Confessions of an FP&A-holic: 7 Lessons I Wish I Knew Earlier
Hi everyone! My name is Anna, and I am an FP&A-holic.
Yes, I said that, I am addicted to financial planning and analysis.
I am excited when all the checks in my financial models are colored green, and I get thrilled out of digging into data and finding insights that lead to better business decisions.
After 15+ years in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), I’ve learned some hard truths — things I wish someone had told me earlier in my career. Whether you're just starting out or are a seasoned FP&A pro, I hope these insights will help you stand out and thrive in this evolving field.
1. Being good at finance and getting numbers right is not enough anymore
Of course, strong analytical skills and knowledge of finance are essential for an FP&A professional but gone are those days when these skills or proficiency in Excel were enough to excel in this role, pardon the pun.
Much broader skill set is now required to stand out in FP&A. The concept of T-shaped skills profile fits perfectly FP&A professionals who need to develop a deeper understanding of topics that can help them make a real difference in their jobs. If you want to stand out, learn beyond finance. Business acumen, strategic thinking, project management, collaboration and communication, to make long story short: neither of them was probably taught at your master’s in finance.
2. Not all companies understand the value of FP&A
Even with many successful business cases not all companies see the importance of FP&A as a separate function. A demand for business partnering is not guaranteed either. The FP&A function is often seen as accountants or controllers rather than strategic partners. If you feel undervalued, don’t get frustrated — get proactive.
In these situations, advocating for the value that FP&A can bring and building stronger relationships with stakeholders are essential. Start with solving a business problem, offering tools to make the lives of your business partners easier, educating your non-finance colleagues on finance topics. If these measures do not bring any results, just find another company where your role and capabilities will be appreciated.
3. Be true to yourself, or business partnering ≠ making friends
Being finance business partners brings a dilemma of who to be loyal to: business departments you are partnering with or the finance function.
From one perspective, complete detachment from the business makes it impossible to perform business partnering role. It prevents us from building trust and collaborative relationships with our business stakeholders.
However, getting too close to the business units may be seen as a risk that finance business partners may act inappropriately. This may result in control breaches, misleading financial information and unethical behaviour in general.
Ideally, we should aim at being highly involved with business support and decision making while maintaining independence in our professional judgement.
Finance business partnering is not about making friends or choosing a camp. It’s about trust and respect. Instead of trying to please everyone, it’s better to support what you personally believe is best for the company and adhere to ethical principles.
4. Be curious, curiosity is as important as intelligence
Curiosity is a key trait for successful FP&A practitioners. Working a lot with uncertainty, be it planning, forecasting or analysis of the business initiative to pursue, curious FP&A team members are able to ask the right questions, identify new trends and patterns, and uncover insights and opportunities that can drive the business forward.
Many finance professionals are afraid of asking questions as they think they may seem less smart. That’s not true. The best FP&A and finance business partners ask great questions, thus boosting imagination and rethinking, doubting conclusions and discovering alternative options. Challenging assumptions of our business partners and those of our own financial models is an essential role of the FP&A function in the organization.
Smart questions lead to better decisions. Don’t be afraid to ask them.
5. Listen to understand, not just to reply
Effective communication is critical in the world of FP&A. In conversations with business departments rather than thinking of the next clever thing to say or simply waiting for our turn to speak, it’s important to practice active listening.
As mentioned above, the very best of FP&A professionals ask great questions, but they also listen deeply to the answers of their partners to understand the other side’s perspective and uncover their stakeholders’ needs and priorities.
True business partnership starts with deep listening: pay close attention to business leaders' pain points, understand their priorities before offering solutions and frame your insights in a way that resonates with them.
6. Never stop learning and always stay relevant
Learning is a lifelong process, and this is especially true in the world of finance. As technology, market conditions and business practices are constantly evolving, there's always something new to learn out there. Whether it's a new software tool, a new industry trend, or a new best practice, it's important to stay up-to-date and continue to develop your skills and knowledge.
Staying relevant is another aspect of learning and continuous improvement within the FP&A function. Professional judgement is what business partners and executive management expect from the FP&A teams.
In the field of FP&A we talk a lot about high forecast accuracy, or driving faster and better decision-making which are good examples of professional judgment we perform under uncertainty. These capabilities strongly depend on how often we update our beliefs. The higher the frequency, the better the outcome.
7. FP&A is biased as everyone else
FP&A professionals are human, and like all humans, we may have our own biases. It's important to be aware of these biases to make efforts to minimize their impact on our work and eventually provide objective and unbiased insights and recommendations.
Questioning other peoples’ thoughts and perspectives is part of FP&A’s daily job, for example, challenging our colleagues’ assumptions when analyzing business initiatives, budgeting or forecasting.
However, when it comes to our own knowledge and opinions, we rarely do this. Moreover, according to various studies, the better we are at crunching numbers and math, the more we fail at analyzing patterns that contradict our views. Indeed, FP&A guys are good candidates to fall into this trap.
Be aware of these 4 common biases:
Confirmation bias: seeing what we expect to see.
Overconfidence bias: overestimating one’s abilities, for example, accuracy of predictions.
Loss aversion: higher sensitivity to losses than to gains.
The bias of all biases – “I’m not biased” bias when people believe they are more objective than others.
Seeking out diverse perspectives, challenging our own assumptions, and being open to feedback and alternative viewpoints are crucial to overcome those biases. By approaching analysis and decision-making with an open mind, we can bring greater value to our companies and stakeholders.
Consider starting your analysis with the key questions and problems rather than with answers and solutions, relying on evidence rather than personal intuition, challenging one’s standpoint based on supporting arguments rather than because of a healthy skepticism.
Here they are, my 7 confessions of an experienced FP&A-holic. I wish I knew all this earlier in my career.
There is one more thing I want to say:
Don’t forget to take some time off no matter how addicted you are to FP&A!
Working in FP&A, it’s easy to get stuck in the endless circle of analyzing data, modeling scenarios, updating budget versions and creating forecasts.
It’s common to feel exhausted and stressed as the job is demanding and often associated with high pressure. That’s why it’s extremely important to recharge regularly especially after the budget cycle is finished. Taking time off helps:
Avoid burnout
Boost creativity
Increase productivity in the long run
to name a few.
Moreover, the ability to recharge is a crucial skill for all FP&A professionals. It is as important as technical financial skills or soft skills we are talking about all the time.
So, I encourage everyone to take a moment to recharge your batteries! Taking time for ourselves is not a sin or a luxury… it's a necessity.