Paul Barnhurst argues FP&A teams waste time on reports when they should help managers understand how the business actually works. Shift training from technical skills to soft skills. Real value comes from being a business partner, not an auditor.
We're not auditors for a reason, but we have to do more of that. Something managers have to understand how they manage that. The most critical is one, how do you make sure they're deeply understanding the operations of the business? If you want FP&A to provide a lot of value, don't have them build another report. Use that time to help them better understand the business, the deep operations. And then the fourth, instead of so much training being focused on technical skills, and that's what we train people on, Make sure your learning and development is around the soft skills that allow them to be that partner that's gonna drive the business forward.
Trust and Leadership Lessons for FP&A From 100+ Top Leaders with CFO Jon Laudie
