With the start of 2023, it’s important to look back on some of the highlights that occurred in the previous year. Once again 2022 was not a boring year, both for world events and finance in particular, and the growing number of readers and widely diverse range of topics attests to that. Here at the Finance Weekly, we compiled a list of the five most read articles of 2022:
1) Cloud FP&A Software Solution Comparison – The Complete Guide
It’s no surprise that this was the most read article in 2022, as more and more people are researching how to make the transition from traditional FP&A with manual Excel inputs, to a modern, automated, and centralized FP&A process. While this trend has been going on for quite some time, the pandemic, unstable supply chain, and rapidly changing inflation and economic conditions of 2022 have pushed people to take more control of their data.
But FP&A software is a good upgrade no matter the economic conditions. During inflation and unstable market conditions, it will help companies gain better insights and forecasting, including calculating a variety of what-if scenarios. And during periods of economic growth and stability it will save organizations a lot of time by automating their manual processes, which will leave them the ability to identify what areas to focus on in addition to improved budgeting and forecasting.
Read the FP&A Software Solution Comparison here
2) The Importance of Trustworthy, Independent SOC Reports in FP&A
In addition to being a year of instability and economic challenges, 2022 was also a year of increased focus on compliance and data security. In terms of financial reporting, this made big news in the FP&A world when back in July, a customer claimed that FP&A software Vena Solutions misled them into thinking that their SOC reports (specifically SOC 1 Type 2 report) was independently verified according to the rules, when in reality it wasn’t.
While all SOC reports need to be verified independently, this posed a bigger problem for the specific customer (Verra Mobility) because they are a publicly traded company with even more scrutiny laws and standards than private companies. The article discusses why compliance and independently verified reports, and SOC reports in particular, are important for a healthy business.
Click here to read
3) Five Forbes 30 Under 30 Winners Changing the World of Finance
The Forbes 30 Under 30 List was particularly impressive in 2022. As the world of finance and fintech is growing tremendously, it’s no surprise that young entrepreneurs are making a splash as well. This article highlights the young talent that founded finance related companies such as Cardless and Weav, and even a fintech startup that is aiming to improve the processing of financial transactions in the huge, mostly unexplored financial market of Africa.
Read the article here
4) Spring Cleaning Edition: 5 Tips for FP&A Teams to Keep Data Clean and Organized
While spring might feel like a world away, the spring cleaning edition article was one of the most read of 2022. Keeping data clean and organized is relevant all year round, even in the cold and dark days of January. The article highlights some “cleaning” tips for your data that helps your organization do more with what data they have. Just like a clean and organized work space helps put you in a work mode as you know what tools you have and where , the same is true with data.
Some tips from the article include how to consolidate data, how to prioritize KPIs, why it’s important to use integrations, and the best way to conduct financial automation.
Read the full article
5) eBook: FP&A Storytelling With Data
Storytelling has also been a big focus in recent years. Even though the amount of automation and FP&A tools has increased tremendously, storytelling is something that technology can’t necessarily solve and therefore hasn’t grown as much. But organizations are still looking for ways to improve.
Storytelling involves a combination of condensed, analytical dashboards with an action plan, soft skills such as good communication with non-finance experts, and most importantly building relationships before and after storytelling. This eBook covers how to greatly improve your organization’s FP&A storytelling with tips and advice from 3 FP&A experts from a 2022 webinar.
Download the full eBook: FP&A Storytelling With Data