Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management

Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management

by Jack Alexander
Released June 2018
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119491484

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Book description

Critical insights for savvy financial analysts

Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management is the essential desk reference for CFOs, FP&A professionals, investment banking professionals, and equity research analysts. With thought-provoking discussion and refreshing perspective, this book provides insightful reference for critical areas that directly impact an organization’s effectiveness. From budgeting and forecasting, analysis, and performance management, to financial communication, metrics, and benchmarking, these insights delve into the cornerstones of business and value drivers. Dashboards, graphs, and other visual aids illustrate complex concepts and provide reference at a glance, while the author’s experience as a CFO, educator, and general manager leads to comprehensive and practical analytical techniques for real world application.

Financial analysts are under constant pressure to perform at higher and higher levels within the realm of this consistently challenging function. Though areas ripe for improvement abound, true resources are scarce—until now. This book provides real-world guidance for analysts ready to:

  • Assess performance of FP&A function and develop improvement program
  • Improve planning and forecasting with new and provocative thinking
  • Step up your game with leading edge analytical tools and practical solutions
  • Plan, analyze and improve critical business and value drivers
  • Build analytical capability and effective presentation of financial information
  • Effectively evaluate capital investments in uncertain times

The most effective analysts are those who are constantly striving for improvement, always seeking new solutions, and forever in pursuit of enlightening resources with real, useful information. Packed with examples, practical solutions, models, and novel approaches, Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management is an invaluable addition to the analyst’s professional library. Access to a website with many of the tools introduced are included with the purchase of the book.

Table of contents

  1. COVER
  2. PREFACE
    1. WHY THIS BOOK?
    2. USING THIS BOOK
  3. ABOUT THE WEBSITE
    1. WHAT'S ON THE WEBSITE
    2. GLOSSARY
  4. 1 FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
    1. THE PROBLEM WITH TRADITIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
    2. OBJECTIVES OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
    3. PREVIEW OF THE BOOK
    4. SUMMARY
  5. Part One: Fundamentals and Key FP&A Capabilities
    1. 2 FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCE
      1. BASICS OF ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
      2. FINANCIAL RATIOS AND INDICATORS
      3. SUMMARY
      4. NOTE
    2. 3 KEY ANALYTICAL TOOLS AND CONCEPTS
      1. BASIC STATISTICAL TOOLS
      2. THE BUSINESS MODEL
      3. SUMMARY
    3. 4 DEVELOPING PREDICTIVE AND ANALYTICAL MODELS
      1. WHAT IS A FINANCIAL MODEL?
      2. SUMMARY
      3. APPENDIX: ILLUSTRATIVE MODEL
    4. 5 BUILDING ANALYTICAL CAPABILITY
      1. FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
      2. FOR THE ORGANIZATION
      3. SUMMARY
    5. 6 COMMUNICATING AND PRESENTING FINANCIAL INFORMATION
      1. LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS
      2. DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS
      3. DELIVERING THE PRESENTATION
      4. DATA VISUALIZATION AND PRESENTATION: A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
      5. SUMMARY
      6. NOTE
  6. Part Two: Performance Management
    1. 7 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
      1. WHAT IS BUSINESS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT?
      2. DEVELOPING OR ENHANCING BPM IN AN ORGANIZATION
      3. SUMMARY
      4. NOTES
    2. 8 DASHBOARDS AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
      1. OBJECTIVES OF DASHBOARDS AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
      2. SELECTING APPROPRIATE PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
      3. CREATING PERFORMANCE DASHBOARDS
      4. SAMPLE DASHBOARDS FOR SELECTED INDUSTRIES
      5. SUMMARY
    3. 9 INSTITUTIONALIZING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
      1. GAINING TRACTION
      2. INTEGRATING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT WITH OTHER MANAGEMENT PROCESSES
      3. AVOIDING COMMON MISTAKES
      4. SUMMARY
    4. 10 MEASURING AND DRIVING WHAT'S IMPORTANT
      1. INNOVATION
      2. MEASURING AND DRIVING BUSINESS AGILITY
      3. HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
      4. HCM DASHBOARD
      5. SUMMARY
    5. 11 THE EXTERNAL VIEW
      1. ANALYSIS OF MARKETS, CUSTOMERS, AND COMPETITORS
      2. BENCHMARKING TO EVALUATE PERFORMANCE
      3. USING BENCHMARKS TO SET ENTERPRISE GOALS FOR PERFORMANCE AND VALUE CREATION
      4. SUMMARY
  7. Part Three: Business Projections and Plans
    1. 12 BUSINESS PROJECTIONS AND PLANS
      1. OVERVIEW OF BUSINESS PLANNING AND PROJECTIONS
      2. BEST PRACTICES IN PROJECTING FUTURE FINANCIAL RESULTS
      3. SUMMARY
    2. 13 BUDGETS, OPERATING PLANS, AND FORECASTS
      1. THE BUDGETING PROCESS
      2. THE OPERATING PLAN
      3. BUSINESS FORECASTS AND OUTLOOKS
      4. SUMMARY
      5. NOTE
    3. 14 LONG‐TERM PROJECTIONS
      1. UNIQUE CHALLENGES IN ESTIMATING LONG‐TERM PERFORMANCE
      2. APPLICATIONS OF LONG‐TERM PROJECTIONS
      3. DEVELOPING LONG‐TERM PROJECTIONS
      4. PRESENTATION OF LONG‐TERM PROJECTIONS
      5. SUMMARY
  8. Part Four: Planning and Analysis for Critical Business and Value Drivers
    1. 15 REVENUE AND GROSS MARGINS
      1. REVENUE GROWTH: KEY DRIVERS
      2. KEY PERFORMANCE MEASURES: REVENUE GROWTH
      3. REVENUE DASHBOARD
      4. GROSS MARGINS AND RELATIVE PRICING STRENGTH
      5. MEASURES OF RELATIVE PRICING STRENGTH
      6. SUMMARY
    2. 16 OPERATING EXPENSES AND EFFECTIVENESS
      1. DRIVERS OF OPERATING EFFECTIVENESS
      2. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: OPERATING EFFECTIVENESS
      3. TOOLS FOR ASSESSING AND IMPROVING OPERATING EFFECTIVENSS
      4. SUMMARY
    3. 17 CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND CASH FLOW
      1. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
      2. OPERATING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
      3. UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF OPERATING CAPITAL
      4. UNLEASHING THE VALUE TRAPPED IN OPERATING CAPITAL
      5. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
      6. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR THE REVENUE PROCESS AND ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
      7. INVENTORIES
      8. SUMMARY
    4. 18 CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND CASH FLOW
      1. CAPITAL INTENSITY
      2. TOOLS FOR IMPROVING THE MANAGEMENT OF LONG‐TERM CAPITAL
      3. PROJECTING CAPITAL INVESTMENTS AND DEPRECIATION
      4. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR CAPITAL INTENSITY
      5. INTANGIBLE ASSETS
      6. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS
      7. EXCESS CASH BALANCES
      8. LONG‐TERM CAPITAL DASHBOARD
      9. SUMMARY
    5. 19 RISK, UNCERTAINTY, AND THE COST OF CAPITAL
      1. THE TIME VALUE OF MONEY
      2. THE COST OF CAPITAL
      3. PERFORMANCE MEASURES
      4. SUMMARY
  9. Part Five: Valuation and Capital Investment Decisions
    1. 20 CAPITAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS
      1. THE CAPITAL INVESTMENT PROCESS
      2. EVALUATING THE ECONOMIC MERITS OF CAPITAL INVESTMENTS
      3. ILLUSTRATIONS
      4. SUMMARY
    2. 21 CAPITAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS
      1. DEALING WITH RISK AND UNCERTAINTY IN CAPITAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS
      2. PRESENTING CAPITAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS
      3. CAPITAL BUDGETING AND RATIONING
      4. EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CAPITAL INVESTMENT DECISION PROCESS
      5. SUMMARY
    3. 22 BUSINESS VALUATION AND VALUE DRIVERS
      1. ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF A BUSINESS BY DISCOUNTING FUTURE CASH FLOWS
      2. ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF FIRMS BY USING THE VALUATION OF SIMILAR FIRMS: MULTIPLES OF REVENUES, EARNINGS, AND RELATED MEASURES
      3. BUILDING SHAREHOLDER VALUE IN A MULTIPLES FRAMEWORK
      4. INTEGRATED VALUATION SUMMARY FOR ROBERTS MANUFACTURING COMPANY
      5. VALUE DRIVERS
      6. SUMMARY
      7. NOTE
    4. 23 ANALYSIS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
      1. THE ACQUISITION CHALLENGE
      2. KEY ELEMENTS IN VALUING AN ACQUISITION
      3. METHODS AND METRICS FOR VALUING AN ACQUISITION
      4. COMMON MISTAKES IN M&A
      5. BEST PRACTICES AND CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
      6. UNDERSTANDING SELLER BEST PRACTICES
      7. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR M&A
      8. DASHBOARDS FOR M&A
      9. SUMMARY
  10. Part Six: Summary
    1. 24 SUMMARY AND WHERE TO FROM HERE?
      1. KEY TAKEAWAYS
      2. WHERE TO FROM HERE?
  11. GLOSSARY
  12. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  13. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    1. JACK ALEXANDER
  14. INDEX
  15. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Product information

  • Title: Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management
  • Author(s): Jack Alexander
  • Release date: June 2018
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119491484