The most important decision for top management is where the money goes. Capital allocation not only defines the money flow but also who will be spending it. Since many companies are threatened by disruption, intrapreneurship is now more important than ever. FP&A specialists can hold a key-position when it comes to facilitating the process of capital allocation.

The purpose of your company’s administrative function is to support what your company sells. Support consists of departments like finance, human resources, and information technology; future articles will describe these departments in greater detail. The focus of this article is on administration as a whole. 

On September 19, 2019, New York welcomed the 6th FP&A Board conference at the Michael Page office in midtown Manhattan. Thirty senior FP&A professionals attended the event sponsored by SAP and Michael Page to discuss and share their experiences on Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB).

In this video, Stefan Spiegel, CFO at Swiss Railway Freight Logistics (SBB Cargo AG), talks about the program that they used in SBB Cargo to replace management accounting. Instead of using a classical cost-accounting system, SBB Cargo switched to Intelligent business simulation engine.

The fifth meeting of the Boston FP&A Board was held on the 17th of September 2019. The purpose of the meeting was to address Driver Based and Predictive FP&A.

Professional portfolios have always been the expected norm for creative, visual occupations, everything from computer-aided design, photography, artwork, interior design to runway models. Until recently, this was not an option for the finance professional, a non-visual occupation. Finance professionals have typically taken the approach to lengthy résumés, detailing employment history and outlining routine tasks performed.

In a recent ACCA survey about the future of the accountancy professional, digital is listed as one of the 7 quotients for success. ACCA defines digital as “the awareness and application of existing and emerging digital technologies, capabilities, practices, strategies and culture”. One of the more talked about area in technology is artificial intelligence. This article attempts to explore whether artificial intelligence can replace people in the FP&A arena.

Strong programming skills (R, SQL, Python, VBA) are coming up frequently as requirements to be successful in FP&A. Those who have not caught up with this yet need to do so. 

What about strong people skills?

The opposition showed their teeth over the past fortnight, by allying to take control of the Parliamentary agenda and pass a law extending Brexit by three months.  Remainers have triumphed, pushing the exit date out to 31st January 2020.  The Conservative party has lost its majority and cannot even call a General Election, to attempt to resolve the issue.  Notwithstanding this, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to be determined to leave by 31st October 2019.

The second Shanghai FP&A Board will take place on 25 of November 2019 to debate the popular subject of the FP&A Analytical Transformation.