The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
Tag Archives: financial planning and analysis
Four Reasons to Adopt Modern Business Planning ASAP
October 7, 2019
Finance is maturing from a traditionally siloed department of number-crunchers to a strategic and respected adviser to the business. To get there, however, finance needs to leave their manual processes and spreadsheets behind and put modern technology to strategic use. According to recent Adaptive Insights research, 77% of CFOs report that they’ve delayed major business decisions because they lack access to timely data. In today’s fast paced business climate, success could depend on how hard finance leaders work to automate time-consuming manual tasks; move to cloud technologies; and employ better reporting, analytics, and dashboarding technologies. Business speed and agility can now make the difference for a business to be successful or not, and this shift is becoming more prevalent. Innovative finance teams are abandoning spreadsheets in favor of automated, modern solutions that are attainable and accessible.
A Futurist’s Framework For Strategic Planning
September 23, 2019
When it comes to long-term planning, many FP&A professionals should be able to answer these questions: Where do you want to have impact? What it will take to achieve success? How will the organization evolve to meet challenges on the horizon? These questions are the foundation for any achievable plan, both long and short term. Many businesses get stuck cycling between strategy and tactics, and while that process might feel like serious planning for the future, it results in a perpetual cycle of trying to catch up: to competitors, to new entrants, and to external sources of disruption. “Futurists” see their planning timelines as more of a cone that measures certainty and charts actions, rather than simply marking the passage of time as quarters or years. The result, ideally, is a flexible organization that is positioned to consistently and effectively respond to external developments.
Read More at The Harvard Business Review >
