These uncertain times demand increasingly agile and analytical Financial Planning & Analysis. How do we build FP&A teams that succeed in the world of ‘unknown of unknowns’?

Corporate Performance Management (CPM) has long consisted in breaking the company’s strategy down into operational objectives and indicators, measuring the achievement of these objectives against operational entities' budget or forecast and take action on that basis. This approach was effective in a stable business environment, with slow and controlled changes.

The role of the CFO is changing: It’s moving away from compliance and optimization, towards a more strategic; customer facing disruptive role. How is technology empowering Finance teams?

We all have these horror stories where we have all sacrificed our personal lives during this challenging ‘Budget’ season. I guess they say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I personally think that there are several ways to make your lives better during this period.

A plan, for an incompetent manager, is just an administrative task that needs to be completed to satisfy the boss and headquarters. Nothing else. There is no attempt to think about objectives, goals, roadmaps or any of the classic planning principles. For a boss this behaviour should be easy to detect, but if they are unaware of their inherent incompetence, then the incompetent managers will remain undetected.

Senior representatives from Deutsche Bahn Regio AG, Takeda, TE Connectivity, Unit4 and Robert Half, shared their actionable insights on the subject of Building Winning Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) Teams.