How to Streamline FP&A Processes

How to Save Time in FP&A (+FREE: My top 10 infographics) 📌 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸 #1: 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 a) Focus Focus only on what matters right now. Share the rest in a spreadsheet. b) Tailor • Ask 3-4 times per year which slides leaders want to keep.    • Move the rest to the appendix, then eliminate. c) Test • Run a skip test: Move less important slides to the appendix.    • If no one asks about them, remove them.      ---   💡 Get my top 10 most popular FP&A infographics for FREE at https://lnkd.in/eihTAhTW   --- 📌  𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸 #2: 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴 a) Prepare • Set up spreadsheets before the close.    • Bring everything on one sheet.    • Prioritize automation. b) 80/20 • Ignore small variances.    • Consider materiality.    • Surface the story. c) Partner • FP&A finds the issue, asks the right questions and the business finds the cause and solution. • Clearly communicate expectations.   📌  𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸 #3: 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗜𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 a) Ownership • Every metric has an owner responsible for availability and accuracy.    • The owner should ideally be Data Science or IT. b) Tracking • For manually tracked metrics like headcount: Whoever is closest to the source is responsible for availability and accuracy. c) Transparency • Flag hard-to-obtain or inaccurate metrics in your Exec reports. • Visibility helps address resource constraints.   📌  𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸 #4: 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 a) Shell • Create a shell before you finish the slides: include just headlines and the key message as a bullet – no formatting or charts.    • Share the shell upfront with execs asking for feedback. b) Pre-read • A pre-read can give you    •  a longer timeline because leaders need time to read it. • You combine asking for more time with providing more value. c) Drill-down • Prepare additional detail on the most important numbers, but don’t share everything on the slide to preempt questions.    • If you aren’t asked about,it upfront, speak to it during the presentation.   📌  𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸 #5: 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴 a) Format Last • #1 tip to save time in PowerPoint: wait until the content is final to apply formatting. b) Create in Excel • Tables are easier to create in Excel.    • Pasting as an image avoids formatting issues. c) Keep It Simple • The message needs to be immediately clear.    • 1-3 messages per slide max.    • A clean and consistent look beats stylistic bells and whistles because of higher clarity. -Christian About me: 🏫 I teach FP&A skills to finance teams and business leaders. 🖥️ I spent 15+ years in FP&A leadership roles at P&G, Unilever, Squarespace. 🎓 Now, I'm a full-time corporate trainer, online course creator, and the Director of the Wharton School's FP&A Certificate program. 🗣️ To learn more, visit FPAprep[dot]com or email me at hello[at]FPAprep[dot]com.

CFO: “I’m thinking about hiring two more FP&A analysts.” Me: “Why?” CFO: “We’re drowning in requests from the business. We can’t keep up.” Me: “What kind of requests?” CFO: “Ad hoc reports. Variance analysis. Forecast updates. The usual.” Me: “How many hours a week is the team spending on that?” CFO: “Probably 60–70 hours across the team.” Me: “And how much of that is truly custom work versus the same questions in different formats?” CFO: (pause) “…probably 70% is the same stuff.” 𝗪𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗙𝗣&𝗔 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸. Here’s what showed up: • 40 hours/week building custom reports that answered the same five questions • 15 hours/week manually updating forecasts in Excel (no automation) • 12 hours/week in “alignment meetings” with no decisions • 8 hours/week reformatting data for different stakeholders Total: 75 hours/week of low-value, repetitive work 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁𝘀 Weeks 1–2 → Built five self-service dashboards (handled 80% of ad hoc requests) → Automated forecast refreshes (eliminated 15 hours/week of manual work) Weeks 3–4 → Eliminated six recurring meetings (replaced with async dashboard reviews) → Standardized report templates (no more custom formatting) The result → 60 hours/week of grunt work eliminated → Team redeployed to strategic work (M&A modeling, pricing analysis) → No new hires → $240K/year in avoided headcount The CFO called me 60 days later. CFO: “I almost made a $240K mistake.” Me: “How so?” CFO: “If I'd hired those 2 analysts, they would've just drowned in the same bullshit work. We wouldn't have fixed anything. We would've just had more people buried in Excel.” The lesson Adding headcount doesn’t fix broken processes. It just makes them more expensive. Before you hire, ask: → Is this work truly necessary, or just "how we’ve always done it"? → Can it be automated, templated, or eliminated? → Are we solving a people problem or a systems problem? Most of the time, it’s a systems problem disguised as a headcount problem. If you’re thinking about hiring into finance ops: Let me audit the work first. I’ll show you: → Where your team’s hours are actually going → What’s low-value and automatable → What $50K in tech can replace versus $200K+ in salary → Whether you actually need the hire at all

FP&A people waste time on: • Formatting reports to look appealing • Debugging error-prone Excel macros • Compiling data from outdated systems • Troubleshooting complex Excel formulas • Responding to low-value ad-hoc requests • Creating static presentations for executives • Chasing department heads for budget inputs • Managing version control across multiple files • Manually entering repetitive data in spreadsheets • Reconciling conflicting numbers from various sources FP&A people must focus on: • Using predictive analytics to forecast trends • Automating routine tasks to focus on analysis • Identifying key drivers of business performance • Implementing rolling forecasts for agile planning • Modeling scenarios to guide strategic decisions • Streamlining the budgeting and planning process • Building dynamic dashboards for real-time insights • Evaluating M&A opportunities and financial impacts • Collaborating with business partners on growth strategies • Conducting variance analysis to improve forecasting accuracy Successful FP&A teams blend financial expertise with technology. They adopt tools that are: - Easy for the team to use - Secure and compliant with data governance - Able to integrate with existing data sources - Focused on automating processes and saving time - Scalable for future business growth - Enhancing cross-functional collaboration FP&A must use new tools and focus on high-value tasks. It's time to change from number crunchers to strategic partners. P.S. Hi, I’m Erik Lidman! I have spent 25 years of my life working in the FP&A, EPM, and CPM spaces. I share daily FP&A tips and talk about finance trends and doing FP&A within Power BI using Aimplan.

💣 Most FP&A transformations are doomed to fail before they even begin Because Step 1 Data Alignment was never even a part of the plan! It is tempting to jump straight into reporting automation, dashboards, or planning tools. But if your source data is inconsistent, fragmented, or misaligned every insight you generate will be misleading, late, or flat-out wrong. This is not a technology issue. In finance, foundational disciplines must be executed flawlessly. Correct data architecture is the bedrock of any successful transformation. Here is what effective data alignment looks like (and how ABCL approaches it): 🔹 Map the source systems – ERP, CRM, HRIS, Excel: know where everything lives 🔹 Standardise definitions – Revenue, cost, margin, customer: aligned across departments 🔹 Harmonise timeframes – Close calendars, fiscal periods, weekly/daily logic 🔹 Design a unified model – Built around key business decisions, not data dumps 🔹 Implement ownership and governance – Define refresh cycles, owners, and data rules This is not a ‘tech’ task. It is a foundational finance technology architecture done once, done right. At Akshar Business consulting, every transformation starts with this: No dashboards. No models No forecasts. No AI. Until the data story is aligned.. That is why we never skips Step 1: Data Alignment.

🎯 "If I do budgeting the same way again next year, fire me." After almost half a dozen roundtables with finance and CFOs, I collected some spicy takeaways to help you budget better without losing your sanity—or your weekends: 💡 Don't make the the budget into a single, "big bang" event Multi-year outlooks and long range plans -> detailed annual plans -> frequent rolling forecasts to create a continuous planning cycle. 🔄 Trigger-Based Budgeting Why re-budget everything every year? Set triggers based on whether your assumptions have changed. If nothing changes, neither should your outlook. One company cut effort by 20% annually using this method. 📊 Driver-Based Models FTW Orient your models around P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow drivers. 📐 Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up: The W Dance Most orgs do a “W” negotiation—budget goes up, comes down, goes up again. Some are skipping the negotiations and just maintaining YOY goals; others warn about unrealistic top-down targets can crush morale faster than a surprise audit. 🤝 Finance ≠ Budget Police Finance facilitates, not dictates. Ownership belongs with the business units. Your job is to control the money, not the people. 🧠 Risk Management = Cone of Uncertainty Stress test assumptions, visualize upside/downside, and embrace scenario planning. Because reality doesn’t care about your spreadsheet. 📣 Final Mantra “Change is not a threat to the plan—it’s part of the planning process.” Discipline in the process. Agility in the execution. 💬 What budgeting practice has saved your team the most time or pain? Drop it in the comments—let’s build a smarter FP&A community together. #FPAC #Budgeting #FinancialPlanning #FPAAC #FinanceHumor #CorporateFinance #AFP2025 #AgileFinance #BryanLapidus #FP&A #Leadership #CareerGrowth