Financial planning under normal circumstances can be challenging. Add the current business uncertainty to it, and it can be downright daunting. The ability to plan for a range of scenarios and possible what-ifs quickly and easily is more critical than ever.
We’ve curated information and materials to help you respond to these challenges. These articles provide critical information on how others are addressing this, as well as what experts in financial planning are saying.
1. CFODIVE: How new visibility led to big cash savings at AT&T
When Ray Carpenter headed a financial planning group within AT&T, he led a task force to help the company make better use of its working capital. The group devised a way to improve visibility into the period when capital is deployed to build an asset and when that asset starts generating revenue. Simply by creating that visibility, Carpenter said recently in a CFO Thought Leader podcast, the group helped business leaders identify ways to save money by making small changes in their plans without decreasing the quality of their asset or slowing down its development.
2. Deloitte: Laying the Groundwork for a Future-Ready Planning Process
As they enter the planning season for the coming fiscal year, CFOs may find they face difficult challenges not only seeing what’s ahead but also implementing the best process for doing so. In these circumstances, companies would do well to consider a broader framework, adopting practices that lay the groundwork for a more robust and shock-resistant planning method. To take a more sustainable approach, CFOs may want to consider several specific actions.
3. Adaptive Planning: 3 words for a COVID-19 world: ‘Flexible budget variance’
With the COVID-19 pandemic shredding budget forecasts and presenting FP&A professionals with actuals that are nowhere close to original expectations, now is the perfect time to get acquainted with a certain term: “Flexible budget variance.” Flexible budgeting not only helps you stay current with the challenges and opportunities that surface throughout the year, but it can be a lifeline when your business is rocked by revenue shocks, drops in demand, workforce shifts, and whatever else a global event can toss your way.
4. CFODIVE: Biggest new CFO priority? User experience.
Mastering consumer expectations is the newest battleground on which businesses will succeed or fail, and no organization is better equipped to play a leadership role in that effort than finance and accounting (F&A), a survey of over 500 CFOs by professional services firm Genpact found. But the gap between where the F&A organization is today and where it needs to be to lead success remains wide. “Some finance functions have made progress on this journey, but there is a long way to go,” the report says. The businesses — what the report refers to as “instinctive enterprises” — that will thrive in the years ahead will be “those that can connect, predict, and adapt at speed.”
5. PWC: Buckle up. Uncertainty is back.
To operate with resilience and thrive — not just survive — navigate the maze of unknowns by going all-in on digital. See how digital leaders found success before the crisis — and how they’re better positioned to emerge stronger.