The 9th face-to-face Paris FP&A Board took place on the 4th of February 2025 in the beautiful Michael Page Office near Neuilly-sur-Seine. It brought together 30 senior finance leaders, representing such companies as Renault, Dentsu, Tech Data, Twinings, Carl Zeiss, L’Oreal, OPmobility, Mirion Technologies, and many others, who exchanged insights with their peers and explored in-depth the critical aspects of the topic “From Insight to Impact: FP&A Business Partnering in Action”.

Figure 1: Paris FP&A Board №9, February 2025

Larysa Melnychuk, CEO of FP&A Trends Group and Founder of the International FP&A Board, led the discussions of the event sponsored by Workday Adaptive Planning in partnership with Michael Page.

The forum adopted a structured yet interactive format, exploring the evolution of FP&A Business Partnering and the essential skills, tools, and mindsets needed for the best-in-class FP&A Business Partner. The session also included practical examples from the field, collaborative group work, and key conclusions and recommendations.
 

Figure 2: Paris FP&A Board №9, February 2025

The Paris FP&A Board started by gathering participants in small groups, where they discussed the biggest barriers preventing FP&A from being a true business partner in their organisations. After these conversations, each participant introduced themselves and shared one or two keywords summarising their discussion. The most frequently cited challenges are as follows:

• Business understanding
• Hierarchy
• Change
• Prioritisation
• Financial culture
• Lack of speed

What is FP&A Business Partnering?

“The FP&A Business Partner is a change agent that knows the business and challenges the status quo to improve. Understanding the business and speaking the business language is a skill that is very much sought after. He focuses on soft skills. FP&A understands drivers and is in a position to challenge them and the assumptions around which they are based. In doing so, the Business Partner should supply alternative views for consideration that bring in the bigger picture of what is trying to be achieved. In this way, FP&A can become a sounding board for new ideas.” 

FP&A Trends Research Paper. FP&A Board Maturity Model: Best-in-class FP&A and how to get there

Figure 3

The participants explored the current state of FP&A Business Partnering, agreeing that while the demand for Business Partnering has increased, too little FP&A’s time — only one-third — is spent on high-value-adding activities such as insight generation and driving actions. Instead, more time (45%) is allocated to low-value-adding activities such as data collection and validation.

Figure 4

How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming FP&A Business Partnering

The event participants also engaged in a live polling question via QR code to assess how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently being used within their FP&A function:

• Half of the participants do not use AI in the FP&A function.
• Out of the other half, 19% use AI to provide summaries or insights for FP&A reports.
• 15% use AI to analyse data patterns and trends in financial reports.
• 8% automate parts of FP&A processes using AI.
• Only 8% produce forecasts.

Figure 5

Following the poll, the participants welcomed Thomas Lim, Regional Sales Director in continental Europe and the Nordics at Workday, who provided valuable insights on the critical role of AI and Machine Learning (ML) on FP&A Business Partnering. He underscored how AI/ML enables FP&A teams to shift from being number crunchers to becoming strategic business partners. The combination of predictive forecasting, anomaly detection, intelligent variance analysis, and generative AI enables FP&A to deliver proactive, data-driven insights that empower business leaders to make smarter decisions.  

Figure 6: Paris FP&A Board №9, February 2025

Group Work, Conclusions and Recommendations

The session continued with the group work, where participants were divided into three groups to discuss the best-in-class FP&A Business Partnering model from three different perspectives:

• Group 1: How can organisations implement a best-in-class FP&A Business Partnering model to move from transactional to strategic?
• Group 2: How can FP&A teams develop the skills and capabilities needed for effective business partnering?
• Group 3: How can FP&A use AI, automation, and technology to focus less on data gathering and more on insights?

Figure 7: Group Work, Paris FP&A Board, February 2025

The first group came up with the following insights:

• Embedding FP&A in the business functions
• Including diverse talents with proven experience
• Building foundations by freeing up time, improving data quality, being agile and speedy, and assessing the activities

The participants of the second group highlighted the importance of the following skills and capabilities:

• Onboarding new staff effectively
• Applying 360° review, not only by financial people
• Building multidisciplinary and complementary teams
• Encouraging curiosity, listening, and looking for feedback
• Thinking outside the box

Finally, the third group shared their insights related to the technology aspect:

• Ensuring standardised and reliable data
• Training the users and communicating with them effectively
• Ensuring the right understanding of operational people and translating business requirements
• Speaking the same language
• Strengthening data governance, confidentiality, and segmentation

Figure 8: Group Work, Paris FP&A Board, February 2025

The meeting was wrapped up with conclusions and recommendations for finance professionals on crafting a best-in-class FP&A Business Partnering Framework.

After the session, attendees had the opportunity to continue the discussion and network in an informal and engaging ambience.