With high levels of market uncertainty and a desire to plan and prepare for any eventuality, FP&A professionals are playing a key role within businesses, especially since the advent of Covid-19.
Most organisations have needed to make significant changes recently to remain competitive in an ever changing climate, analyse current market conditions, plan for a variety of potential short-term outcomes as well as try to anticipate the future needs of the business.
Viral Patel, International FP&A Director:
“Given the market landscape over the next 12-24 months is likely to face turbulence, notwithstanding Brexit outcomes, FP&A’s ability to provide the decision support engine for the business has never been more important; both tactically and strategically.
The ability to fluidly plan for different scenarios over shorter time frames means data utilisation within the business has to be efficient, business partnering helping to deliver value in a joined-up way and leveraging the BPM architecture to deliver output for c-suite decision making with comparisons to the competitive environment.”
So, what are the key skills required to be a good FP&A professional?
Strong communication skills: Being able to clearly articulate and assimilate information
Strategic thinking: The ability to understand the wider and often long-term strategic aims of a business
Commercial acumen: Understand the challenges and opportunities faced by an organisation and offer value-add recommendations
Perceptive and innovative: Highlighting trends and turning this information into commercial opportunities
IT adopter: The early adoption of technology to further interrogate data and provide greater insight to solve business problems. This can include the use of data analytics software, more complex Excel modelling techniques and other technology such as Oracle BI.
Collaboration: Cross-functional collaboration with people at all levels. This often leads to greater insight and the creation and adoption of new ideas
With businesses experiencing rapid change, the role of FP&A will no doubt remain as a key position within organisations as they look to plan for the future.
