My Current role as FP&A Manager sits on the senior leadership team for the Sheffield site (the only finance representative), I have one FP&A Accountant who looks after a small site who reports into me, there is then one Business unit FD (warren) essentially who I and the other FP&A site folk report into

What are the key objectives?

Key objectives are:

Monthly forecast
Annual Budget
Analyse Monthly results
Identify and evaluate cost saving opportunities
Review and feedback on future plans for the business

How has the role evolved over your time there?

My role initially reported into the FD and he sat on the Senior leadership team, but as he moved to BU level then I filled his spot on the Senior leadership team and became the key point of contact from a finance perspective on this team.

There is a Financial reporting manager but he deals with all the transactional side of finance and manages a small team who do AP/AR cash etc.

What attracted you to become an FP&A specialist?

What was the plan?

What attracted me to FP&A was the variety of work and what you can get involved in, literally anything we are looking to do as a business has a finance aspect to it so to be involved in this make the role really interesting for me.

Also the big thing for me was it allowed me the opportunity to drive real change in a business rather than just talk about the historic performance of the business.

What are future plans?

Future role would be BU FD if I went and carried on down the finance side of the business, or a potential move into a operations role is of interest to me as I find myself really enjoying the functional running of the site.

How does the role and the type of person in FP&A differ from more established Management and Financial reporting roles?

I feel the biggest difference the FP&A role brings compared to a traditional management and financial reporting role is the drive for change and the constant look forwards rather than back.

For me the type of person needs to be someone who communicates well with all levels as ultimately the more information/data you can gather from others who specialise in their own areas the better prepared you are to:

Assist in planning the business.
Analyse and explain the financial performance of the business as you understand the key drivers of the business and ultimately assist with making the best decisions to grow and make the business a success.

You can’t be someone who just sits behind a desk which is traditionally what a finance role would have you do, you need to get out on the shopfloor and listen and engage with every area/department within the business to allow the production of the most accurate forecast and analysis.

What are the future opportunities and evolutions to come in FP&A?

I think there is endless possibilities for the FP&A role to develop and it all depends on the appetite of the individual doing the role and their own curiosity. For me within Orchid FP&A firmly sits as the right-hand position to the Plant manager which I feel means the role can become anything you want it to be.

What would be your advice to anyone considering a career in FP&A?

The advice I would give anyone considering FP&A is if are you curious and empowered to make change within a business then FP&A is for you.

I use a term that is do you want to report on the news or create the news, and I feel in FP&A you get to do both which is a unique position and makes working within finance a lot more exciting than just transactional based finance positions.

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