Prior to Fujitsu’s transformation, its CFO organization was primarily focused on accounting and treasury functions, and each business unit (BU) had its own business planning function. This case study explores how Fujitsu formed a new financial planning & analysis (FP&A) function at its global headquarters in Japan and trained its staff — many of whom were from non-finance backgrounds — to become FP&A professionals.

The AFP FP&A Case Study series is designed to help you build up key FP&A capabilities and skills by sharing examples of how leading practitioners have tackled challenges in their work and the lessons learned.

Insight: For FP&A to be effective, it must be recognized as a distinct function, have an organizational structure that allows it to deliver value to finance and the business, and be appropriately staffed and equipped with the necessary tools.

Background

The Fujitsu Group is headquartered in Japan and has operations in various regions around the world. In the IT services field, it has the largest market share in Japan and is in a top-class position worldwide.

While Fujitsu had a strong CFO organization prior to its transformation, it was primarily focused on accounting and treasury functions. The elements commonly associated with a CFO-based FP&A function were distributed across the organization.

• At its global headquarters (HQ), the CFO organization has people in roles that were somewhat like FP&A, but their responsibilities were relatively limited to consolidation, reviewing variances to the consolidated budgets and reporting. They often had difficulties getting access to BUs.
• Each BU had its own business planning functions. This structure was similar to that of other traditional Japanese companies, which have many people working on budgeting and reporting in many different groups. The BUs had staff working on budgeting and tracking of actuals.
• Even though Fujitsu’s global HQ had the structure of a traditional Japanese company, its subsidiaries outside of Japan already had an FP&A function in the CFO organization as a global standard. This resulted in a gap in organization structure between the global HQ in Japan and the subsidiaries outside of Japan.

There were three different groups doing tasks associated with FP&A; however, most did not have an education in finance and came from other functions, such as sales, system development, and supply chain. The accountants in the CFO office viewed the budget as a control function to monitor spending and report on results.

Challenge

Fujitsu’s challenge was to transform the FP&A function into a group of business advisors who could help deliver financial insights and decision support that aided the deployment of resources. However, FP&A responsibilities were distributed across staff, as described above, and without direct access to the BUs, FP&A staff in the CFO organization had challenges with verifying the accuracy of sales and profit forecasts and the timeliness of business information. Additionally, BUs’ reviews were based on operational considerations or cost management, but decision-making lacked rigorous financial review or considered accounting impacts.

Forming an FP&A function at the global HQ required BU leaders to agree to transfer non-finance staff in the BUs to the CFO organization. However, BU leaders who did not have work experience outside of Japan were unfamiliar with the idea of bringing finance professionals to the BUs to help grow the business, so education on the benefits of an FP&A function was necessary.

Approach

In 2020, Fujitsu began “Fuji-tra (Fujitsu Transformation),” a transformation of culture and digital information. In 2021, Mr. Yoshio Masuda, who previously worked in the American subsidiary of Fujitsu and knew about FP&A’s role in U.S. companies, invited Ms. Chie Ikegawa, FP&A advisor of the Japan Association for Chief Financial Officers (JACFO), to learn about what FP&A is like in the U.S.

Following the counsel of Ms. Ikegawa, Mr. Masuda formulated a Fujitsu-specific adaptation of the FP&A strategy. Subsequently, Mr. Masuda initiated a pilot project designed to enhance the capabilities of FP&A. The outcomes of this pilot project were presented in a comprehensive manner through regularly scheduled briefings and individual consultations with management, coupled with sustained efforts in ongoing communication. This resulted in an improved understanding and facilitated an agreement to commence a financial transformation project. In April 2023, Mr. Masuda, who was the head of the finance/accounting organization and reported to the CFO, began leading the transformation of Fujitsu’s CFO organization. To develop a unified, aligned team, a plan was created with the following components.

Build allies across the business. At the start of the transformation, Mr. Masuda set up a project team and talked with the CEO, CFO and BU leaders about the benefits of an FP&A function, including how FP&A could help connect corporate HQ and BUs. This appealed to Fujitsu’s aim of having a strong corporate HQ to maximize the value of the corporation while also prioritizing the independence of business units to grow each business.

Deploy a hub-and-spoke model. Fujitsu set up a “Group FP&A” team and a “Business FP&A” team at its global HQ in Japan. Business FP&A was a new team that included 400+ new FP&A staff from BUs, most of whom were from non-finance backgrounds. The business teams had a dual reporting structure: to the business unit and to group FP&A.

Create a project team. A unique team within finance was also created to drive the CFO organization’s transformation and improve its effectiveness. Consisting of experts in finance and accounting knowledge, data analytics and project management, the team acted as a liaison between the CFO organization and data engineers in the IT organization, ensuring the digital transformation progressed smoothly.

Benchmark and research leading practices. Later in the transformation journey, Mr. Masuda visited SAP Japan with his team to learn best practices for FP&A and digital transformation, including automating sales and expense forecasts and preparing data and reports for decision-making. To accelerate the digital transformation, Fujitsu introduced SAP globally.

Define the FP&A services to be delivered. When it came to training the new FP&A team members, the CFO organization developed a very comprehensive plan. To start, it set clear expectations for FP&A’s roles, behaviors and activities and defined the required skills, knowledge and mindset that FP&A should have.

Train and upskill to get the team you want. A skill check was conducted for each new FP&A team member. Using the results of the skill check, FP&A team members worked with their managers to set targets and develop plans to fill skill gaps.

E-learning and in-person training programs were offered for various skills. All FP&A team members were provided training in data analytics, business acumen and strategy, leadership and logical thinking. For FP&A team members from non-finance backgrounds, finance and accounting training was also provided.

Other initiatives to aid with skills development included:

• Fujitsu Finance College: Fujitsu finance leadership explained the operations of the finance organization, which included accounting, tax, treasury and internal control. BU FP&A leaders also gave presentations to aid in business understanding.
• FINDs (FINance Data-Driven School): A data-driven talent development initiative was created to enhance data literacy.
• Extended FP&A Leader Development School: This program created a collaborative learning environment for future FP&A leaders to build their capabilities in identifying key issues and finding, proposing and executing solutions with business partners. High-potential top performers gathered with finance management and leaders to discuss real issues in the organization, leveraging data to propose solutions that support Fujitsu's transformation.
• All-Hands Initiatives: These initiatives provided online and offline touchpoints that facilitated the sharing of data utilization and FP&A success stories across various countries.

Iterate for improvement. To track progress, Fujitsu conducts a questionnaire every year and uses the findings to identify issues that need to be solved. It also encourages FP&A team members to share best practices with their colleagues.

Outcome

While the FP&A transformation is still underway, Fujitsu is already seeing positive results. Because the CFO organization now has a direct connection with the BUs through Business FP&A, it has a strong, timely understanding of the business situation and is able to take action accordingly.

This improvement is reflected in the company’s operating profit margin. The company's core service solutions business saw an increase in operating margin from 5% in 2019 to 13% in 2024. Going forward, the company expects to see even further improvement to over 15%.

Additionally, Fujitsu has seen benefits to its recruitment and retention efforts. In an employee survey, 80% of staff within the CFO organization said they felt positive about the transformation. The company has also seen more young talent join and stay in the CFO organization than before.

About JACFO

The Japan Association for Chief Financial Officers (JACFO) FP&A Study Group is a community where representatives from Japanese companies with an FP&A function discuss the roles and benefits of FP&A with those who aim to set up one.

In addition to special in-person events, the group holds monthly online meetings, during which members present best practices and discuss specific topics, such as those found in AFP FP&A Guides and the FP&A Maturity Model. As part of their FP&A study, some members also pursue the Certified Corporate FP&A Professional (FPAC) Credential. JACFO supports those studying for the FPAC by translating AFP’s FP&A study materials into Japanese.