Popular Finance Articles
AFP Launches the Middle East and Africa FP&A Advisory Council
AFP announced the formation of its new Middle East and Africa (MEA) Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Advisory Council. The objective of the Council is to provide subject matter expertise and guidance to ensure that AFP delivers products and services that meet the needs of the corporate finance community in the MEA region.
Implementation of the ‘X’ Factor in Your Organization
Last year, Gartner coined the term xP&A, proclaiming that it is the natural evolution of planning, and projected that it will become mainstream by 2022, and the majority of new FP&A projects by 2024. The aim of xP&A is to apply FP&A tools to any department within the organization that produces business plans, and layer in automated forecasting, thereby increasing the velocity of forecasting and simultaneously deriving forecasts from teams that are close to information sources.
8 Steps for Creating a Rolling Forecast
Employing static budgets alone is insufficient for long-term planning. Finance and accounting departments across the globe are evolving into increasingly more capable financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams, focusing on forecasting, strategic planning and analytics.
Scenario Planning for Turbulent Times
Unpredictability is not an exception to the planning process; it is inherent to the planning process itself. Scenario planning — the ideation and analysis of possible future outcomes — stretches the organizational mindset for the possibility of multiple future outcomes.
The Role of FP&A: Better Business Partnering Leads to Better Strategy
How much progress has been made in transforming FP&A into strategic business partners? How can FP&A make the business view finance as a primary source of insight? Companies have researched these long-term questions for decades, and surveys find that FP&A professionals are buried in basic duties.
Recent Webinars
What the CEO and Board Expect from Finance Today
In this webinar, an expert panel will outline what boards expect from finance and treasury today, expectations to drive greater liquidity, and strategies to protect cash, liquidity and balance sheets. Key discussion points include working capital management, borrowing strategies, FX hedging and organic currency reduction, cost reduction initiatives, and Panelists will also discuss best practices clients use in managing through the storm to keep an even keel.
Featured Podcasts
The CFOs Role in Professional Development
In this episode of AFP Conversations, Jim Kaitz, President and CEO of AFP, discusses professional development with Mark McGivney, Chief Financial Officer of Marsh and McLennan Companies. This interview covers the skills that finance professionals will need to continue to be competitive, as well as the short and long-term impact of COVID-19 on finance organizations.
Intentional Learning and the Career Advantage
In this special edition of the AFP Conversations Podcast, Jim Kaitz, president and CEO of AFP, speaks with Matt Smith, McKinsey and Company’s former chief learning officer. In this interview, Matt discusses the fundamental skill of learning, how to nurture learning in others, and how companies can create a learning culture. He also discusses his “3x3x3” approach to learning, a practical strategy to continually learn, grow and achieve development.
What is Finance Leadership?
In this episode of AFP Conversations, AFP’s Bryan Lapidus, FPAC, director of FP&A Practice, sits down with Karlo Bustos, vice president of Professional Services at Board International, to address two key questions: What does finance leadership look like across the business enterprise? And what does finance leadership look like in managing the finance function itself?
FP&A Guides
The FP&A Maturity Model
The FP&A Maturity Model, Version 1.0 was published several years ago—practically a lifetime in the fast-changing world of financial planning and analysis. Even as we thoroughly updated Version 2.1, the goal of the Maturity Model remains the same: to help organizations develop a baseline for their current FP&A practice, and a roadmap to improve in various areas.
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