12 Biggest Trends In FP&A and Finance For 2023

Are you looking to stay ahead of the curve in corporate finance and FP&A? The world of corporate finance is ever-changing, with new trends emerging every day. We’ve identified the top trends transforming FP&A and corporate finance, so you can stay up-to-date on what’s happening in this field. These are the biggest trends impacting your business today, from predictive analytics to automation.

With our insights into these key trends, you can make informed decisions about how best to manage your finances and maximize profits for your company. You won’t have to worry about being left behind as technology advances – we’ll keep you one step ahead!

Read our article now and better understand the latest developments in FP&A and corporate finance!

Why Are FP&A And Corporate Finance Changing?

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) and corporate finance are evolving rapidly due to several factors:

Technological Advancements:

The increasing use of advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and predictive analytics is transforming FP&A and corporate finance. Collectively known as digital finance, these technologies are automating routine tasks, improve accuracy in financial forecasting, and providing deeper insights into financial data.

Inflation And Tight Labor Market:

It is a hard time for a company to hire, and when they do hire, it is costly. Companies are turning to automation and technology to reduce labor costs while increasing their efficiency and accuracy of critical financial tasks.

Data-Driven Decision Making:

There’s a growing emphasis on data analytics in FP&A. Companies use sophisticated analytical tools to understand market trends, assess business performance, and plan future outcomes. This shift towards data-driven decision-making is changing the role of FP&A from simply preparing excel spreadsheets, budgets, and reports to providing influence and strategic advice to the business.

Increasing Complexity of Financial Regulations:

The financial regulatory environment is becoming more complex, with new rules and standards regularly introduced. This challenge drives changes in corporate finance practices, as companies must adapt their financial compliance processes to meet these new requirements.

Globalization:

Businesses increasingly operate across borders, introducing additional complexity into finance. FP&A professionals must consider factors like exchange rates, international tax laws, and geopolitical risks in their financial forecasts.

Changing Business Models:

As businesses adapt to changing market conditions and customer preferences, their business models evolve. This challenge requires new approaches to finance support these new business models.

Increased Focus on Risk Management:

In today’s uncertain business environment, there’s a greater focus on risk management in corporate finance. Companies are investing more in identifying, assessing, and managing financial risks to ensure their financial stability.

These trends are reshaping the roles of FP&A and corporate finance professionals, requiring them to develop new skills and adapt to new ways of working. It’s an exciting time to be in these fields, as they’re at the forefront of the data and technology revolution in business.

The 12 Biggest FP&A Trends Of 2023

1. Integration of AI and Machine Learning: Many companies integrate AI and machine learning technologies into their planning processes. These technologies can automate routine tasks, provide more accurate forecasts, and generate valuable insights from financial data.
2. Increased Use of Data Analytics: Data analytics plays a larger role in corporate finance. Companies use advanced analytics to understand market trends, evaluate business performance, increase forecast accuracy, and predict future outcomes.
3. Real-Time Reporting: With technological advancements, financial reports that used to take days to prepare can now be generated in real-time. This allows for faster decision-making and more timely responses to financial issues.
4. Self-Serve Reporting: Self-serve reporting platforms allow employees to create customized reports without relying on the FP&A team. It also reduces the need for manual data entry, saving time and resources.
5. Automation: Automating certain tasks can go a long way in reducing costs and improving efficiency. Robotic process automation (RPA) is set to be one of the most disruptive
6. Focus on Scenario Planning: Companies focus more on scenario planning in an increasingly uncertain business environment. This involves creating multiple forecasts based on different assumptions and inputs to prepare for various potential outcomes.
7. Rise of Cloud-Based FP&A Solutions: More and more companies are adopting cloud-based corporate finance solutions in lieu of Excel. These platforms offer advantages such as reduced IT costs, increased accessibility, and improved collaboration.
8. Growing Importance of Data Visualization: Data visualization tools are becoming essential for presenting financial data in a way that’s easy to understand. These tools can help stakeholders make sense of complex financial information and make informed decisions.
9. Shift Towards Strategic Advisory: FP&A professionals are increasingly expected to act as a strategic advisor to the business, providing valuable input on major business decisions. The ability to influence decision-makers is becoming increasingly important for FP&A professionals.
10. Sustainability and ESG: Companies are emphasizing sustainability and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). In addition, the impact of ESG reporting regulations is just starting to be felt. This requires FP&A teams to factor in ESG metrics when analyzing financial performance.
11. Blockchain: The use of blockchain technology is growing in the financial planning and analysis space, allowing companies to store data and share information more quickly and securely. This can enable faster decision-making and improved insight into financial trends. Blockchain technology has also become increasingly popular with financial institutions looking to reduce record-keeping and payment processing costs. 
12. Traceability: Automated systems for tracking data are becoming more common, allowing FP&A teams to trace all changes made to financial models back to the original sources. This helps ensure accuracy and reduce the risk of errors.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Can I Stay On Top Of FP&A Trends?

Keeping up-to-date on FP&A trends is essential for staying ahead of the competition. Make sure to stay abreast of new technologies and business strategies, attend industry conferences to network with other professionals, and join relevant online forums and discussion groups. Additionally, subscribing to newsletters related to FP&A can help you keep track of the latest trends in the field.

What Are Some Common Challenges Faced By FP&A Professionals?

Some of the most common challenges faced by FP&A professionals include data accuracy and reliability, lack of access to real-time data, managing a budgeting process that involves multiple stakeholders with competing agendas, dealing with conflicting interests between different departments, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Additionally, FP&A teams must be able to quickly identify and respond to market or internal operations changes that could impact their financial performance.

What Are The Benefits Of Automation For FP&A?

Automating the FP&A process can help streamline workflows, improve accuracy and reliability of financial models, reduce manual labor, and enable faster decision-making. Additionally, automation can provide improved transparency into data sources and better insights into trends that could impact performance. These benefits are critical for ensuring success in FP&A’s fast-paced and ever-evolving world of FP&A.

What Are The Benefits Of Utilizing Software Solutions For FP&A?

Using software solutions for FP&A can help streamline processes, increase accuracy, save time, reduce manual labor, and provide access to real-time data. Additionally, these solutions can enable faster decision-making by providing better insights into trends and improved transparency into data sources. Finally, software solutions can help FP&A teams easily manage complex budgets with multiple stakeholders with competing agendas.

Quick Recap

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) is becoming increasingly important to businesses as they strive to make informed decisions. Companies leverage cloud-based solutions, data visualization tools, strategic advisory services, sustainability metrics, blockchain technology, and traceability systems to understand their financial performance better. These tools can help organizations gain valuable insights into their financials and make better decisions in order to remain competitive.

FP&A teams are also becoming more involved in strategic decision-making, providing valuable input to the business on major decisions. With all of these advancements, it’s clear that the role of corporate finance is growing in importance for any organization looking to succeed in today’s economy.

Have any questions? Are there other topics you would like us to cover? Leave a comment below and let us know! Remember to subscribe to our Newsletter to receive exclusive financial news in your inbox.