Organisations face significant challenges today – from geopolitical conflicts, increased energy costs, and inflationary pressures to supply chain disruptions and resource constraints. These concerns present numerous challenges in how organisations plan forward and set strategies, integrating these with risk management activities to identify early warning signs as well as measure performance more holistically beyond just financials.
While 52% of Asia-Pacific respondents report that there is an equal focus between financial and non-financial objectives in planning and forecasting, the overall perception remains that these processes are overly financial focussed and backward looking. In addition, most finance teams adjust their annual plans and budgets quite often. This further augments the need to break away from traditional annual and financially focussed cycles into a more dynamic planning model.
This research has been jointly undertaken by ACCA and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand in association with PwC. Over 1,000 finance professionals in Asia-Pacific region responded to the survey and the findings were discussed at two roundtables comprising 14 senior leaders in finance and accountancy.
Areas include:
Drivers of change - the focus on planning forward and setting strategies in an organisation.
Incorporating ESG - integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) into planning and performance processes of an organisation to have strategic benefit.
Broader view of performance - newer forms of performance measures to support agile and dynamic responses to the rise of uncertainties in today’s business environments.
Role of finance in planning and performance management - the key areas of focus for Financial Planning and Analysis activities.
Planning and performance - a new paradigm
In today’s age of rising stakeholder capitalism, in order to serve the needs of organisations, a paradigm shift in planning and performance is required. To perform an effective planning and performance management system, the attributes are:
This wider view of performance showcases an organisation that utilises an integrated approach performance. The finance business partner role plays a main factor in this delivery. These individuals, although their skill sets are not just technical, also represent the view of finance in many circumstances. Having soft skills such as critical thinking, influencing and storytelling as well as having an in-depth understanding of the changing business model. They need to visualise data in creative ways whilst delivering those insights.
The way forward
The report identifies seven actions for finance leaders to maximise planning and performance management. They are:
Take a more holistic view of planning and performance
Develop an inclusive culture of planning and performance
Identify new data sets and insights
Develop a deep understanding of the organisation
Re-examine processes
Become agile in approach
Consider your technology stack
"The new planning paradigm is the evolution to agile and flexible systems using scenario based analysis to deal with increasing uncertainty. Finance teams need to get this right to remain relevant."
Ivan Phuah, Finance Transformation Leader, PwC South East Asia ConsultingRead the Asia-Pacific report
Find out how finance functions can capitalise on the current opportunities
Read the Global findings
Contact us
Finance Transformation Leader, Southeast Asia GBS Leader, PwC South East Asia Consulting, PwC Singapore
Tel: +65 9675 4169
William Choong
Managing Director, EPM Leader, PwC South East Asia Consulting, PwC Singapore
Tel: +65 9863 0437
