FP&A productivity has only increased by two percent in the last decade. Now is the time to take action and invest in FP&A Automation.
The critical role of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) has elevated considerably in 2020 for organizations of every size, and now is the time to invest in automation.
Black-swan events, global recessions, erratic growth and recovery, and market volatility all make accurate planning and forecasting an incredibly challenging process and even more critical.
The amount of time and expense incurred by finance teams to create accurate plans and timely insights is a hidden expense that finance leaders should now question.
Based on a recent APQC survey, FP&A participants reported spending 75 percent of their time gathering data and administering finance processes, down only two percent from the results from a similar study in 2010.
A successful business case for FP&A automation can be created by assessing both tangible and intangible benefits in two key areas:
- Productivity and cycle time improvements
- Better decision-making capabilities
Process efficiency remains a critical challenge for FP&A teams. We see FP&A teams at many organizations still spending significant amounts of time on mundane tasks at the expense of value-added tasks. This hampers the ability of FP&A to provide impactful analysis and insights that help drive optimized decision-making.
Very Costly Activities
Finance teams spend a considerable amount of time looking for cost savings across the business, but there could be cost savings hiding in plain sight within finance.
Based on a recent APQC survey, FP&A participants surveyed reported spending a considerable amount of time on non-value-creating activities, including 75 percent of their time gathering data and administering finance processes.
Look at the table below from the AFP Financial Planning & Analysis Benchmarking Survey. The survey highlights the disparity in the time taken to create a budget, build financial forecasts and complete a rolling forecast based on the adoption of technology to improve FP&A processes.
Those who spend the least on technology use 83% more FTE time to complete an annual budget compared to those who invest in automating core finance processes.
In working with clients using the Business Case Builder, we have seen multiple examples of finance teams spending >60% of their time on activities that can be fully or partially automated. The business impact possible by reducing this time has enormous potential.
Typical FP&A Automation Results
Every client situation is different, but the following results are a reliable indicator of the possible outcomes:
- 50% reduction in budget cycle time and 70% time savings in their planning processes
- Reduce manual budget data collection/consolidation by up to 75%
- Streamline budget reviews and approvals by up to 50%
- Automate and accelerate management and financial reporting by up to 50%
As for the overall ROI results, we forecast a majority of clients will experience results similar to these:
- < 18 months payback
- > 100% ROI
- > 50% reduction in effort
- +++ intangible benefits
Do you want to know if your business will experience this level of ROI?
The FP&A Business Case Builder
To help our clients to capture and document the process improvement and cost-saving opportunities possible by investing in FP&A Automation, we have created the FP&A Business Case Builder.
The modeling tool helps to build a clear picture of:
- The challenges and inefficiencies of the current planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes.
- The FTE costs within finance and outside of finance of planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.
- The forecast cost of continuing to operate as is, including the ability to model increased costs.
- The budget to invest in FP&A Automation.
- The forecast cost savings as a result of FP&A Automation.
- An ROI for the business case.
To help our clients maximize the value of this powerful simulation tool, we have also created an accompanying paper called "The Business Case for FP&A Automation." [You will receive a free copy of this when you register for the Business Case Builder.]
It takes about thirty minutes to complete the Business Case Builder model, and the results are immediately available. A summary report is automatically generated and sent via email, with a more detailed follow-up review led by one of the Qubix business advisory team.
Watch a video of the business case builder in action:
If you would like to see the potential ROI of investing in FP&A Automation for your business, please start the process here.
👉🏻Receive a free copy of "The Business Case for FP&A Automation" when you register to complete the Business Case Builder.👈🏻
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