Selecting the right software for FP&A is crucial for businesses aiming to transition from unreliable or insufficient applications and spreadsheets to advanced, AI-driven EPM solutions. As technological innovation pushes FP&A forward, here are five trends that will help FP&A professionals gain an advantage this year.

AI

In recent years, FP&A has undergone significant transformation due to advancements in technology, access to real-time data and the growing importance of data-driven decision-making. By providing high-quality, trusted data leads, AI is revolutionising the industry by allowing for more accurate predictive analytics and simulations. This accuracy enables FP&A teams to stress test various scenarios, providing a deeper understanding of potential risks and opportunities.

However, AI’s influence extends beyond just prediction. AI significantly enhances efficiency by automating routine tasks, such as data collection, report generation, and basic analysis. This automation frees up valuable time for FP&A professionals, allowing them to focus on more strategic activities like business partnering and scenario planning.

39% of finance organisations are already using AI and machine learning according to Gartner, with a further 29% already having plans in place to leverage the technology. Ultimately, the evolution and integration of innovative technologies like AI, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning will lead to what is becoming known as autonomous finance. Working together, these technologies will be able to recognise patterns, uncover trends, and identify discrepancies, merging into a cohesive system powered by data and algorithms designed to streamline financial procedures and operations.

Agility

It’s been a turbulent few years, and as the pace of change continues to increase, FP&A teams are looking for ways to improve their ability to adapt to events quickly as they unfold. Organisations can lay the foundations for greater operational agility by transitioning to more frequent or even ongoing rolling forecasting, modelling multiple scenarios, and automating time-consuming processes.

These days, it’s not good enough to wait until the end of the month for a report to be generated: Teams need to be empowered with information whenever they need it. Companies can improve decision-making processes by running multiple scenarios, helping them respond quicker to changes in the market, opportunities, and the latest trends.

Storytelling

The integration of AI, advanced analytics and real-time data has empowered FP&A professionals to provide strategic insights and drive business performance. FP&A is moving beyond finance to integrate information from across an entire organisation, including sales, finance, operations, and HR – to provide a holistic view, aid understanding, and help facilitate the right data-driven decisions.

FP&A professionals have to be able to share that information, and reporting is evolving to allow teams to deliver results through storytelling. With modern FP&A tools, data can be consumed much easier, faster, and in context of the situation, while analytics can visualise information in any format that can easily be shared to understand the data. Additionally, FP&A can leverage these tools to drill right into the source to easily explain all variances and better understand not just the what and why, but also what may occur.

Business partnering

FP&A has shifted from traditional number-crunching to become strategic advisors internally in the enterprise. Business partnering is the collaboration between finance and other business units to enhance decision-making and optimise resource allocation. It enables FP&A to leverage its financial analysis, reporting and forecasting skills to drive the business forward.

As FP&A professionals play an even more integral role in strategic decision-making, collaborating closely with business leaders and providing valuable insights, they will be responsible for identifying growth opportunities, optimising resource allocation and evaluating the financial viability of new ventures.

Integration

FP&A needs to help drive all plans into one and create a cohesive, integrated strategy across the business. Integrated FP&A brings together all data, all collaboration, and all planning activities into one central plan or forecast. Most importantly, central plans and forecasts are fully aligned across the organisation with complete transparency and visibility.

The power of EPM

In today’s fast-paced and data-driven business environment, FP&A professionals are no longer just number crunchers. They’re also strategic partners who provide crucial insights that help steer the company’s direction. As FP&A becomes increasingly pivotal in the office of the CFO, teams need to have access to the tools and technologies that can enable them to do their jobs more effectively.

EPM solutions centralise FP&A processes like budgeting, forecasting, and reporting, and can automate critical tasks like closing processes and producing reports. EPM can also speed up data analysis to help businesses take faster action. Most importantly, EPM solutions can provide real-time strategic insights to help with decision-making, helping to identify and leverage patterns in financial and operational data to improve accuracy.