Result-05

Congrats on your score!
Here’s where to go next.

Your FP&A capabilities are firing on all cylinders—you’re not only leveraging cutting-edge planning tactics to drive strategic impact but improving forecasting precision by harnessing advanced technologies. Keep reading for additional resources to uplevel your team.

Grow your FP&A prowess

You're doing great, so...what's next?
Our take: Continue to deepen cross-functional collaboration to gain insights that challenge assumptions and uncover new opportunities, mentor future FP&A talent to cultivate a strong leadership pipeline, and continue leveraging xP&A best practices for precise planning.

Human
Guide the business forward

Continue to collaborate beyond reporting to understand operational drivers across departments. Leverage these insights to challenge norms, identify opportunities, and influence strategic direction.

Computer-charts
Share xP&A best practices

Integrate financial and operational data into a unified view. Apply predictive modeling to surface forward-looking insights that drive smarter decision-making.

Connection
Mentor the future of finance

Mentor and develop the next generation of FP&A talent through training opportunities and championing their growth. Foster a strong pipeline of future finance leaders while leaving a lasting impact.

Where are you on the path to strategic finance mastery?

Foundational

Laying groundwork

  • Not yet fully aligned with the broader strategic goals of your company
  • Work to be done to standardize the planning process outside of the annual budget
  • Basic financial model and reporting
  • Operating with unstructured data and no formal model or static model
Developing

Iterative improvements

  • Finance part of decision-informing processes at a broader level
  • Annual planning process (not clearly defined) but with occasional reporting to stakeholders
  • Non-value-added tasks are automated. Starting to implement basic best practices, along with an annual planning process
  • Leveraging a partially driver-based model
Defined

Holistic FP&A

  • Finance provides critical insights and analysis that drive decision-making
  • Defined planning process with regular reporting cadence and communication with stakeholders
  • Clearly defined reporting, planning and performance management, and company-wide collaboration
  • Fully driver-based model
Refined

Optimized XP&A

  • Finance is fully connected to the strategy, and drives innovation, helping to shape strategic direction
  • The annual planning process is defined where owners can drive updates and changes to/from finance independently with approvals
  • Standardized performance management that reduces cost, improves speed, accuracy, and transparency of forecasts and reporting
  • Leveraging a fully driver-based model with automation  from users and systems
Masterful

XP&A mastery

  • Finance is a key driver of change and is recognized as a strategic partner at the highest levels of the business 
  • Predictive / statistical forecasting is combined with performance management and iterative planning, replanning, reporting, analytics, and reforecasting
  • Fully driver-based and in real-time

The guiding principles of strategic finance

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Foresight

The proactive anticipation of future financial trends and challenges, enable companies to make informed decisions and strategic plans. This principle emphasizes the use of data analytics, scenario planning, and forecasting techniques to predict potential outcomes and mitigate risks.

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Alignment

Financial strategies and goals should closely align with your business objectives and operational plans. Strategic leaders foster collaboration across departments, ensuring everyone works towards a common mission.

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Storytelling

Storytelling in FP&A transforms complex financial data and analyses into compelling narratives that stakeholders can easily understand and act upon. Effective storytelling bridges the gap between financial experts and non-financial stakeholders, facilitating better decision-making.

Scale
Balance

FP&A involves managing the trade-offs between short-term financial performance and long-term strategic goals. Careful evaluation of risks and opportunities is a heavy weight on a finance leader’s shoulders. By striving for balance, organizations can navigate financial complexities while achieving both immediate and future objectives.

Got big plans? Get the right planning tools.

See how Cube can help you hit your numbers.