2020 and Beyond
1
FP&A needs to execute forecasts quickly to be efficient and effective.
Frequency of Forecasts in 2019, 2020 and 2021
(Percentage of Organizations Responding Frequency of Forecast)
2019
57%
80%
2020, 2021 Expected
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Even with new technology, FP&A needs to improve the foundations of its data structure.
Allocation of Time Spent by FP&A Collecting and Validating Data
2020
2010
47%
49%
Data and FP&A
2
As a direct response to this issue, nearly 40% of FP&A respondents indicate they have hired IT and data professionals to either manage data or train analysts.
At some organizations, data needs are met outside of the finance team:
“Finance has very little IT support as our systems are cloud based and the IT department focuses on Sales, Marketing and web hooks/ecommerce web front ends.”
“We often hire consultants to build programs for us based on what we need at the time.”
“We have an entire IT/Data management department.”
3
Spreadsheets and manual processes are still the ways to fill in gaps between systems, or the reasons a system is not seamless.
The State of Automation
Tools in Regular Use for Planning & Analysis Purposes
Spreadsheets used monthly, weekly or daily
92%
Supplement Planning System with Spreadsheets
Monthly, weekly or daily use
97%
Data must be prepared through spreadsheets prior to using it
Agree or strongly agree
73%
The Future of Finance is Digital.
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4
Despite the lag in adoption and advancement, FP&A professionals are aware of and eager for advanced tools:
“I would like to go to the next step and use machine learning to find external trends and analyses that may provide insights for our forecast.”
“Machine learning application would take [our analyses] to the next level since.”
“I believe predictive analytics can help your organization forecast future outcomes based on historical data and analytics techniques such as machine learning.”
FP&A can visualize what a data-centric future looks like, but does not feel equipped to achieve it.
My team received more or significantly more relevant training in processing and analyzing data in 2020 versus 2019:
26%
I believe I have the tools and resources to effectively complete my work:
38%
Roadblocks to a Data-Centric Future
2020 AFP®
FP&A Survey: The Technology and Data Platform Supporting Finance Decisions
This survey focuses on FP&A’s management and analysis of data, both the quality and accessibility of the data, and the planning and analytical tools available to examine and interpret data, this will help decision-making, planning investments or identifying additional areas of research.
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