As startups scale, the role of FP&A becomes fundamental to supporting their rapid growth. It supports the leadership team in their strategic decision making and ensures financial stability. Given the high competition for the skills and experience required in this area, establishing and maintaining an effective Financial Planning & Analysis team can be challenging for a scaleup CFO and requires some careful planning.
For scaling businesses, the first FP&A hire should go beyond basic budgeting and forecasting. Finance leaders are looking for an individual or team who can provide financial insights, ensure financial discipline, and build a scalable financial model. The ideal candidate should be able to balance hands-on execution with strategic planning, helping the company anticipate financial challenges and opportunities.
Ideally they will be able to:
As companies grow, FP&A responsibilities expand from basic reporting to strategic business partnering. The first FP&A hire may initially juggle financial planning, budgeting, and even accounting tasks. However, as revenue streams, product lines, and geographic operations expand, the FP&A function should evolve to:
The role/team's progression should align with business complexity, ensuring financial planning keeps pace with operational demands
As businesses scale, structuring the FP&A team becomes essential. A small company may start with a generalist FP&A professional, but as financial needs grow, specialisation becomes necessary. Companies should consider:
Forward-looking businesses should plan for team expansion 1-3 years ahead to ensure FP&A capabilities scale with business growth.
Candidates with FP&A experience are some of the most sort after in the market and competition for the best can be strong. As with all recruitment, the key to successful recruitment and retention is about careful planning, realistic goal setting and balancing budgetary constraints with business needs.
It’s worth spending time considering what the demands on the FP&A function will be, how quickly these may evolve and what skills will be required as that happens. In that way you can pitch the role/s at the right level and hopefully avoid under/over recruiting for positions which can lead to issues further down the line.
While it’s tempting to hire the most experienced FP&A talent your budget allows for, you may have problems retaining them if their career/salary expectation outpace the businesses growth. Having said that, if you have ongoing challenges to offer them, a highly skilled/experienced candidate can fast track the potential of the team and provide vital expertise.
A less experienced accountant will require training and support that an already stretched team in a high growth business will struggle to provide. However, providing you have the resources available, they can prove to be an excellent long-term investment and are possibly easier to retain.
As a rule, any candidate considered for an FP&A role should be able to demonstrate a combination of analytical skills and storytelling abilities to translate data into strategic advice. However other things to consider include:
Keeping FP&A talent engaged is critical but can also be challenging given how competitive the market is for those with the right skills and experience in this area.
Common reasons for turnover include lack of strategic involvement, stagnant career growth, and misaligned expectations.
Building and sustaining a high-performing FP&A team in a scaling business requires a thoughtful approach to hiring, structuring, recruiting, and retention. By aligning the FP&A function with business growth strategies, companies can ensure they have the financial insights needed to drive sustainable expansion and long-term success.
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