In the survey of 255 FP&A practitioners, 55 percent said they primarily use spreadsheets to deliver analysis for the planning, budgeting and forecasting process. These companies, where spreadsheets are king, may be stuck in the past and falling far short of optimizing their FP&A functions AFP says.

The survey results reveal that where investment in technology accounts for less than 10 percent of total FP&A spending, companies expend an average of 384 FTE days per year, and a median of 60 FTE days, to collect and manipulate budget data. Where technology increases to 10 to 19 percent of FP&A spending, the mean number of FTE days devoted to such activities falls by more than half, to 154, while the median also drops by half, to 30 days, the survey shows.

In fact, the more money invested in technology, the less time wasted on "grunt work," AFP says. Companies for which technology is 20 to 49 percent of the FP&A budget expend an average of 62 days, and a median of 14 days, to collect and manipulate data.

Read Full Article