It is commonly agreed that the traditional budgeting process is time-consuming and costly. It rarely focuses on strategy and adds little value. Although traditional budgets have evolved over the years, they can hardly meet the challenges of the modern economic and business environment.

Although FP&A professionals are good at analyzing past events, past performance does not predict the future. How can we make forecasts more influential?

Each year we conduct a global survey to identify trends that are changing the FP&A profession. In this digest, we would like to share with you past results and invite you to take part in the latest survey. Your responses will help us analyse the evolving role of FP&A and produce statistics that will inform the whole FP&A community.

The Digital Middle Eastern FP&A Board will be held on 24 May at 5:00 PM GST to discuss the Power of FP&A Scenario Planning.

On the 23rd of February, I had the pleasure of participating in a global webinar from Australia where the subject under discussion was Planning for Uncertainty: Building Blocks of Agile FP&A with speakers from the United States and Sweden. 

An xP&A Business Partner needs to be equipped with defined skills and competencies that bridge technical acumen, technology, and influence. The latest technological advances have enhanced and transformed FP&A frameworks. xP&A Business Partnering is the latest trend that is going well beyond just Finance and involves the entire organisation.

On the 9th of March, Larysa Melnychuk hosted an inspiring webinar about FP&A Data Visualization: Moving from Insight to Impact where three senior professionals focused on discussing three pillars of FP&A storytelling.

FP&A function is changing rapidly together with our world. xP&A means “Extended Planning & Analysis” and is now slowly taking place of the traditional FP&A. FP&A Business Partnering Maturity Model as below is showing us three stages of different aspects of core FP&A competencies. xP&A is covered under the "Leading State" column. 

In finance, we’re constantly chasing various financial metrics. But focusing on a narrow set of metrics often causes problems. For example, a Market Share growth strategy sounds great, but it often forces you to discount price or significantly increasing acquisition costs. 

As a result, the strategic outcome is often short-lived and can even result in decreased financial performance. What can be done to prevent bad strategy and why are we so surprised each and every time we repeat these same strategic mistakes?

Every month the Managing Director or Country Manager has to report the business results to the CEO or internal board. Depending on the corporate structure, there are different narrative reports, each with a different focus. This defines the role of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) and the information that needs to be collected for future growth. Two opposite cases will make the same point.