Seven Essential Qualities of FP&A

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams are responsible for testing the viability of big ideas coming out of the C-suite. These professionals are being asked to understand key business drivers and perform predictive analysis. To enable innovation and smart decisions, they must focus on modeling and predicting options for resource allocation, growth investments, and risk management. Advanced financial analysts are already building, testing, and perfecting collaboration tools that enable scenario planning and what-if analysis that focus on forward-looking choices. So, what does it take to excel as an FP&A professional?

Treat Finance Talent as an Economic Asset

CFOs are telling pollsters there are problems in the talent pipeline. Why is this occurring? Why are people now so worried about future staffing requirements?

Most importantly, is there an inherent risk for companies who are short on their finance talent?

Author Mary Driscoll interviews Dr. Jonathan Schiff, a professor of accounting (Fairleigh Dickenson) who also happens to be an authority on finance leadership development, skills assessment, and the training program design for large organizations.

Dr. Schiff had three key observations.