control. It is applicable to the different types of (material) decisions i.e. investments, developments, catalogue or contract pricing, reorganisation, etc. It is more flexible and specific than the forecast methodology (budget, rolling forecast, etc.). 

Among FP&A challenges understanding, explaining and forecasting revenues evolutions are one of the top items. It may be more or less difficult depending on the company business.

There are several key components in the FP&A role. The way profitability is analysed and used to improve the business results is one of them. 

Most large and medium-size companies are within ecosystems with increasing complexity and evolutions speed. Globalisation, regulations, technological changes, competitor moves, innovations, customer demands change and few others are the source of this increase in complexity and change speed.