WHAT DOES A FINANCIAL PLANNING AND ANALYSIS MANAGER DO?
Published: Apr 17, 2025 - The Financial Planning and Analysis Manager oversees budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes. This role analyzes performance data, builds financial models, and supports strategic presentations. The manager identifies trends and recommends actions to improve profitability.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Financial Planning and Analysis Manager
1. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Duties
- Data Accuracy: Ensure accuracy and completeness of actuals and budget/forecast data
- SOX Compliance: Processes surrounding TM1 are completed within SOX requirements
- Performance Reporting: Develop dashboards and other reporting that provide insight on performance at a BU/platform level
- Technology Utilization: Improve use of technology to limit manual calculation of reports
- Report Development: Work with the Group and Divisional Finance teams to develop an impactful and insightful set of reports of monthly performance
- Board Support: Support the FD to focus the board on key performance issues
- Template Delivery: Driving the delivery of completely accurate, consistent and reliable budget and forecast templates
- Capital Messaging: Clear and consistent messaging on capital requirement and Express machine numbers for Costa and within bottling system
- Financial Analysis: Provide financial analysis to drive key business decisions
- Business Insight: Drive the context beyond numbers by combining the finance expertise with business insights and implications
- Business Understanding: Understand within the business unit and, by doing so, enabling better financial results
- Process Improvement: Review the steering processes and tools, and proactively suggest measures for improvement
- Cross-Functional Communication: Interact with other corporate functions like Investor Relations and Corporate Performance Management to ensure we deliver a consistent story
2. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Details
- Strategic Partnership: Provide a strategic business partnership to all functions
- Program Understanding: Develop understanding of program strategies and prioritization to support the preparation of budgets and long-range planning assumptions
- Executive Liaison: Serve as a business partner and liaison to the Executive team to help drive effective business decisions and sound financial strategies
- Variance Analysis: Provide regular actual-to-budget/forecast reporting and variance analyses
- Collaboration Building: Build strong collaborative relationships and support budget accountability and financial discipline with business partners
- Budget Coordination: Develop, plan, and coordinate budgets and forecasts and assist in the development of quarterly board materials
- Forecast Comparison: Conduct monthly budget/forecast to actual variance analyses and communicate results to business partners
- Revenue Review: Revenue and price reviewing
- Revenue Modeling: Build and maintain detailed financial models to support revenue recognition for collaboration agreements
- Ad Hoc Analysis: Support a broader organization through ad hoc projects and analysis
- Driver Identification: Work efficiently with cross-functional teams to identify financial drivers
- Scenario Analysis: Apply appropriate sensitivity and scenario analysis to support strategic decisions in models
- Stakeholder Presentation: Package and present insights to key stakeholders
3. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Responsibilities
- Team Management: Be responsible for managing a financial analyst and leading period closes for the FP&A team
- Variance Analysis: Perform regular cost review meetings with business partners are completed with accurate variance analysis in a timely manner with the relevant narrative on key variances
- System Development: Assist in the development of new systems, models, and processes to support the budgeting, reporting and forecasting activities of the businesses
- Planning Support: Support the Director of FP&A in the annual financial and strategic planning process
- Forecast Coordination: Coordinating efforts across multiple functions, regions and levels, as well as complete periodic forecasting
- Business Insight: Develop insightful analysis on ongoing business trends and design dashboards that will be shared with senior management and the board of directors
- Management Reporting: Be responsible for the preparation of the monthly and quarterly management reporting to internal and external stakeholders
- Report Optimization: Take initiatives in improving the quality and efficiency of internal reports, including enhancing financial models and streamlining analysis and processes
- Financial Education: Assist in educating department leads and staff on financial processes, procedures and deliverables
- Subsidiary Reporting: Create financial reports monthly/quarterly/yearly for all Company National and International subsidiaries
- Currency Accuracy: Make sure foreign currency translations are reported accurately
- Process Review: Drive process improvements and review financial package reports
4. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Job Summary
- Business Analysis: Conduct business planning, financial and business analysis for management, business review and decision making
- Management Reporting: Prepare weekly, monthly, and quarterly management reporting packages
- Budget Monitoring: Monitor the budget and forecast for strategic and operational decisions
- KPI Setting: Set KPIs and conduct financial analysis
- Cost Analysis: Formulate cost-saving initiatives, focusing on product cost and pricing analysis
- Efficiency Enhancement: Formulate any initiatives on cost savings and efficiency enhancement
- Financial Modeling: Develop short-term and long-term financial modeling and business scenarios to support business growth
- Process Improvement: Act as a business partner to the team to implement improved processes to increase the company's efficiency and profitability
- Risk Management: Work with business leaders to understand opportunities, structure objectives, identify and minimize risks
- Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely and be a strong business partner with different teams in local, market and global
- Continuous Improvement: Use CI to implement process improvements
- Audit Support: Support internal and external auditors for the company
5. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Accountabilities
- Business Planning: Focus on the Group Business Plan (BP) and financial modeling activities
- FP&A Processes: Assist with core FP&A processes around reporting, forecasting and budgeting processes
- Data Validation: Work closely with the country teams and Group teams to source information, and validate assumptions
- Output Alignment: Ensure alignment and improve the quality and timeliness of BP outputs
- Performance Analysis: Analyze financial performance against the budget forecast, highlighting trends, investigating variances and recommending corrective actions
- Board Presentation: Assist with the preparation of quarterly board presentations
- Dashboard Development: Build appropriate automated models, KPI and dashboards to analyze trends | monitor performance
- BI Implementation: Implement and develop BI tools and relevant financial models to improve analysis and decision-making
- Process Simplification: Perform continuous improvement to simplify, standardize and streamline processes related to FP&A
- Ad-Hoc Support: Support as required by the FP&A team with ad-hoc projects
- Operational Analysis: Utilize quantitative and qualitative analysis of various aspects on financial and operational topics to measure and drive overall company performance
- Forecast Modeling: Develop and maintain advanced financial models to forecast financial performance for the company, both on the short term and long term
- Analytical Enhancement: Drive and enhance the finance function’s analytical capabilities by managing the Power BI analytical service, transforming raw financial and business data into actionable insights
6. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Functions
- Governance Management: Be primarily responsible for the Governance Cycle, planning and reporting
- Financial Planning: Work closely with the leadership team to formulate the business’s short to medium-term financial planning
- Budget Forecasting: Work closely with the business units to build annual budgets, analyze progress, and build and maintain financial forecasts
- Variance Analysis: Make an in-depth analysis and reporting of variances between last year and the current situation, and forecast with the budget
- Performance Evaluation: Make an in-depth analysis of and recommendations on financial and operational results to better understand the company's performance, such as product/department performance and results, cost center results, cost-saving initiatives, etc cetera
- Internal Reporting: Prepare presentations for monthly meetings and internal reporting
- Leadership Communication: Communicating results and recommendations to the leadership team for improvements that lead to cost reduction, revenue generation and streamlining operations
- Planning Oversight: Manage the entire planning and budgeting process in close cooperation with business partners, the line organization and key stakeholders in EMT
- Software Management: Manage the company’s financial forecasting software, Kepion to effectively consolidate detailed department budgets into Group budgets
- BU Reporting: Prepare actual with forecast variance analysis reports per BU in close cooperation with business partners for each reporting period
- Ledger Analysis: Analyze, examine, and evaluate the financial activities within the general ledger and cost centers during the month close, together with business partners
7. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Job Description
- Financial Analysis: Provide monthly financial analysis and insight into the commercial performance of allocated regions and sectors
- KPI Reporting: Compile monthly operations reporting pack and KPIs for senior management and group review
- Budget Coordination: Coordinate and review the budgeting, strategic plans and forecasting process
- Timeline Management: Present timetables to the CEO/FD, prepare business assumptions, key templates and management of delivery to deadlines
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work collaboratively with the regional, sector and finance teams
- Forecast Variance: Ensure monthly variances to plans are understood and any future risk and opportunity to the full year forecast is quantified
- Cashflow Forecasting: Provision of cash flow and working capital forecasting and reporting and analysis
- Overhead Management: Management Accounting for allocated overhead costs with forecasting and variance analysis
- Ad-Hoc Projects: Ad-hoc commercial project work and ad-hoc analysis supporting the Financial Controller/Finance Director
- Financial Records: Ensure the robustness of underlying financial records, as maintained in the SAP financial ledgers
- Statutory Compliance: Ensure compliance and reporting of all statutory accounting and reporting in line with FRS 102
8. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Overview
- Business Understanding: Develop a thorough understanding of the business operational functions and key revenue and cost drivers
- Relationship Building: Develop collaborative relationships with leaders in operating divisions, as well as in finance
- Expense Analysis: Review forecasts and expense trends, identify issues and develop creative solutions for expense savings opportunities
- Decision Influence: Influence decisions and drive change in operating processes with a focus on driving positive financial results
- Planning Leadership: Lead the monthly forecast, annual budget and long-range planning process in collaboration with business leaders
- Process Improvement: Drive process and content improvements to existing processes
- Risk Communication: Coordinate with the FP&A team to ensure that all risks and opportunities are communicated to key team members and senior leadership
- Performance Metrics: Develop, prepare and present divisional financial and operating performance metrics to senior leadership
- Team Mentorship: Mentor team individuals to provide the same level of value-added management reporting, decision support and financial analysis
- Forecast Accuracy: Implement and lead efficient and effective planning and forecasting (short-term and long-term) processes that produce accurate plans and forecasts that align with strategic business objectives
- Results Analysis: Prepare, analyze, and interpret monthly financial results and forecasts at the company, business unit, and project levels
9. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Details and Accountabilities
- Financial Reporting: Manage and prepare a monthly financial reporting pack for Management and the Board
- Trend Analysis: Provide a detailed analysis of current and past trends in financial and operational key performance indicators
- Variance Monitoring: Monitor performance indicators, highlighting trends and analyzing causes of variance
- Strategic Planning: Work closely with the leadership team to formulate the business's medium to long-term financial and strategic plan
- Budget Management: Manage the annual budgeting and quarterly forecasting process, coordinating inputs from all relevant stakeholders and budget owners
- Forecast Modeling: Build the budget and forecast models to project long-term growth and determine the impacting business factors
- Ad-Hoc Analysis: Prepare ad-hoc analysis of complex financial and non-financial information to provide accurate financial recommendations to management for decision-making purposes
- Efficiency Analysis: Data analysis to drive efficiencies and ROI in various workstreams (pricing, operations, marketing)
- Dashboard Reporting: Work with a BI tool and build dashboard reports to provide meaningful insights on the business
- Business Partnership: Develop deep relationships with and understanding of the business units to facilitate success with role responsibilities
- Finance Collaboration: Develop deep relationships with and understanding of other finance functions to ensure the business receives seamless finance and accounting support
10. Financial Planning and Analysis Manager Tasks
- Budget Execution: Lead the execution of the annual budgeting process, quarterly forecast and development of a five-year forecast
- Results Review: Lead the monthly review of financial results
- Market Expansion: Assist with the implementation of new expansion markets (modeling, reporting, system configuration, business processes, etc.)
- Financial Analysis: Analyze detailed corporate and financial information
- Corporate Finance: Participate in corporate financings (debt and equity) and M&A transactions
- Investor Reporting: Prepare presentations for the Board of Investors and the Investors
- Model Development: Build financial models based on the operational drivers of the business to evaluate historical performance and forecast projected financial results
- Performance Monitoring: Improve financial and operational status by analyzing results
- Variance Analysis: Monitoring variances, identifying trends, and recommending actions to management
- Senior Support: Develop supporting materials to share analyses and findings with senior management
- Forecast Comparison: Provide ongoing analysis of Hourigan’s performance versus budget and forecast
- Profitability Insight: Share ideas and analysis on how to improve profitability, as well as identify trends