Dear colleagues,

When a finance leader checks a number for the third time, there is usually a reason. The extra check gets the report out, but the same work returns next month.

That repeated work has a cost in time, and the 2026 FP&A Trends Survey shows how much it varies: teams with advanced or best-in-class data quality spend 53% of their time on high-value work, compared with 13% among teams with low or poor data quality. That is a substantial gap in the time available for insight and action.

Making that time available takes more than correcting the next report. In this issue the featured Insights Paper, Mastering Data in FP&A, sets out how to identify the information that matters, establish responsibility for its quality and help teams use it. The other articles in this edition bring this into everyday practice, from repeated reconciliation to prioritising data work and making information reusable.

Enjoy the read, and I hope you find some valuable takeaways!

Warm regards,

Larysa Melnychuk

CEO and Founder, FP&A Trends Group

As AI creates new possibilities for FP&A, strong data foundations remain essential for informed decisions. This practical report explores how finance teams can improve data quality, build analytical capabilities and foster a data-informed culture — helping turn information into actionable insight and support smarter, faster decisions.

The report outlines how to:

• Define information needs before designing data systems.
• Assign data owners and establish quality checks.
• Test small analytics prototypes with users.

Get the Report →

Across 29 anonymised interviews with UK mid-market finance leaders, Tejas Parikh found senior people still rebuilding numbers before taking them to the board. His findings point to unowned sources and manual handoffs that repeated checking cannot resolve. Moving validation upstream starts with an accountable owner for each source.

Read where trust breaks →

One accrued-interest figure in a statutory report required 47 source data elements in Dr Irina Steenbeek’s experience. Producing that figure required tracing the data chains behind it. She shows how FP&A can identify critical information, specify definitions and quality requirements, and help specialist data teams prioritise the work.

Read how to prioritise the data work →

Accurate data can still be difficult to find, access or reuse. Dr Prashanth Southekal’s FAIR principles address that next step: documenting sources and owners, explaining calculation logic, agreeing definitions and tracking changes. These practices help Finance share trusted information without requiring each team to reconstruct its meaning.

Read how to make data reusable →

FP&A Trends webinars are complimentary and educational. Register to attend live or receive the recording afterwards.

Trusted information matters most when the business needs to respond. The upcoming sessions extend this discussion into continuous planning and the changes FP&A leaders need to prepare for in 2027.

A reliable data foundation needs a planning process that can use it as conditions change. This Digital APAC FP&A Circle examines the move from quarterly reviews to agile revenue planning, the risks and opportunities of AI-supported scenarios, and how AI agents can support continuous planning.

Register now →

New analytical capabilities change what FP&A can deliver and how teams work. Drawing on the tenth annual FP&A Trends Survey, this webinar examines five emerging trends, with practitioner perspectives from Philips and Intuit Credit Karma and a technology demonstration from Anaplan. The discussion connects those developments with the evolving role of FP&A.

Register now →