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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Analyst

💰 $ - $

FinanceFP&AAccountingCorporate Finance

🎯 Role Definition

The Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Analyst is a finance professional responsible for driving timely and accurate financial planning, forecasting, budgeting, and management reporting to support strategic decision-making. This role partners with cross-functional stakeholders to build robust financial models, analyze performance variances, perform scenario and sensitivity analyses, and deliver actionable insights that influence business strategy, resource allocation, and operational improvements. The ideal candidate combines deep technical proficiency (Excel, financial modeling, data visualization, ERP/FP&A systems) with strong business partnering, communication, and storytelling skills.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Financial Analyst / Financial Analyst I
  • Business Analyst (with finance focus)
  • Accountant / Corporate Accountant

Advancement To:

  • Senior FP&A Analyst
  • FP&A Manager / Finance Manager
  • Director of FP&A / Head of FP&A
  • VP Finance / Chief Financial Officer (long-term)

Lateral Moves:

  • Corporate Finance / Treasury
  • Commercial Finance / Revenue Operations
  • Business Operations / Strategy
  • Investor Relations

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead the annual budgeting process end-to-end: coordinate cross-functional inputs, consolidate departmental budgets, reconcile to corporate targets, and deliver a detailed, auditable budget package that aligns with strategic priorities and headcount plans.
  • Prepare and maintain rolling forecasts (monthly/quarterly) using driver-based models; update assumptions, re-forecast revenue, OPEX, and cash flow, and quantify impact of business scenarios on P&L and balance sheet.
  • Build, validate, and maintain complex financial models (driver-based, bottom-up, and top-down) to support pricing, product profitability, new initiatives, and long-range planning; document assumptions, calculations, and model flows.
  • Conduct in-depth variance analysis comparing actuals to plan and forecast; identify key drivers, quantify variances, and provide narrative explanations and recommended corrective actions for leadership and business unit partners.
  • Deliver executive-level management reporting and board materials, including monthly/quarterly business reviews, KPI dashboards, and trend analysis; craft concise slide decks and talking points for senior leadership.
  • Partner closely with business unit leaders (sales, marketing, product, operations) to translate commercial and operational metrics into financial outcomes; serve as the finance business partner for assigned functions.
  • Design and implement financial and operational KPIs and dashboards (revenue growth, gross margin, CAC, LTV, ARR, churn, operating leverage); ensure metrics are actionable and aligned to strategic objectives.
  • Perform cash flow forecasting and working capital analysis; manage short- and long-term cash projections, capital expenditure (CapEx) requests, and free cash flow sensitivity under multiple scenarios.
  • Drive ad-hoc and strategic analysis (what-if scenarios, sensitivity analysis, break-even analysis, unit economics) to evaluate new investments, pricing strategies, product launches, and M&A targets.
  • Support monthly close activities related to FP&A deliverables: reconcile actuals to forecast, validate accounting entries, review accruals, and work with accounting to ensure timing and classification consistency.
  • Lead pricing and margin analysis: model price elasticity, margin improvement levers, cost-to-serve, and product mix shifts to recommend pricing actions and profitability enhancements.
  • Own periodic board and investor reporting requirements: prepare reconciled financial schedules, variance explanations, and management commentary in line with governance and disclosure timelines.
  • Implement process improvements and automation (Macros/VBA, Python, ETL routines) to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and shorten the FP&A reporting cycle time.
  • Manage and maintain FP&A systems and data flows (Adaptive Insights, Anaplan, Hyperion, Workday, NetSuite, SAP): ensure chart of accounts alignments, data integrity, and reconciliation routines.
  • Lead financial due diligence and integration support for acquisitions: prepare target financial summaries, synergistic benefit analysis, and post-close integration tracking for cost and revenue synergies.
  • Conduct cost structure and headcount analyses; model the financial impact of hiring plans, re-orgs, contractor vs. FTE decisions, and outsourcing alternatives.
  • Coordinate with tax, accounting, and treasury teams for alignment on forecasts, tax provisioning impacts, intercompany transactions, and foreign exchange exposures.
  • Maintain audit-ready documentation for forecasts, assumptions, and key judgment areas; support internal and external audit requests for FP&A processes and controls.
  • Provide training and mentorship to junior FP&A staff; develop standardized templates, best practices, and model governance to scale capability across the organization.
  • Develop scenario planning for business continuity and stress-testing (e.g., macroeconomic shocks, supply disruptions); quantify downside/upside financial impacts and contingency plans.
  • Drive data governance for FP&A: define data sources, maintain a single source of truth, and work with IT/BI teams to ensure reliable and timely data extracts.
  • Evaluate and recommend FP&A tooling and BI solutions; lead pilot implementations to improve forecasting accuracy, reporting speed, and self-service analytics for business partners.
  • Prepare and present actionable insights and recommendations to cross-functional leadership, clearly linking financial impact to operational drivers and strategic initiatives.
  • Monitor competitive, market, and macroeconomic trends and translate them into forward-looking financial assumptions and strategic implications for the company.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests, exploratory data analysis, and financial data pulls to address business questions and executive inquiries.
  • Contribute to the organization's data and analytics strategy as it relates to FP&A; collaborate with data engineering to improve pipelines, data models, and report performance.
  • Translate business and stakeholder data needs into technical requirements for BI and finance systems; participate in vendor selection and roadmap planning for FP&A tools.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies with IT/BI teams to prioritize FP&A enhancements, dashboard builds, and API integrations that increase automation and insight delivery.
  • Provide secondary support to accounting for month-end reconciliations, variance investigations, and journal entry clarifications related to forecast vs. actual reconciliation.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced financial modeling and valuation skills: driver-based models, discounted cash flow (DCF), scenario/sensitivity analysis, and ROI calculations.
  • Forecasting and budgeting expertise using rolling forecast methodologies and long-range planning techniques.
  • Deep proficiency in Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, advanced formulas, Power Query, Power Pivot, VBA/macros) for model building and automation.
  • Experience with BI and visualization tools: Power BI, Tableau, Looker — ability to design executive dashboards and interactive KPI reports.
  • SQL skills for extracting, transforming, and validating financial and operational data from databases and data warehouses.
  • Hands-on experience with FP&A and ERP systems: Adaptive Insights, Anaplan, Hyperion, NetSuite, Oracle ERP, SAP — including integrations and master data governance.
  • Strong accounting fundamentals and knowledge of GAAP/IFRS to reconcile FP&A outputs to the general ledger and financial statements.
  • Familiarity with programming for analytics (Python or R) for advanced data manipulation, predictive modeling, or automation is a plus.
  • Cash flow modeling, working capital analysis, and CapEx planning experience.
  • Experience producing board-level reporting, investor decks, and management commentary under tight deadlines.
  • Knowledge of subscription and SaaS metrics (ARR, MRR, churn, CAC, LTV) for recurring revenue businesses — or relevant industry metrics for non-SaaS sectors.
  • Ability to build and maintain model governance, version control, and documentation for auditability and reproducibility.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent business partnering and stakeholder management: build credibility with cross-functional leaders and influence without direct authority.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to translate complex financial analysis into clear, executive-ready narratives.
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving: synthesize multiple data sources to drive recommendations and prioritize high-impact analyses.
  • Presentation and storytelling skills: craft concise slide decks, speak confidently to financial results, and defend assumptions before senior leadership.
  • Attention to detail and strong organizational skills to manage concurrent projects and deliverables during tight close cycles.
  • Proactive mindset with a continuous improvement orientation—seeks automation, simplification, and process standardization.
  • Time management and ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines, month-end/quarter-end close schedules, and ad-hoc executive requests.
  • Collaborative team player who can work across finance, product, sales, operations, and IT to align on goals and execution.
  • Adaptability and comfort in ambiguous environments: prioritize tasks when inputs are incomplete and iterate as new information becomes available.
  • Ethical judgment and confidentiality in handling sensitive financial and strategic information.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a closely related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree (MBA, MS Finance) or professional certifications (CPA, CFA) preferred for senior-level roles.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Finance
  • Accounting
  • Economics
  • Business Administration
  • Data Analytics / Information Systems (for analytics-forward FP&A roles)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years of progressive experience in FP&A, corporate finance, accounting, or financial analysis in a corporate or consulting environment.

Preferred:

  • 3–7+ years of experience for mid-level roles; demonstrated experience with budgeting/forecasting, financial modeling, management reporting, and cross-functional business partnering. Prior experience in the company’s industry (SaaS, consumer goods, manufacturing, healthcare, etc.) is a strong plus.
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