Industry Week: ISM: Continued Growth, but No End in Sight for Labor, Commodity Shortages

“The price of aluminum has increased now for 16 months in a row alongside the trend in manufacturing growth. Other commodities up in price for longer than a year include polypropylene (15 months up in price), steel (14 months), and plastic resins (13). Electrical and electronic components were listed as up in price for a tenth month each, and semiconductors marked an eighth more-expensive month.”

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FP&A Trends: How Data-Driven FP&A Powers Smarter Decision Making

“When your financial planning and analysis (FP&A) becomes data-driven using automation and an intuitive platform with the right tools, then there’s a fundamental shift. The data flows freely, it’s trustworthy, and it starts to work for you. In fact, it can lead to a transformation, especially with decision-making around your organisation’s finances and business strategy. But how can you reach this point?”

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FP&A Trends: Finance Transformation and the Future of FP&A

“While a reliable FP&A function relies on a solid business strategy and a sound financial acumen, at the execution level, the future of FP&A depends on three key building blocks: Digital, Data and Analytics. What are these building blocks and why do they matter from the FP&A perspectives? “

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The Manufacturer: How Manufacturers Can Create a Normalised View Across Production Lines

3 data challenges in manufacturing that need to be addressed because they “deliver accessible, trusted data to develop insights across our production lines”:

1. Breaking down data silos
2. Contextualizing and understanding data
3. Creating a dynamic data model

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Institute of Management Accountants: Overcoming FP&A’s Biggest Challenge: Predicting the Future

The Institute of Management Accountants released a report that “is designed to serve as a guide for organizations trying to forecast what’s ahead in their markets”. It poses and expands on these 9 ways to improve forecasting in the future:

1. Expand the data available
2. Tools: Start small and add on
3. Use scenario planning
4. Address the knowing-doing gap
5. Model Building: Think causality
6. Establish data collection systems
7. Improve assumptions and estimates
8. Monitor results and quickly identify the business reasons behind variance
9. Improve analytical skills

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SF Magazine: Forecasting the Future

5 ways to use predictive analytics:

1. Expand the data available
2. Tools: Start small and add on
3. Use scenario planning
4. Address the knowing-doing gap
5. Model building: Think causality

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CFO Dive: 5 CFO Tips for Rebuilding FP&A from Pandemic Ruin

““COVID-19 changed the future direction for most companies and so FP&A — and especially forecasting the future — became much more important””.

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Industry Week: Too Often, the Right Data Isn’t Getting to the Right Person (Even within Their Own Team)

“Closing the loop means establishing a system where the data is embedded into a continuous feedback process across the formerly siloed teams. Establishing this seamless data continuity fosters a data-driven culture where employees make decisions on a common set of accurate and up-to-date information.”

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CFO Dive: Data Is a Differentiator, But Much of it Is Wrong

“The good news is the growing recognition that fast access to real-time and accurate financial data is a strategic imperative. More than one-third of the executives (34%) are considering implementing or scaling automation solutions to increase the reliability and accuracy of their data, while 42% are becoming more focused on scenario planning and stress testing.”

Read More at CFO Dive >