FP&A Transformation: where to start

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“I want my team to be more proactive”

This is the exact answer I get from CFOs and senior finance leaders every time I take on a new role and ask them “what are you hoping for in your new hire?”

You see, I created a reputation for myself early on as the guy who would step into a reactive FP&A mess and transform my way out of it.

• As an individual contributor I would transform the process

• As a manager I would transform the people

• As a senior leader I would transform the technology

If you are successful at this enough times, you start getting asked to jump into new fires every couple of years.

And after a few times, you begin to notice that the problems (and solutions) are essentially the same (people, process, or tech)

Let’s talk about what you can do if you find yourself in a reactive mess and are invested in making it better:

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The Overwhelmed CFO Dilemma

CFOs everywhere are feeling the pressure.

The CEO wants insights to grow the business, the key stakeholders want numbers yesterday, and every department has a new request that needs attention now.

The result?

Your FP&A team is stuck in reactive mode—just trying to keep up.

It’s like running on a treadmill set to sprint, with no end in sight. This cycle is exhausting, leaving you and your team feeling burned out and stuck.

Expectations keep getting higher and the FP&A team is getting bogged down. Not a good recipe…

The Vision of Proactive FP&A

Imagine an FP&A team that’s not just keeping up but getting ahead.

A team that’s proactive, growth-oriented, and has extra capacity to focus on what really matters—driving the business forward.

Instead of spending all day answering ad-hoc questions, you’re leading strategic conversations, identifying opportunities, and guiding the company’s direction.

This is what FP&A transformation looks like—and it’s entirely possible.

More than once I’ve joined teams where they felt ‘understaffed’ only to find that 6 months later we were not filling a vacant position due to excess capacity on the team.

This wasn’t a lucky break. It was a result of 6 months of hard transformation work…

Where to Start Your FP&A Transformation

Here are three actionable steps to start breaking free from reactivity:

• Assess Your Current State: Take a step back and evaluate your FP&A processes. What’s working well, and what’s creating chaos? Identify the pain points that are keeping you reactive and map them out. Knowing where you are today is the first step to knowing where you want to go.

• Focus on One High-Leverage Area: You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Pick one high-leverage area that could make a difference. Maybe it’s automating that recurring report that eats up hours of your team’s time every week. Start small but impactful.

• Define What ‘Good’ Looks Like: What would success look like in six months? More automation? Fewer fire drills? A more strategic focus? Defining your vision for FP&A helps keep everyone aligned and working toward the same goal. Start shaping this future state now.

Quick Wins & Stacking Gains

Transformation isn’t about flipping a switch overnight—it’s about steady progress.

Quick wins can start freeing up bandwidth immediately. Imagine freeing up 20% of your team’s time this month—that’s real momentum.

And momentum is what gets you from survival mode to becoming a strategic powerhouse.

Every little process improvement counts. They all stack up to become meaningful gains that you can ‘reinvest’ in proactive analysis.

Invitation to Take Action

Ready to kick-start your FP&A transformation? It all begins with understanding where you stand today.

We recently built the FP&A Mastery Assessment that is designed to give you a clear picture of your current state and actionable steps to move forward (for free).

It’s a simple way to start visualizing the path to a proactive, growth-driving FP&A function.

Take the FP&A Transformation Assessment to kick-start your transformation journey.

In summary:

You don’t need to boil the ocean—just pick one area, start there, and watch the change unfold.

Real transformation starts with small, deliberate actions.

Start your journey today and take the first step toward a future-ready FP&A function.

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