This article explores the attributes of Big Data and considers whether having more data is always good. First, let's get back to the basics. What is Big Data? Put simply, big data refers to a vast variety of data with which an organisation can engage. The aim is to use big data to improve business performance. This is applicable to profit and non-profit organizations, financial and operational measures.

The seventh meeting of the Brussels FP&A Board will take place on 13 February 2020 to debate on FP&A Team Building. 

Most people have worked with organization wide initiatives such as Enterprise Performance Planning and Integrated Business Planning yet they are not familiar with Integrated Financial Planning and Analysis.

On 12 November 2019, I had the pleasure of facilitating, the 7th Frankfurt FP&A Board meeting. The meeting was sponsored by Apliqo and Robert Half and attended by over 30 FP&A professionals. The key subject of discussion was “FP&A Business Partnering”.

In November, we had the 2nd Shanghai FP&A Board. FP&A Analytical Transformation was the focus of our discussion. It is amazing to observe that FP&A Analytical trends and challenges are global.

Scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis and what-if analysis are very similar concepts and are really only slight variations of the same thing. All are very important components of financial modelling – in fact, being able to run sensitivities, scenarios and what-if analysis is often the whole reason the model was built in the first place.

Among FP&A challenges understanding, explaining and forecasting revenues evolutions are one of the top items. It may be more or less difficult depending on the company business.

The seventh meeting of the Dubai FP&A Board will take place on the 19th of February 2020. The professional debate will be devoted to the FP&A Team Building.

The Amsterdam FP&A Board will meet on 11 February 2020 for the ninth time. The professional debate will be devoted to the subject of "Best Practices in FP&A Storytelling". 

Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard is a familiar concept, still widely used today, often falling to FP&A or Strategic Planning teams to create and then monitor. This process can be very challenging and problematic to deliver. This blog focuses on some practical observations and tips regarding the implementation of a scorecard, designed to help you get buy-in from the rest of the organisation.