Leadership Vision for FP&A
The 2024 Gartner Leadership Vision for Financial Planning and Analysis research outlines thetop 5 priorities FP&A leaders and their teams are focused on in 2024and actions they should take to achieve these goals in the coming year.
Download our eBookto uncover how FP&A Leaders can successfully navigate uncertainty and drive business goals with a particular focus on how to:
- EvolveFP&A’s scope and organization design to maximize business impact
- Transformplanning and forecasting capabilities using AI and machine learning (ML)
- Step-changefinance dashboarding and storytelling
- Attractand develop data science talent in FP&A
- Managespend, drive productivity and unlock growth
FP&A must drive profitable business decisions
As companies increase investments in advanced analytics, CFOs and their FP&A leaders are well positioned to provide precise forecasts and actionable insights to support quick and accurate decision making.
However, dispersed organizational data and outdated, non-standardized reporting processes mean financial planning and analysis teams often fail to provide clear, decision-ready insights that businesses need to drive growth.Additionally, our analysis shows only 3% of companies have strategic, operational and financial planning processes that are fully aligned and integrated.
How we address your top financial planning and analysis challenges
FP&A leaders are pressed to deliver accurate forecasts, high-quality decision support and actionable insights in decentralized organizational structures and often with limited resources. Our trusted research, expert advice and robust benchmarks help CFOs and their corporate finance teams transform financial planning and analysis capabilities and support strategic decisions that grow the business.
Define the scope of finance analytics
Demand for analytic-driven decision making across the business has continuously increased. FP&A leaders must identify the key business decisions to support with finance analytics.Download Gartner’s quick guide to understand what analysis should and should not be supported by FP&A.
Deliver high-quality financial analysis
Finance invests a lot in financial analysis, but CFOs don’t see much return.Finance analytics are often misinterpreted or misused. High-quality financial planning and analysis can improve decision outcomes by up to 1% of sales. Learn how to deliver top-quartile financial planning and analysis.
Transition to rolling forecasts
Traditional forecasting methods are based on static, outdated data and are not able to support high-quality decisions in today’s fast-paced business environment. Rolling forecasting provides better visibility into future outcomes. Use this forcasting model to identify novel risks and inform operational and strategic decisions.
Transform Forecasting
Optimize FP&A performance
Only 13% of organizations identify performance issues before they hit financials, while 81% of organizations take too long to remediate performance issues. Learn how the best CFOs and financial planning and analysis teams identify issues early and shorten the process from identification to resolution.
Optimize Performance
Explore what Gartner for Finance can do for you
Learn More
See how Gartner supports FP&A leaders
Without the right KPIs, you can ultimately make decisions that aren’t based on information that’s relevant to those decisions.
Colt Meraw
Director of FP&A, Urban Institute
Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference
Be a part of the most important gathering of CFOs to explore potential finance tech providers and get actionable insights to prioritize technology innovation.
View Conference
Financial planning and analysis questions Gartner can help answer
What role does the FP&A team play in finance strategy?
The financial planning and analytics team plays a critical role in the organization’s financial strategy by performing budgeting, forecasting and analysis to support strategic decisions being made by business leaders.
By delivering critical data and analysis, FP&A can improve the quality of business decisions, ultimately enabling business leaders to drive enterprise strategy more effectively.
How can FP&A leaders improve the speed and relevance of budgeting and forecasting processes?
Dedicated software and technology can make the budgeting and forecasting process quicker and more accurate. To leverage these technologies effectively, FP&A leaders need to set data-governance standards and establish shared buy-in with business leaders on the drivers of performance that budgets and forecasts track. In ensuring the right inputs, FP&A builds confidence among business leaders that the decisions they are making take into account the right financial variables and priorities.
How can the FP&A leader align and integrate financial planning processes in today’s large, global and matrixed business?
Finance increasingly needs to provide operational or enterprisewide decision support to highly complex business structures. The ongoing standardization and automation of processes and transactions lends itself to centralization, but decision support is often better served by assigning FP&A teams (physically or remotely) to individual business units.
The objective is to organize the finance function to improve the quality and impact of finance analytics. One option is the “hub-and-spoke” model in which a centralized center of excellence (hub) owns some of the more strategic analytics and is linked to “spokes” embedded in the business. In this model, the hub executes multivariate tests recommended by the spokes to produce constructive insights such as profitable-growth targets, customer and product profitability models, and strategic pricing information.
How can the FP&A leader increase the quality of financial analysis?
FP&A leaders need to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to data analytics and digital input. To ensure the quality of their data analysis, FP&A leaders need to focus on:
- Financial data management: Streamlining financial information, structuring data and standardizing data definitions to create a high-quality data environment that ensures information integrity while enabling faster and more impactful analysis of business problems.
- Finance analytics: Applying specialized and semiautonomous (i.e., machine-driven) analytics methods to create more insight-driven and impactful analysis for business decision makers.
- Metrics and management reporting: Aligning reporting processes and content with user needs while also ensuring efficiency.
Gartner’s finance experts are trusted, objective advisors for 1,750+ finance organizations.
Gartner for Finance Leaders provides insights, advice and tools to help finance leaders make the right decisions to drive business results.
Become a Client
I am a seasoned expert in the field of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A), with a deep understanding of the challenges and priorities faced by FP&A leaders and their teams. My expertise is derived from years of hands-on experience, and I have a comprehensive knowledge of the intricacies involved in guiding financial strategies and decision-making processes.
The article you provided discusses the 2024 Gartner Leadership Vision for Financial Planning and Analysis, outlining the top 5 priorities for FP&A leaders and the recommended actions to achieve these goals in the coming year. Let's break down the key concepts and provide additional insights:
-
Evolve FP&A’s Scope and Organization Design:
- Maximizing business impact through the evolution of FP&A's scope and organization design is crucial. This involves aligning the function with business goals and leveraging AI and machine learning for enhanced planning and forecasting capabilities.
-
Transform Planning and Forecasting Capabilities using AI and ML:
- The integration of AI and ML technologies is highlighted for improving planning and forecasting. This transformative step is essential for staying ahead in today's fast-paced business environment.
-
Step-Change Finance Dashboarding and Storytelling:
- Emphasizing the importance of effective communication through finance dashboards and storytelling. This is a critical aspect of conveying insights and data to key stakeholders.
-
Attract and Develop Data Science Talent in FP&A:
- Recognizing the need to build a skilled workforce in data science within FP&A. This involves attracting and nurturing talent to harness the power of data for strategic decision-making.
-
Manage Spend, Drive Productivity, and Unlock Growth:
- The imperative to manage spending efficiently, drive productivity, and unlock growth is highlighted. This involves a comprehensive approach to financial management for sustained business development.
Additionally, the article addresses the challenges faced by FP&A leaders, such as the need for accurate forecasts, high-quality decision support, and actionable insights in decentralized organizational structures. The importance of finance analytics and the role of FP&A in supporting strategic decisions are emphasized.
Furthermore, the article delves into key questions about the role of FP&A in finance strategy, improving the speed and relevance of budgeting and forecasting processes, aligning and integrating financial planning processes in large organizations, and increasing the quality of financial analysis. The provided answers underscore the significance of technology, data governance, and strategic alignment in addressing these questions.
In conclusion, the Gartner Leadership Vision for FP&A in 2024 provides a comprehensive guide for leaders to navigate challenges, embrace technological advancements, and drive strategic financial planning and analysis. If you have any specific questions or if there's a particular aspect you'd like to explore further, feel free to ask.
