If you work in FP&A, November–January isn’t simple.
It’s four jobs, all competing for the same brain cells:
You’re closing out the year
Sales, revenue, unit growth, churn - executives are focused on maxing their bonus.
You’re building the long-term strategic plan
3-year growth, top-down planning, strategic investments, product bets…
all in the same week you’re explaining why Tuesday’s sales dropped 2%.
You’re building the 2026 budget
Financial account detail, monthly seasonality scrutiny, the headcount plans.
Everyone wants precision.
There’s not enough time.
You’re preparing to flip reporting to a new year
This is the part people underestimate.
You’re rewriting reporting logic… mapping new targets… updating visuals…
AND keeping your current-year flash, summaries, dashboards, storylines alive.
All at once.
And every pillar of FP&A feels the pull:
Reporting, Analysis, Forecasting, Consulting.
At the very moment leaders need both
hyper-short-term clarity and long-term planning.
That’s why this time of year wrecks most finance teams.
But it doesn’t have to.
FP&A teams often survive their way through year-end. Great FP&A teams systematize their way through it.
Let me show you my simple system to steal:
The System: The 10-minute Monday “year-end refocus”
This is the exact cadence I run this time of year to keep my sanity for:
short-term results
long-term strategy
next-year budgeting
reporting transitions
and the forecast storyline
All without drowning.
1. What matters most this month? (Short-term clarity)
What 1 thing is the business obsessing over right now?
Revenue? Unit sales? Margin? Cash?
Don’t waste you time on anything outside of this.
Your senior leaders want extreme clarity, so let’s give it to them.
Every day set up reminders or have a plan to add value on this 1 thing. It should only take 30 minutes or (even better) assign someone on your teams to be in charge of this.
2. What matters most next year? (Long-term vision)
You need a parallel track.
This year’s results flash is not next year’s results flash.
This year’s ELT storyline is not next year’s storyline.
Ask: “What does 2026 reporting need to look like?”
Start now.
Not in January.
Not in February.
Now.
Honestly, if you haven’t started yet then you’re already behind.
Similar to the last one, this works best if you can dedicate a different person to this work.
3. What trends matter for the plan? (Forecasting)
You already know what risks and opportunities exist in next years plan (even if it’s not fully baked).
Start focusing your team’s energy on understanding those risks and building better forecasting models to support those insights.
Sales wants to expand to a new territory next year?
Start thinking through how to break that business case down into its core assumptions.
Where are you going to need more focus? How are you going to do that?
4. What insights will drive confidence? (Analysis)
Right now, leaders don’t want 20 graphs.
They want 3 things:
What changed?
Why?
What’s next?
Your gift to them this time of year is simplicity.
Use my $100M 1-Pager structure:
What happened → Why it happened → What we should do → One takeaway.
5. Where do you need to proactively communicate? (Consulting)
At year-end, “no surprises” becomes a rule, not a suggestion.
This is where strong FP&A careers are made.
My single best trick: Reach out to 1 key stakeholder every day with an insight:
- Project update
- Small results insight
- Your thoughts on a hot topic
This is how you become trusted.
Most FP&A teams will survive year-end.
Great FP&A teams will become indispensable during year-end.
Because our job as finance leaders is to have a vision and execute it.
If you want a simple, proven system to handle this year-end chaos, grab The FP&A Operating System.
It gives you:
A reporting cadence that runs itself
The $100M 1-Pager for fast, confident analysis
A forecasting framework leaders actually trust
A consulting system for proactive communication
Everything you need to balance results, planning, and 2026 reporting without burning out. Check it out here: The FP&A OS
How we can help:
Build your own FP&A Operating System so you can drive more impact through a best-in-class FP&A process.
Looking to elevate your FP&A leadership skills? Steal our Finance Manager Playbook to help you drive a healthy, high-performing finance team culture.
Get step-by-step video instruction on designing your perfect FP&A Flywheel. It’s the exact process we use when transforming FP&A teams.
Brett Hampson, Founder of Forecasting Performance
