When discussing the future of intelligent financial planning & analysis (FP&A), I am reminded of the theme song from my high school graduation, Timbuk3’s “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.” That is how I honestly feel about the trajectory of the FP&A profession. I believe we are finally at a point where we not only possess the tools to take FP&A to new heights, but FP&A will have to soar for organizations to thrive in the 21st century.
If you survey the global FP&A profession, as I have done, it appears that we are at a true inflection point (some would say a point of precarious balance). Because of the advances we have made and will continue to make in technology, the role of the FP&A professional and the composition of the job itself will be dramatically different in a few short years. This progress will greatly impact what we do, how we do it, and the speed at which we do it, and provide a tremendous expansion of the depth and breadth of the analysis that can be performed.
We will continue to witness the expanded use of advanced data analytics and forecasting. While the use of advanced analytics is certainly in the active take-up mode worldwide, in the very near future, advanced analytics will merely be table stakes for truly successful companies. The vastness of the data now available, and access to it practically in real time, make the use of advanced analytics a requirement, not a luxury.
The benefits to the FP&A professional include more efficient processes, lower costs over time, improved decision-making, and the ability to answer questions about the performance of the organization at a more strategic level.
In that vein, an area that holds great interest to me is the field of robotic process automation (RPA). Organizations are growing in their understanding of the technology involved and the potential benefits it has to offer. The current adoption rate is developing, with tremendous upside potential.
When we speak of RPA, we are not talking about hulking mechanical robots on an assembly line. RPA in the finance world is simply computer code. With the promise of low-value, transaction-focused work done by a resource that has little overhead, basic data analysis and number-crunching completed accurately in less time, and a perfect audit trail – there’s no doubt about it.
While we celebrate the increased productivity benefits with RPA, we also face some big challenges. Chief among them include evaluating whether our FP&A teams, and possibly the entire workforce, will be able to make the shift to the new skills that will be needed. Companies will have to make sure that their people possess the proper skills and abilities to execute the analytics, modeling, and forecasting to be performed with the data that are germane to the organization’s strategic goals. How can organizations develop truly first-class and intuitive interaction platforms between humans and machines?
Further, there will be large amounts of unstructured data that need to be scrubbed, which is costly and time-consuming. We will never get away from the critical importance of master data management.
In my next article about the future of FP&A, I will touch on the cloud and software-as-a-service, artificial intelligence, business intelligence, and machine learning. And I’ll focus on the human side of this wonderful metamorphosis we will experience in the not-too-distant future.
In the future, we will have accurate reporting with minimum manual interventions.
Digitising FP&A is a key part of the next financial revolution.
Good post although you could have provided more examples
I am certain that AI will provide instantaneous and continuous insights to FP&A professionals.
Without real leadership and board support, most digital transformations are doomed to fail.
Brian is Founder and Principal at Kalish Consulting. He is Former Executive Director – Global FP&A Practice at AFP. He has over 20 years of experience in Finance, FP&A, Treasury and Investor Relations. He previously held a number of treasury and finance positions with the FHLB, Washington Mutual/JP Morgan, NRUCFC, Fifth Third and Fannie Mae. He has spoken all over the world to audiences both large and small hosting FP&A Roundtable meetings in North America, Europe, Asia and soon South America. Brian attended Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, GA for his undergraduate studies in Business and the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech for his graduate work. In 2014, Brian was awarded the Global Certified Corporate FP&A Professional designation.
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