Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Templates

Download Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Templates

What is Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)?

Financial planning & analysis (FP&A) is an area in corporate finance that focuses on the budgeting, forecasting and analysis of financial performance of a business. Financial analysts in the FP&A team are responsible for performing quantitative and qualitative analysis of all aspects of operations to measure how well the company is doing relative to its financial target. In evaluating historical company performance, analysts are able to forecast trends in the future and possible obstacles the company might be facing.

FP&A professionals oversee a wide range of financial affairs, such as revenue, expenses, tax expenses, capital expenditures (capex), investments, and financial statements. Financial analysts must constantly monitor, analyze and evaluate all financial activities of a company in order to provide an accurate financial forecast.

Most Common Roles of FP&A Professionals

1. Examine if the company is making good use of its excess working capital in its current assets and investments by calculating the return on investment (ROI) and cash flow.

2. Calculate financial ratios such as the current ratio, debt to equity ratio, and interest coverage ratio to assess overall financial health of the business.

3. Identify the most profit-generating product offerings of the company and compare profit margins.

4. Evaluate cost allocation between each department and functions of the company and determine the overall cost efficiency.

5. Preparing budgets with individual departments and create a consolidated budget for corporate-level decision making.

6. Preparing internal financial reports for management and leadership team.

7. Building, modifying and maintaining financial models on regular basis and produce detailed forecast of the company’s future performance using historical data.

8. Performing variance analysis to identify areas of improvement in financial planning in the year ahead.

9. Identify business opportunities for expansion or growth of the business and planning the required capital expenditures and investments.