This article is my sequel to my previously published “Can Accountants Grow the Beans Too?” article posted this past January, 2019.

After the excitement of the past two months, when the Brexometer has been jumping up and down like a mouse on a trampoline, this month sees a more stable situation. The reading has risen by just two basis points from 4.95 in December, to 4.97, a small rise, but still below the parity level of 5.00.

According to Google's Chief Economist, Dr. Hal Varian, "The ability to take data—to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it— that’s going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades."

The digital revolution is not only shaking company business models but also has a direct impact on the finance function. The world is now evolving at a faster pace, and now more than ever before, there is a need to question regularly the long-term strategy. Also, Business Partners need daily support to work on new ideas and to create robust business cases. 

The 2017 FP&A Empowerment Survey results include the experiences of 311 FP&A leaders from across the globe, offer seven insights that help define the evolution of FP&A. The results are available in the interactive report (you can see it below).

A rolling forecast is not only about seeing the future unravel, but a constant evaluation of the management team to see if they are able to adjust their operations on time. Without it, any form of strategic planning becomes useless. Below you find a real-life case. Step-by-step each question will be briefly discussed. It is about a foreign business unit, which was part of a large European corporation, on the brink of a crisis.

The sixth Frankfurt FP&A Board will take place on 9 April 2019 to debate the popular subject of Zero-Based Budgeting. 

Why is strategic partnership important? You might be asking yourself this question when going to a sales meeting, working with another department or attending a company meeting.  Strategic partnership is paramount as it allows FP&A teams to spend less time on traditional finance functions like reporting, treasury, tax and investor relations. 

In the first part of this discussion we identified the root cause that prevents FP&A to deliver its full value. In fact we have identified a core conflict of FP&A. This conflict can be described in different ways. 

The Stockholm FP&A Board will meet on 4 April 2019 for the sixth time. The professional debate will be devoted to the subject of FP&A Team Building.