main-photo.jpg

Welcome to our financial blog

Here you will find our thoughts about the finance function and its transformation, the secrets of FP&A practices and the most interesting business cases from our professional experience.

If you:

  • possess "financial" mindset and want to follow the latest trends in profession,

  • started your career in finance, want to get some tips and impress your boss,

  • are a startup founder with no financial experience and build financial models on your own,

  • are a business person who wants to find common ground with finance professionals,

  • are curious,

this blog is for you!

FOLLOW US ON YOUTUBE

We have launched our channel on youtube.

Check out the first video on how to use one of our profitability tools - the impact of price discounts.

More tips and learning videos to come soon.

Stay tuned

NEW ARTICLE

How to put finance business partnering puzzle together?

Finance business partnering is not a new concept and has been around for a while. Well, not just for a while, for more than 60 years. Since then, finance community could not come up with a one single definition and understanding of finance business partnering to be used by everyone. It’s still unclear whether it’s a job title, or a role, or the way of working, etc.

Indeed, the concept is not the easiest one to define, but its benefits for the companies are intuitively obvious and well known. With a focus on driving better strategic and operational decisions, finance business partners create value through cost and margins, revenue growth and risk management.

However, 22% of business managers don’t consider any other financial implications but revenue when making operational decisions.

Moreover, over 30% of finance leaders still do not have a seat at the table during strategic planning discussions.

Why not all companies are able to unlock the full potential of the FBP and can finance business partnering puzzle be eventually put together?

To find answers to these auestions check out the full article.

We introduce our profitability calculators which serve to help you search for profit maximization, plan profitable sales promotions and negotiate selling conditions with your clients.

You can quickly estimate how sensitive is your profit to variations of prices and costs, and make necessary adjustments to secure the desired level of profit.

To learn more about profit sensitivity, you can read our article - “How (Not) to Lose a Profit in 10 days”.

N1 →

N2 →

 
 
 

We introduce our FP&A maturity assessment model focused on major tasks of the function – strategic planning and budgeting, forecasting, analytics, management reporting, performance management and decision support.

This tool allows to make a high-level assessment of the FP&A maturity and is built around 3 key areas – Processes and functions, Technology and systems, People and skills.

The main goal of the model is to evaluate the capabilities and highlight the opportunities for improvement in various aspects of the FP&A function.

To learn more about FP&A maturity stages, you can read our article - “50 Shades of FP&A Maturity”.

 

Latest insights

Featured
FP&A is a Swiss multi-tool in a pocket of a management team
FP&A is a Swiss multi-tool in a pocket of a management team

With constantly evolving role of the finance function in the organization, these are FP&A practitioners who feel the most pressure to be jack-of-all-trades. Growing variety and complexity of tasks force them to develop skills, both hard and soft, to keep up with all requirements and expectations.

There is a specific product on the market I could associate FP&A with, and this is a Swiss multi-tool.

So, if FP&A were a Swiss multi-tool, how could we sell it?

Read More →
How to put finance business partnering puzzle together?
How to put finance business partnering puzzle together?

Finance business partnering is not a new concept and has been around for a while. Well, not just for a while, for more than 60 years. Since then, finance community could not come up with one single definition of finance business partnering. It’s still unclear whether it’s a job title, or a role, or the way of working, etc.

Indeed, the concept is not the easiest one to define, but its benefits for the companies are intuitively obvious and well known.

Read More →
FP&A is the sexiest job in finance
FP&A is the sexiest job in finance

FP&A is the sexiest job in finance… While this may seem like an overstatement, FP&A positions are becoming incredibly popular and sought-after.

Moving into FP&A from other fields of finance, such as accounting and audit, has recently become very trendy. Internet is full of advice, courses and trainings focused on this transition.

So, what is so special about the FP&A role that it attracts that much attention and has almost become a buzzword within the finance community?

Read More →
What do budgets and hurricanes have in common?
What do budgets and hurricanes have in common?

Hurricanes are among the most violent storms on our planet producing strong winds, heavy rains and floodings.

Budgeting is a type of short-term planning the goal of which is to transform strategic objectives into operational plan by allocating available resources.

Though one is a natural phenomenon and the other is a business process, budgets and hurricanes have more in common than it may be noticed at first sight.

Read More →

Latest hands-on

Featured
Consulting Frameworks in the Toolkit of FP&A: Porter’s Five Forces
Consulting Frameworks in the Toolkit of FP&A: Porter’s Five Forces

Some companies thrive and gain huge profits, while others can’t survive and go broke. Could Darwin’s tenet “survival of the fittest” explain this phenomenon?

Processes which take place on the competitive markets can be compared to natural selection. To avoid becoming victims of this selection companies should have a deep understanding of the environment they perform their activities in as well as the factors driving or constraining profitability.

Read More →
Consulting Frameworks in the Toolkit of FP&A: PESTEL Analysis
Consulting Frameworks in the Toolkit of FP&A: PESTEL Analysis

Companies do not exist just by themselves, they constantly experience influence of the environment which determines the attractiveness of the market and has a direct impact on the firm’s profitability.

External factors may equally favor or limit current or future business of the organization, thus should be considered by FP&A in their models and analysis especially when discussing and making strategic decisions.

Read More →
Becoming the Master of Factor Analysis of Profit: the Secrets of Calculation
Becoming the Master of Factor Analysis of Profit: the Secrets of Calculation

This article will cover the most essential aspects and nuances of decomposing your revenues and expenses into price, volume, assortment mix, material cost change and other contributions. You will be able to define profit drivers and killers, find the reasons behind gains or losses, and transform your business performance into meaningful insights. Get ready to become the Master of Factor Analysis!

Read More →
Case Study: FP&A Transformation in the Sector of Financial Services
Case Study: FP&A Transformation in the Sector of Financial Services

A $500M group of 10+ companies operating in the sector of financial services across the Russian Federation sought to transform the FP&A function from the low level of engagement to the business partnership model focused on value creation.

Read More →

Who we are

 
DSC_2564-3.jpg

Anna Oblakova

Financial analyst with 15 years of experience in finance and strategic planning

 
DSC_2541.jpg

Marina Gorodnicheva

Financial analyst with 15 years of experience in business analysis and finance

 
 

Contact us

admin@fpandaclub.com