The Complete FP&A Course: Financial Planning & Analysis
Build practical FP&A skills to plan, forecast, analyse performance and support better business decisions
Created by Chukwuemeka Ajoku
What you'll learn
- Explain the role of FP&A and evaluate how FP&A teams support business performance and strategic decision-making.
- Interpret financial statements from an FP&A perspective and explain the business story behind the numbers.
- Explain budgeting, rolling forecasts and the end-to-end corporate forecasting process used in organisations.
- Build driver-based forecasts and evaluate business risks and opportunities through scenario planning.
- Perform structured variance analysis, identify root causes, assess business drivers and recommend management actions.
- Apply practical frameworks for business partnering, stakeholder management and influencing decisions without formal authority.
- Create management reports and communicate financial insights clearly to senior leadership.
- Evaluate FP&A career paths, assess the capabilities needed for promotion and plan development towards senior finance roles.
- Answer FP&A interview questions confidently using structured frameworks, practical examples and role-relevant preparation.
This course includes
- 4h 51m of learning
- 30 lessons
- 7 quizzes
- Access on mobile and desktop
- Full lifetime access
- Certificate of completion
Course content
7 sections • 31 lectures • 4h 51m total length
- What FP&A Does in Modern Organisations 10m
- How FP&A Creates Value for Senior Leadership 10m
- Reading the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement for FP&A 11m
- Telling the Business Story Behind the Numbers 9m
- Quiz: Lesson 1: FP&A Foundations and the Finance Story 6 questions
- The Purpose and Limits of the Annual Budget 9m
- How Rolling Forecasts Work 9m
- The End-to-End Corporate Forecasting Process 10m
- Coordinating Planning Across Departments 9m
- Quiz: Lesson 2: Budgeting and the Corporate Forecasting Process 6 questions
- Identifying the Right Business Drivers 11m
- Building Driver-Based Revenue and Cost Forecasts 10m
- Scenario Planning for Risk and Opportunity 10m
- Using Forecasts to Support Decisions Under Uncertainty 10m
- Quiz: Lesson 3: Driver-Based Forecasting and Scenario Planning 6 questions
- The Structure of Effective Variance Analysis 9m
- Finding Root Causes with Driver-Based Analysis 10m
- From Analysis to Management Action 10m
- Common Pitfalls in Performance Analysis 9m
- Quiz: Lesson 4: Variance Analysis and Performance Diagnosis 6 questions
- What Effective Business Partnering Looks Like 10m
- Stakeholder Mapping and Influencing Without Formal Authority 9m
- Designing Management Reports for Decision-Making 11m
- Presenting Financial Insights to Senior Leadership 10m
- Quiz: Lesson 5: Business Partnering, Stakeholder Management and Executive Reporting 6 questions
- Common FP&A Career Paths and Role Progression 9m
- Capabilities, Promotion Strategies and Professional Development 10m
- Preparing for FP&A Interviews 11m
- Answering Typical FP&A Interview Questions with Confidence 11m
- Quiz: Lesson 6: FP&A Careers, Progression and Interview Preparation 6 questions
- Final assessment: The Complete FP&A Course: Financial Planning & Analysis 12 questions
Requirements
- No prior FP&A experience is required
- Comfort with basic arithmetic and working with spreadsheet tables is helpful
- A basic awareness of income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements is useful but not essential
Description
Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) is one of the most strategic areas in modern finance. FP&A professionals do more than produce reports: they help organisations plan ahead, explain results, challenge assumptions and support leadership decisions. This course gives you a practical foundation in how FP&A teams actually work inside real businesses.
Designed for beginners and aspiring FP&A professionals, the course starts with the role of FP&A and the financial statements, then builds towards budgeting, rolling forecasts, driver-based forecasting, variance analysis, scenario planning and executive reporting. The emphasis is not only on finance techniques, but on the mindset, frameworks and structured thinking that strong FP&A professionals use.
You will also learn how FP&A works across departments, how to partner with stakeholders, and how to prepare for FP&A interviews and career progression. Throughout, practical business examples connect finance concepts to real-world decision-making without assuming prior FP&A experience.
Instructor
Chukwuemeka Ajoku
- 14 courses
A Skilled Programmer