The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
Tag Archives: FP&A
SF Magazine: Looking Toward 2021
January 5, 2021
“The pandemic has tested the mettle of most CFOs, regardless of what industry they work in, and it has permanently changed their roles. As Judy Munro explains, COVID has underscored the need for FP&A talent in the finance department, spearheaded by access to data. “The CFOs are embracing technology in a big way to gain the insights they need in highly volatile times.””
SF Magazine: Maximizing FP&A Assets
November 17, 2020
“While FP&A has been within the management accountant’s tool kit for decades, three recent trends have elevated the importance of FP&A skills: increased access to data, the availability of new business intelligence (BI) technologies, and the greater role of finance as a strategic partner.”
Driver-Based Planning Processes Need a Solid Tech Foundation
August 21, 2020
“The excel-based planning process will not deliver consistency to the performance management process. In contrast, the dedicated planning solutions will let you build and maintain a solid infrastructure for fully integrating actuals and plan data through driver-based planning model.”
Reduce Cost and Risk in Finance Transformation
August 18, 2020
“This renewed focus on transformation is driven by the reliance on the CFO and finance team as businesses try to survive the crisis and plan for the recovery. It has exposed the weaknesses that exist within the typical function (planning and forecasting, for example) and the necessary improvements to meet the expectations of the business. Remote working adds to the challenge.
With cost-cutting high on the agenda for most organisations, the finance team will also come under scrutiny. We need to do more with less, be more efficient and effective.”
Building Transformational FP&A Processes
August 11, 2020
“The almost instinctive reaction to such crises is to batten down the hatches and tough it out until better times return. Although economic downturns can be severe for both business and individuals such a knee-jerk reaction is seldom the best strategy.”
What’s The Right Way to Use What-if Analytics?
August 10, 2020
“When making forecasts, there is a big difference between known levers of change and newly discovered and yet-unproven “nuggets” of information that are teased out of data. Before diving in, business leaders need to know there are right and wrong ways to engage in what-if analysis.”
FP&A Can Help by Asking Better Questions
August 4, 2020
“In addition, the world around us – and in business – is changing rapidly. As decision makers struggle more to make sense of such a world, they need help. Since FP&A is directly supporting business decision making and makers, they can help by asking better questions!”
Aligning FP&A and Accounting Teams for Success
August 2, 2020
“Accounting teams, which are responsible for controls, compliance and reporting — traditionally backwards-looking functions — tend to focus on the balance sheet, while financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams, which are responsible for forward-looking budgeting and forecasts, tend to focus on the P&L. FP&A teams typically account for a transaction one way — as an investment, for example — while the accounting team accounts for it as an expense.”
Digital transformation programs need the right talent to success
June 1, 2020
“Success [for digital transformation programs] requires bringing together and coordinating a far greater range of effort than most leaders appreciate. A poor showing in any one of four inter-related domains — technology, data, process, or organizational change capability — can scuttle an otherwise well-conceived transformation. The really important stuff, from creating and communicating a compelling vision, to crafting a plan and adjusting it on the fly, to slogging through the details, is all about people.”
