This is the first part of a three-part series on the business value that data science and analytics can provide to enterprises.

Every large organization in the world today, from Apple to P&G and from Ford to Goldman Sachs has a dedicated Financial Planning & Analysis team with bespectacled finance professionals claiming to be “more than mere accountants” or even “value-adding business partners”. What is FP&A and why has it become arguably the most important function in a company’s finance organization?

The Launch of the Amsterdam FP&A Board took place on 6 October 2016. The first discussion was traditionally devoted to the Latest Trends in FP&A.

On 20 March 2018, we had an interesting Beyond Budgeting debate at the fifth FP&A Board in Amsterdam.

Looking to leverage your FP&A team into strategic partnership? One question to ask is how does FP&A drive strategic partnership & value? Strong FP&A teams have a neutral perspective and bring data driven decision making into the partnership.

The concept of business partnering is more than two decades old and till now employees, at all levels, have not fully understood the fundamental point of Business Partnering roles. Even the companies which consider themselves ahead of the curve on implementing business partnering, have only thought of the functional and operational elements of business partnering role.

Last week, the International FP&A Board held two meetings in Switzerland.

The International FP&A Board opened its 20th chapter in Tokyo, Japan, on the 12th of July.

On the 19th of July, we held the 4th FP&A Board in Kuala Lumpur. Like before, the Kuala Lumpur FP&A Board debate was very dynamic and insightful thanks to the participants.

Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) Centers of Excellence (CoEs) are an increasingly potent solution to a very timely challenge: How to improve the analytics and decision support capabilities of FP&A, when finance is under continued pressure to do more with less.