How can CFOs build an FP&A team that supports growth?

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.

What should an FP&A function deliver for a Scaleup?

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:

• Develop and refine financial models that evolve with the company.
• Provide scenario analyses to guide strategic business decisions.
• Create financial processes that scale with increasing complexity.
• Communicate financial insights effectively to stakeholders, ensuring alignment between finance and business functions.
• Understand and be able to utilise technology beyond the traditional accounting tools.

How does the FP&A function evolve?

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:

• Improve forecasting accuracy and automate reporting
• Drive deeper performance analysis to optimise profitability
• Assess financial risks and opportunities tied to expansion efforts
• Support corporate transactions such as fundraising and M&A
• Creating analytics dashboards and implementing FP&A automation / BI tools
• Have a dedicated BI/Data analytics function within the wider FP&A team to optimise data
• Collaborate and business partner cross-functionally including GTM teams;  RevOps;  SalesOps; and product/engineering function to support strategic decision-making

The role/team's progression should align with business complexity, ensuring financial planning keeps pace with operational demands

How to structure an FP&A team for growth

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:

• Generalists vs. Specialists: Early hires may handle diverse responsibilities, but as complexity increases, specialised roles (e.g., revenue forecasting, cost analysis, regional finance) provide more targeted insights
• Alignment with business functions: Structuring the team to align with key business areas (e.g GTM, SalesOps, RevOps, HR etc) ensures financial insights are embedded in decision-making
• Geographic considerations: For global or multi-location businesses, regional FP&A analysts can provide localised financial insights while maintaining corporate alignment
• BI/Data analytics specialists: A dedicated team of specialists allows the FP&A function to realize the potential of the data available and how its presented, further elevating what the team can deliver for the business

Forward-looking businesses should plan for team expansion 1-3 years ahead to ensure FP&A capabilities scale with business growth.

Recruiting FP&A Talent

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.

What level of candidate do I need to hire?

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.

Core Skills & Experience

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:

• Skills & experience: While most candidates considered for FP&A roles still have a traditional accounting background, some businesses are now looking further afield to those from banking or management consulting.
• Industry background: Prior experience in scaling businesses will obviously bring valuable expertise in navigating financial challenges tied to expansion. Relevant sector experience can also be incredibly useful although as with technical expertise some businesses will find that a banking, management consulting or adjacent industry experience more relevant.
• Technology/Systems: While strong/advanced excel skills still come top of the list, there’s also a strong demand for additional experience such as knowledge of SQL and BI/analytical tools.

How to retain your FP&A talent.

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.

Ways to ensure retention include:

• Ensure stakeholder buy-in: FP&A leaders must have a voice in strategic discussions, as their insights are critical for business decisions.
• Provide leadership opportunities: Many FP&A professionals expect to build and lead a team; failing to provide leadership pathways can lead to attrition.
• Maintain competitive compensation & Culture Fit: Salary misalignment and cultural mismatches can drive talent away. Ensure that compensation reflects market rates and that the company culture fosters collaboration and innovation.
• Invest in professional development: Scaling companies should provide training, mentorship, and exposure to executive decision-making to keep FP&A professionals engaged.

Conclusion

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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