Research
The Future of Financial Planning & Analysis
Nilly Essaides, Senior Research Director, Finance Advisory talks with Jason Logman, Principal, Finance Transformation about how companies are transforming their FP&A operations. The pandemic has caused many companies to expect more from FP&A. By utilizing cutting edge technology, focusing on key drivers, and more, FP&A can improve agility and offer greater insight that can drive improved accuracy and better business decisions.
Show Notes
In this episode, Nilly Essades, senior research director and EPM for the Hackett Group interviews Jason Longman, Principle in Finance Transformation at the Hackett Group. Nilly interview Jason about the changes, challenges, and innovations coming in Financial planning and analysis (FP&A).
First, Jason talks about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the whole field of FP&A though it may seem like it would all be negative, Jason mentions some innovations that came for businesses in the midst of the turmoil. Specifically, more detailed business analytics that display a more week by week breakdown of how the business is doing.
Next, Nilly asks about what caused this shift. Jason speaks about how businesses have had to shift over the last 11 months, and specifically how technology has changed to provide better analytics. The question then becomes, what changes are coming to financial planning and this is what Jason speaks to next, really where the role is going in the future. Jason then talks about the value of these digital analytics and how they lead to greater financial planning.
Nilly then asks the brass tacks question, “Who’s succeeding at this?” And Jason speaks to some of the successes that he has seen with a multi-billion-dollar business. He talks about how they got to looking at new metrics to help with financial planning and forecasting tools.
Lastly, Jason talks about a definition of FP&A, and he gives his tips for how a business can start to make changes to their planning and forecasting.
Time Stamps:
- 1:30- The Impact of COVID for FP&A and the changes that came
- 4:08- What caused some of the changes?
- 5:30- Where is FP&A going?
- 9:06- What is the value of digital analytical tools?
- 11:07- What are some examples of success?
- 14:31- Definition of FP&A
- 17:58- Outro
