What are the best ways to develop your data analysis skills as an FP&A analyst?

1 Learn the basics of accounting and finance

Before you can dive into data analysis, you need to have a solid foundation of accounting and finance concepts, such as income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, ratios, valuation, and budgeting. These concepts will help you understand the context, purpose, and meaning of the data you are analyzing, as well as the implications for the business performance and strategy. You can learn the basics of accounting and finance through online courses, books, podcasts, or mentors.

2 Master Excel and other tools

Excel is the most widely used tool for data analysis in FP&A, as it offers a range of functions, formulas, charts, and features to manipulate, visualize, and communicate data. As an FP&A analyst, you should master Excel skills such as pivot tables, VLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, IF statements, conditional formatting, data validation, and macros. You should also be familiar with other tools that can enhance your data analysis capabilities, such as Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python, or R. These tools can help you handle large and complex data sets, automate tasks, create interactive dashboards, and perform advanced analytics.

3 Develop a logical and analytical mindset

Data analysis is not only about using tools and techniques, but also about applying logic and reasoning to solve problems and answer questions. As an FP&A analyst, you should develop a logical and analytical mindset that allows you to define the problem, identify the data sources, collect and clean the data, perform the analysis, interpret the results, and communicate the findings. You should also be able to test your assumptions, validate your data quality, check your calculations, and explain your methodology.

4 Keep up with industry trends and best practices

Data analysis is not a static skill that you can learn once and forget. It requires constant practice, improvement, and adaptation to changing business needs and data sources. As an FP&A analyst, you should keep up with industry trends and best practices that can affect your data analysis approach, such as new regulations, standards, technologies, methodologies, or frameworks. You should also seek feedback, learn from your peers, and join professional networks and communities that can help you exchange ideas, insights, and experiences.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?