Charting the course of a successful FP&A career
Anders Liu-Lindberg
Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on creating impact through business partnering | Interim | VP Finance | Business Finance
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Do you ever feel that Financial Planning and Analysis is undervalued by the CFO? The return on investment in FP&A is not as easy to calculate as the straight line between marketing activity and sales revenue, for example, or the productivity of a single manufacturing unit. This is a challenge shared by ‘overheads’ from FP&A to IT and cybersecurity to human resources, and it can be demotivating for professionals who feel that their work is undervalued.
There are plenty of rewards to be earned for effectiveness, but not purely for efficiency. As companies start to scale and find they need to invest in support functions outside their direct revenue-generating activities, there is an initial focus on simply getting the job done. The finance staff is expected to be efficient, managing the day-to-day paperwork and records on behalf of the founders, who are historically experts in the revenue-generating activities of the business, not the admin.
In the worst cases, accountants become a breed apart, doing efficient but incomprehensible things in their silo of paperwork. They may be viewed as a cost, a necessary evil, but not as an investment that generates a return.
Quite apart from the difficulties this throws up for a CFO fighting their function’s corner, it’s not exactly an exciting prospect for an ambitious finance professional. We have to change the narrative.
Demonstrating the effectiveness of FP&A in driving value creation, showing how it contributes to the success of the company, reaps rewards. Rewards attract finance talent. Talented staff creates a greater return on investment for the business, and the cycle continues to deliver excellence.
A magnet for finance talent
The CFO wants to attract the best people to work in the finance function and grow with the business. If FP&A can’t demonstrate the ROI that the CFO wants, then it will be undervalued by both the company and prospective employees. But FP&A has a proud heritage and is a fascinating and rewarding place to work. It sits at the heart of business with a birds-eye view of all the operations, and there is a great variety of work to be done.
FP&A professionals cover a wide range of skills. Some love digging deep into data and analyzing trends and insights for detailed planning that can influence strategy. Others are at their best building relationships with non-financial peers across the organization, improving the collection of data and the delivery of valuable decision-making information, and harnessing the tools of digital transformation to build value in the business. Many will revel in all of this, and FP&A provides the best environment to stretch their wings.
In short, FP&A needs to become a magnet for finance talent. How can this be achieved? The ball is firmly in our court. It is up to us to make the change. It’s time to spice up the FP&A career path and showcase how exciting it can be to work in FP&A.
Exploring the FP&A journey
Over the next weeks, we’ll look at the process of forging a successful career in Financial Planning and Analysis. We’ll discuss:
We’ll also speak to people in the profession who have traveled this road, building the ROI of the FP&A function in their organizations and reaping the rewards of an exciting and stimulating role at the heart of the business.
Are you ready to take your own FP&A career to the next level? Let’s go!
This was the first article in my latest series "Charting the course of a successful FP&A career". While you await future articles you can read my latest series "Planning (as we know it) is dead!" below.
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You can read a lot more articles about FP&A, Business Partnering, and Finance Transformation below. It all start's with “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box ”?where you set the ambition for your transformation. You should join the?Finance Business Partner Forum ,?which is part of the Business Partnering Institute's online community.
The secret sauce of FP&A transformation (the last article in the series "FP&A Transformation Talks")
How Finance should use its seat at the table ?(the last article in the series "The Unfair Advantage of Finance")
The ultimate guide to decision-making for finance professionals ?(the last article in a series about the decision-making process and how Finance should impact it).
The Mindset Change Checklist For Finance Professionals ?(the last article in a series about the mindset change that finance and accounting professionals should make to become business partners)
It's Time To Decide If You Want To Be A Business Partner ?(the last article in a series about the personality traits of business partners)
All Successful Business Partners Are "Leaders" ?(the last article in the series about our new capability model)
Should We Keep Talking About Business Partnering? ?(part of a 17-article series where we deep-dive on the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of business partnering by putting it on a formula)
Everyone Can Adopt A Business Partnering Mindset ?(part of a six-article series about FP&A Business Partnering)
From Business Partner To Working Within The Business ?(part of an article series where I interview finance professionals about their careers in FP&A and Business Partnering)
Is Your Product Optimized For Value Creation? ?(part of a toolbox series where we look at what tools FP&A professionals should leverage to drive value creation)
How Business Partners Turn Analysis To Insight ?(part of case study series where I interview business partners about how they drive value creation using real cases)
Anders Liu-Lindberg ?is the co-founder and a partner at the?Business Partnering Institute ?and the owner of the largest?group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering ?on LinkedIn with more than 10,000 members. I have ten years of experience as a business partner at the global transport and logistics company?Maersk . I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner ” and a?long-time Finance Blogger ?on LinkedIn with 80,000+ followers and 155,000+ subscribers to my blog. I am also an advisory board member at?Born Capital ?where I help identify and grow the next big thing in #CFOTech.?
Director Wharton FP&A Certificate Program | Corporate FP&A Trainer | ex. P&G, Unilever, Squarespace | 100k Finance Audience
2 年The challenge is starting the virtuous cycle of FP&A ROI > attract better talent > even better FP&A ROI. I'd recommend, looking for small wins and then institutionalizing them to turn them into big ones. For example, allow your Finance team to have a seat at the table when investment decisions are being made. If their financial analysis provides new insights, then it may show skeptical executives that there is value in having Finance involved earlier in the decision-making process.
Helping Finance Managers of ‘busy’ SMEs improve profits | Turnaround 'busy' loss-makers | Improve profits of the already profitable | A proven step-by-step process | 90-day projects | Training & Coaching throughout |
2 年There is an old saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" - meaning that different people can have differing opinions on what is beautiful. Perhaps we need to apply the same understanding to "Value"? Perhaps, in organisations, we need to get an agreement on what is considered "Value" - so, in the quest for Finance to 'add value' we have a clear understanding of what will be deemed 'value' in THAT organisation?
FP&A | ex-JP Morgan | ex-Axis Bank | ex-South Indian Bank | Financial Analyst | NIBM'20 (MBA BFSI) | Published 5x @Hindustan Times | ATS CV consultant | Writing here for Fun
2 年??