The only skill you need

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A mentee recently asked me what skills were critical to becoming a Sr Manager in FP&A.

He has solid technical abilities.
He can drive root cause analysis forward.
He can work independently with business partners.

And he’s been a Manager for a while.

So what’s missing?

While you might find different answers depending on who you ask, I’m fairly confident most senior finance leaders would agree with my response:

The secret: Having a clear vision for FP&A and a system to execute it

Otherwise said, you know how FP&A fits in the business and you have strong opinions on how to make it happen.

Sure, you’ll also need to level up your leadership (leading leaders) and communication skills (working directly with new levels of leadership). But no other skill will set you apart faster than having strong opinions about where you are headed and how you’ll get there.

As I reflect on Sr Managers, Directors, and VPs in finance that I respect, it’s the fact that they’ve spent time deep in thought about the value they add that sets them apart.

Let’s dive into how you can do the same:

Design and execute your own system

I’ve interviewed a ton of FP&A professionals for all kinds of roles.

For entry level analysts I’m looking for professionalism and basic Excel skills (I don’t want to have to teach it). They should be able to execute my system.

For senior analysts I’m looking for their ability to find the root cause in an analysis. Bonus points if they can communicate effectively. They should be able to optimize my system.

For managers I’m looking for teachers and connectors who work through others to get stuff done. They should be able to improve my system.

For senior managers I’m looking for leaders who can influence business partners, simplify storylines, and drive the right work forward. They should be able to design and implement their own system.

See the difference?

When you’re a senior manager, you are expected to come into a new role and work independently to bring about your perfect world.

It’s actually my favorite part about this level of leadership. I get to imagine the world I want to see and then align my people to execute it.

Treat FP&A like a business

In case it’s not real enough for you yet, here’s a helpful way to think about developing your vision and system…

Think about any other non-overhead department in a business (let’s use Sales for example).

What KPIs do they measure?

Daily sales, conversion rate, show rate, sales v quota, etc.

How do they drive these things?

That’s the secret sauce! And I call that the system. It’s how they organize the team, resource them, select tools and tech, etc.

What is the equivalent for your FP&A role?

• Reporting: error-free, timely, usage/reliance, redundancy, efficiency

• Analysis: understood, implemented, speed, depth

• Forecasting: accurate, efficient, driving behavior, drivers mapped

• Consulting: trusting relationship, 2 way relationship, broad prioritization

This can be your system (it’s mine, so feel free to steal it). Every day/week/month you relentlessly focus on these metrics to drive the right outcomes.

Too many FP&A professionals simply blow around with the wind instead of declaring what’s critical and how they’ll get it done.

Measure and improve KPIs

What get’s measured gets done.

Identify a few of those metrics I called out above that you feel strongly about to drive forward.

You can’t get everything done at once, so focus on a few metrics every quarter until you’ve worked through them all.

But the key is to track and improve.

One of my favorite places to start is reporting efficiency.

Why?

Because when you free up time that was previously spent in reporting, you can deploy that time in higher value activities.

And my favorite way to measure reporting efficiency is to take a snapshot of how many hours my team spends each month on reporting (building, fixing, changing, updating, sending).

Then look for those reports that take the most time but provide the least value.

Cut ‘em!

Key takeaways

Thinking ‘big picture’ is easier said than done.

So spend some time reflecting on how you add the most value.

Break that down into actionable tasks. Then commit to measuring the most important metrics monthly.

Have an opinion on where you team needs to go and build your system to get there.

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