This month the Accountagility Index (AAX) moved up six basis points to 5.09.  Last month it was 5.03.  The Index records UK political and economic health in a score out of ten.  Any score below 5.00 is negative. Given the torrent of bad news, this move upwards may seem counter-intuitive.

Although Beyond Budgeting is about so much more than just budgets, our name tends to draw people, at least initially, towards the budget word. Once there, cost management often pops up as the number one issue, for obvious reasons. How can we manage cost without a budget?

Business partnering is something everyone is talking about right now. The premise is that the more low-value finance tasks are automated, the more time finance practitioners have to work with their “customers” in the business. The only problem is that many business leaders are far from satisfied with finance’s performance to date as a valued business partner.

FP&A in a small sized business is different than in a large, corporate firm. While one can argue that we all face a lack of time and resources, there often is no dedicated FP&A function in a smaller enterprise. FP&A team members in a smaller firm are wearing many more hats than FP&A. Again, we don’t have too many people that report to us (if any) that are analysts.