The FP&A Paradox: Why Value Creation Requires the Right Planning Tools for the Right Business Problems

By John Schlegelmilch - Point Break Advisory Services

I'm excited to share my latest white paper, The FP&A Paradox: Why Value Creation Requires the Right Planning Tools for the Right Business Problems.

After 30 years in FP&A and decision support, I have come to a simple conclusion: business complexity has evolved faster than the way many organizations think about planning.

Too often, FP&A is framed as budgeting, forecasting, and variance reporting. But at its best, FP&A is a value creation discipline - helping leaders make better decisions, allocate capital more effectively, and understand tradeoffs before they become regrets.

That requires more than standardization. It requires the right tools for the right business problems.

One of the most common mandates in finance is the push toward one enterprise planning system. The goal is understandable: governance, consistency, and efficiency. But the risk is assuming every business function has the same planning complexity.

Technology finance is different.

It must account for cloud consumption, software and vendor changes, AI-related charges, labor strategies, portfolio investments, compliance costs, hybrid infrastructure, and the long-term run costs created by today's transformation decisions.

The question should not be: "Which tool fits the mandate?"

The better question is: "Which tool fits the problem?"

That is the core idea behind this paper: FP&A should be the strongest advocate for fit-for-purpose planning capability - because value creation depends on insight, transparency, speed, and decision quality.

#FPandA #TechnologyFinance #ITFM #Apptio #FinanceTransformation #BusinessPartnership #Forecasting
#CapitalAllocation

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