FP&A is not just set a budget This is a feature that helps CFOs create reports in Excel. It connects past, present, and future data to make accurate, timely, and risk-controlled decisions. This article explains it. What is FP&A? From a practical business operational perspective.
What is FP&A and why is it considered the "decision-making brain" of the CFO?
If I had to answer briefly What is FP&A?In other words, FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) is the financial function responsible for planning, forecasting, and analyzing financial performance to support the CFO and the Executive Board in making data-driven decisions, rather than relying solely on intuition or past reports. But calling FP&A the "brain" is only half true; the other, more important, part is: FP&A is data-to-action system.
The core difference is that FP&A doesn't do bookkeeping. FP&A doesn't exist to "close the month faster" or "make reports look better." FP&A exists to answer the question that CFOs and CEOs always need answered most: "What should we do next?".
Here, the value of FP&A is structured along a very clear axis: Plan → Forecast → Analyze → Recommend → Decide.
- PlanWhat are we planning to do (goals, budget, resources)?
- ForecastIf things continue as they are, what will the outcome be?
- MixWhere is the misalignment occurring, and which driver is causing it?
- RecommendWhat options are available, and how does the trade-off work?
- OfferMake quick decisions while controlling risks.
Planning involves defining objectives and resources; forecasting to understand the future of continuing current operations; analyzing to identify root causes; making recommendations to develop action plans; and finally, making decisions with quantified risk levels.
Therefore, FP&A fits perfectly into the "value gap" between Accounting and Strategy. Accounting primarily records the past and ensures the accuracy, completeness, and validity of data. Strategy looks to the future but requires a quantitative foundation to transform its direction into a feasible financial plan. FP&A stands between these two sides, playing a crucial role. decision supportTransform actuals into insights, insights into choices, and choices into controlled decisions.
In reality, CFOs are often "slow" not because of a lack of decision-making ability, but because... data latency and data noise This makes decision-making risky. When FP&A is properly implemented, it creates a mechanism to reduce this lag: data is standardized, reporting supports action, and the forecast loop is continuously updated instead of waiting until the end of the month/quarter.
Bizzi in this picture It should be placed in the right position: Bizzi is not FP&A, nor does it replace FP&A. Bizzi's role is to clean and standardize the "operational data stream" such as invoices, expenses, accounts payable, etc., right from the input. When the input data is clean, the FP&A team no longer wastes time "correcting numbers" and manual reconciliation, but can focus on forecasting, variance analysis, and action recommendations—the true nature of Financial Planning & Analysis.
To understand how FP&A differs from traditional finance functions, it's necessary to compare FP&A with accounting and Financial Controller.
How does FP&A differ from Accounting and Financial Controller in a corporate finance system?
The most common misconception that leads to failed FP&A implementations is treating FP&A as "advanced accounting." Accounting focuses on... news: Accurately record the events that occurred and ensure accuracy & complianceThe Financial Controller focuses on governance & controlFP&A focuses on design, control, process compliance, risk reduction, and financial discipline. FP&A, on the other hand, focuses on the future: its biggest goal is... forecast plus and business impact-More accurate forecasts lead to faster decisions, and more accurate decisions lead to greater impact on business results.
If we had to describe it using a simple framework: Accounting answers "what has happened," Controller answers "how is it being controlled," and FP&A answers "what is about to happen and what needs to be done." Therefore, FP&A needs accounting data as a foundation, and the Controller's control mechanism to ensure consistent and reliable data, but FP&A is not limited to the end-of-period report. FP&A is commonly used... rolling forecastScenario planning and management reporting are used to inform choices and trade-offs for the CFO/CEO.
Quick comparison table
| Criteria | Accountant | Financial Controller | FP&A |
| Focus | Past | Control | Future |
| Target | Accuracy & Compliance | Governance & Control | Forecast accuracy & business impact |
| Output | Financial report | Management/Control Report | Rolling forecast, scenario planning, variance bridge |
| Main users | Tax/Auditing Authority | CFO | CEO/CFO/BOD |
In a practical implementation context, clear responsibilities help reduce internal conflicts. FP&A doesn't "take over" the work of accounting or controllers; on the contrary, FP&A needs strong data foundations and control discipline. The problem is, without standardized tools and processes, FP&A will be relegated to the role of a "data team," wasting time on ETL, data cleaning, and reconciliation—contrary to its role as decision support.
This is why the statement "Bizzi doesn't replace accountants or controllers" is so important. Bizzi helps standardize and automate the flow of invoice, expense, and accounts receivable data, reducing manual operations and the risk of errors. This frees FP&A from tedious data entry and reconciliation, allowing them to return to their core functions: forecasting, variance analysis, and action recommendations.
Once the role is clear, the next question is: what outputs does FP&A actually generate for the CFO?
What reports and decisions does FP&A generate in actual operations?
A truly effective FP&A system is not measured by the number of reports, but by the quality of those reports. push decision which and make decisions faster At what point? In operations, FP&A typically provides five groups of outputs that directly "touch" the CFO's decision-making.
The core deliverables of FP&A typically include:
- Budget: Establish discipline in resource allocation, prioritize spending, and set spending limits.
- Rolling Forecast: Updates the picture for the next 12 months to allow for early adjustments as the market changes.
- Variance Analysis: explains discrepancies and links them to operational drivers to generate specific actions.
- Cash Flow Forecast: forecasting cash flow to protect liquidity and optimize revenue and expenditure schedules.
- KPI Dashboard/Management reporting: tracking leading indicators to make decisions before the P&L (Personal Value Added Tax) is reflected.
First of all Budget – A budget is not just a list of numbers, but a commitment to allocating resources according to strategic priorities. CFOs use budgets to set a "framework of discipline" for spending and investment.
Secondly Rolling Forecast – Rolling forecasts update the picture for the next 12 months based on new data, helping CFOs avoid being "blind" when the market fluctuates.
Thirdly Variance Analysis- Analyze the discrepancies to understand why actual performance deviates from the plan/forecast and identify the factors causing the deviation: price, output, mix, or performance.
The basic formula is very simple: Variance = Actual – ForecastHowever, the value lies in explaining variance by the operating driver and translating it into action.
Fourth is Cash Flow Forecast- Output is important but often overlooked. FP&A doesn't just manage P&L; if cash flow isn't forecasted, a business can still "die from lack of liquidity" even if it reports a profit. Fifth is... KPI dashboard/management reporting- Not for "looking for fun," but to monitor leading indicators and detect risks early.
In terms of measuring forecast quality, many FP&A teams use MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error) as a common metric for forecast accuracy, with a formula that averages the absolute deviation as a percentage. However, CFOs should understand that MAPE can be "overestimated" when the actual value is small and sometimes a weighted metric (wMAPE) is needed depending on the context.
In practical implementation, the biggest bottleneck isn't "not knowing which report to create," but rather that cost data arrives too late. If cost center figures only become clear after the end of the month, variance analysis will always be "post-audit," and intervention decisions will be delayed. This is where Bizzi can make a clear impact: by tracking cost center figures in near real-time, FP&A can compare against budgets earlier, allowing CFOs to intervene before costs become "fait accompli."
To generate these reports effectively, FP&A must operate according to a clear process.
How does the standard FP&A process (Plan – Forecast – Actual) work?
Many businesses describe FP&A as a linear process: plan it out, then follow up. But in modern operations, FP&A is a continuous decision loop between Plan – Forecast – Actual.
The plan answers “what we intend to do” by locking in objectives, budget, and resources. The forecast answers “what will happen if things continue like this,” and more importantly, the forecast must be updated with new data, not based on “beginning-of-year confidence.” The actual answer answers “what actually happened,” not only in P&L but also in cash flow and working capital. When these three components run in a loop, the CFO can adjust early instead of reacting late: changing spending priorities, reallocating budgets, adjusting sales targets, or tightening customer credit.
Bizzi's role is to help businesses bridge the gap between Actual and Forecast. If actual invoices, expenses, and AR/AP data are updated quickly and standardized, FP&A doesn't need to wait for closing before "daring" to forecast. When businesses reduce data lag, the Plan-Forecast-Actual loop truly becomes a decision-making loop.
In the context of volatility, static budgets are no longer sufficient.
What is a rolling forecast and why is it indispensable for modern FP&A?
Rolling Forecast Rolling forecasting is a method of forecasting that typically maintains a “rolling horizon” (e.g., the next 12 months) and updates it monthly or quarterly. The focus of rolling forecasting is not on creating another forecast table, but on changing how CFOs manage: CFOs always have an updated forecast picture, instead of living with the budget at the beginning of the year while the market has changed.
The difficulty in implementing rolling forecasts in many Vietnamese businesses lies in the fragmented and undisciplined nature of the data. When expense data arrives late, invoices are scattered, and accounts receivable are not clean, forecasts are easily biased: the FP&A team wastes time gathering data and faces pressure to "make the forecast on time," resulting in reduced quality. Therefore, the question is not just "should we use rolling forecasts?", but "where do we start to ensure the data is clean enough?"
Here, Bizzi Bot and Invoice Automation could be a logical starting point: cleaning up input cost data and standardizing the invoice flow gives the FP&A team a more consistent data base for continuous forecast updates instead of chasing closing prices.
Predictions are only accurate when the model is correct.
What is Driver-Based Planning and how does FP&A select the right drivers?
Driver-based planning is a planning method based on the actual operational factors that generate revenue and costs, rather than entering numbers based on intuition. Instead of simply stating "increase revenue 20%," FP&A forces businesses to explain where that 20% comes from: increased volume, increased price, or a change in product/customer mix.
A simple but useful model for revenue is: Volume × Price × Mix.
In terms of cost, the driver is usually headcount, utilization, unit cost, or other operational metrics depending on the industry.
Incorrect drivers will lead to inaccurate forecasts even with a perfectly executed Excel spreadsheet. For example, if COGS costs are heavily dependent on the mix but the model only increases by 1 TP3T of revenue, the variance will be consistently "abnormal," and the FP&A team will have to rely on subjective interpretation. Or, if personnel costs increase by headcount but the plan only increases at a flat rate compared to the previous year, the forecast will be inaccurate as soon as the organization hires new personnel.
Bizzi indirectly supports driver-based planning by categorizing costs by category and department/cost center, helping FP&A map costs to the appropriate drivers more quickly and consistently. When mapping is correct, variance analysis becomes actionable.
But detecting deviations isn't enough; FP&A must translate those deviations into action.
Variance Analysis in FP&A and How to Turn Variances into Concrete Actions
Variance analysis is often misunderstood as "interpreting data." In reality, variance analysis in FP&A is a mechanism for transforming discrepancies into management decisions. The fundamental formula may be simple (Actual – Forecast), but to create business impact, FP&A needs to "break" the discrepancies according to operational logic, for example, a variance bridge based on Price – Volume – Mix. When a CFO sees a discrepancy, what they need is not a simple "it's due to the market," but an owner-driven and actionable answer: Is the variation due to price or volume, mix or performance, which department owns it, and what action needs to be taken?
A practical process that many FP&A teams follow:
- Determine materiality variance based on materiality and its impact on objectives.
- Break down the cause according to the driver (e.g., Price – Volume – Mix or productivity).
- The owner is held responsible for each difference.
- Propose actions and deadlines, along with assumptions about the financial impact.
- Monitor the results in the next period to ensure that the variance does not repeat.
A true FP&A (Financial Action and Assessment) should conclude with an Owner-Action-Deadline structure, and track the effectiveness of the action in subsequent periods. When Bizzi Expense can warn of budget overruns as soon as they occur, FP&A has the opportunity to intervene early, making variance a key operational signal rather than a final report.
One of the biggest barriers to FP&A is data.
Why does FP&A take 70% for data processing, and how can it be reduced to 30%?
In many businesses, FP&A is relegated to a “digital aggregator” due to fragmented data systems. Time is wasted on ETL, data cleaning, reconciliation, and handling discrepancies from invoices, purchase orders, and accounts receivable. The problem with dirty data isn't just time-consuming; it reduces the reliability of insights. When the FP&A team is unsure of the numbers, they are hesitant to recommend strong action, and the CFO is dragged back to making decisions based on experience rather than data.
Common sources of interference:
- The invoices are not standardized, the descriptions are vague, and it's difficult to map out the expense categories.
- Discrepancies between Purchase Order (PO), Invoice, and Grand Prize (GR) lead to disputes and delayed recognition.
- Accounts payable lack visibility based on age and reconciliation status.
In this context, reducing 70% to 30% is not just about "automating reporting," but about cleaning data at the source and designing controls to reduce errors. The 3-way matching mechanism (PO – Invoice – GR) is an example of how to reduce reconciliation downstream by controlling upstream. At the same time, clean accounts receivable data is a prerequisite for meaningful cash flow forecasting.
Bizzi can directly support this logic: 3-way matching helps reduce discrepancies and document disputes; Bizzi ARM provides consistent accounts receivable data, enabling FP&A to make more reliable cash-in/cash-out forecasts. When clean data becomes the default, FP&A has the "ground" to provide effective decision support.
Clean data paves the way for better control over cash flow.
The role of FP&A in cash flow forecasting and working capital management.
A mature FP&A organization goes beyond just P&L. The CFO needs an FP&A team that views cash flow through AR, AP, and inventory to ensure liquidity and optimize working capital.
Three key indicators of working capital:
- DSO (Days Sales Outstanding): rate of cash collection
- DPO (Days Payable Outstanding): speed of payment
- DIO (Days Inventory Outstanding): inventory turnover rate
Here, indicators like DSO, DPO, and DIO are not just reporting KPIs, but variables that control cash flow: an increase in DSO slows down cash-in, an increase in DIO draws money into inventory, and a decrease in DPO creates pressure for cash-out.
The key to cash flow forecasting is the quality of accounts receivable data and consistent updating. If AR aging is not clean or invoices/disputes are not transparent, cash-in forecasts will be inaccurate. This is where Bizzi ARM clearly excels: tracking debt aging, debt reminders, and providing better visibility into FP&A, helping cash flow forecasting models stay closer to reality, allowing CFOs to proactively manage liquidity instead of reacting.
Once the FP&A system is mature enough, the next question is about people and tools.
What skills and tools are needed to work effectively in FP&A?
Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) is a profession that combines financial expertise with the ability to translate data into decision-making. In terms of skills, FP&A requires modeling and structured thinking (to transform drivers into forecasts), analytical and critical thinking skills (to avoid bias), and especially communication and influence skills (to translate insights into action across departments). In other words, FP&A doesn't just do numbers; FP&A tells stories from data in a way that drives business behavior change.
In terms of tools, the typical path goes from Excel to BI, and for more complex businesses, it will be an EPM/FP&A platform to integrate plan-forecast-actual. In that context, Bizzi can act as the operational data layer, while the EPM (e.g., SACTONA) is the integration and modeling layer. When these two layers combine, FP&A can reduce data collection time and increase decision advisory time.
In summary, the core skills are:
- Financial modeling, forecasting, scenario planning
- Variance analysis and driver-based thinking
- Data literacy (basic BI and SQL skills are an advantage)
- Communication and data-driven storytelling to persuade departments to take action.
Commonly used tools:
- Excel (platform)
- BI (Power BI/Tableau/Looker)
- EPM/FP&A platform (for large businesses with multiple units and multiple data versions)
Career paths and salary ranges for FP&A positions in Vietnam.
The FP&A career path typically progresses from Junior/Analyst to Senior, then Manager, Head/Director, and in some large organizations, it can even lead to the CFO track if business partnering skills are strong. The FP&A recruitment market in Vietnam has grown in recent years, as evidenced by the frequent appearance of FP&A/FP&A Manager job postings on job platforms.
Regarding salary, the specific figure depends on the industry, size, and responsibilities (FP&A tends to focus on controlling roles, commercial finance, or corporate). Popular sources like VietnamWorks provide salary ranges based on job posting data (USD/month).
Additionally, several labor market reports/surveys (Talentnet-Mercer, Robert Walters) also note trends in job competition and salary fluctuations in Vietnam, although they are often presented by job position/industry group rather than just FP&A alone.
Important note: Any figures like "2025 salary range: 20-150+ million VND" should be included in the article with context (level, city, industry) and stated as a market reference, avoiding claims as a universal standard. (If you wish, I can help you write this section using a "benchmark + disclaimer" approach for SEO safety and credibility.)
Frequently Asked Questions about FP&A
When does a business really need FP&A?
When a business enters a growth phase with many trade-offs (market expansion, increased headcount, system investment), or when market volatility renders static budgets insufficient, FP&A helps CFOs make decisions based on forecasts and scenarios instead of just looking at past reports.
Can FP&A replace accounting?
No. Accounting focuses on actuals and compliance. FP&A uses accounting data as a foundation for forecasting, analysis, and action recommendations.
How does FP&A differ from BI?
BI excels in data visualization and mining. FP&A excels in financial modeling, driver-based planning, forecasting, and translating insights into budget/investment/control decisions.
How often is the Rolling Forecast updated?
The usual practice is monthly or quarterly, depending on the level of volatility and the speed of data updates within the business. The key is to maintain a rolling horizon (e.g., 12 months) and have a consistent updating routine.
Which non-financial KPIs best forecast revenue?
Depending on the industry, KPIs are typically based on factors such as pipeline/lead, conversion rate, churn/retention, utilization, and the number of active sales points. FP&A firms select KPIs based on drivers that have a cause-and-effect relationship with revenue.
How does FP&A coordinate with Procurement to control COGS?
FP&A designs budgets based on drivers (price-volume-mix), monitors variance, and coordinates procurement to separate variations due to purchase price, production volume, and suppliers, thereby making decisions on negotiating or changing purchasing policies.
Should FP&A be done using Excel or EPM?
Excel is suitable for initial stages or simple models. As businesses grow, with more data versions and multiple sub-units, EPM helps consolidate plan-forecast-actual, assign permissions, and reduce the risk of "many files, many facts."
In which area did Bizzi provide the most support to the FP&A?
In the operational data input stage: standardize invoices, expenses, and accounts payable; reduce reconciliation; provide quick actual updates for timely FP&A forecasting and analysis.
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