The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall is an interesting story about the influence of physics in finance. FP&A practitioners can find material in this book to help them improve their work. For me three areas of the book serve as meaningful reference material.
Heuristics are rules of thumb. Psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer believes heuristics are a necessary part of an individual’s decision making process. Heuristics can be used in FP&A as a way to make decisions about how organizations earn revenues and incur expenses. Here is a heuristic that I use to make decisions about how organizations earn revenues:
A purpose of FP&A is to help people acquire insight into how organizations function. People acquire insight from a variety of sources; they can acquire insight by reading reports, talking to people, or walking through facilities. A reason people choose a certain source to acquire insight is accessibility and as a result FP&A practitioners should make their insight accessible.
A definition of quality is “a distinctive characteristic possessed by someone.” The work of FP&A practitioners focuses on thinking and learning about how financial activities – earning revenues, incurring costs, generating cash flows – affect organizations. The thinking and learning about this relationship require a mindset that creates results.
There are many definitions of culture. From a business perspective I like the definition of culture as “the beliefs and behavior that determine how people interact and handle transactions.” I like this definition because it includes the word “transactions.” Transactions are unavoidable within businesses.
An important characteristic of FP&A practitioners is a commitment to continuous improvement. There are a number of ways for FP&A practitioners to commit toward improving their work. For me, one of the ways I commit to continuous improvement is reading books.
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Prediction is an important part of the work that FP&A practitioners do. This work has many challenges. One way to address these challenges is by minimizing the negative.
Prediction is an important work that FP&A practitioners do. This work has many challenges. One way to address these challenges is by maximizing the positive. There are three steps in maximizing the positive.
Making predictions is an important part of our work as FP&A practitioners. Its importance is due to need but need can be hindered due to incomplete knowledge.
FP&A establishes the foundation for thinking and learning about how processes affect outcomes. These actions can be guided by broad and narrow framing. In order for FP&A to add value toward these actions, it must take an active role in establishing a framework through the chart of accounts.