FP&A analyst CV

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) is the forward-looking side of finance. Where financial accounting records what happened, FP&A builds the budget, forecasts what will happen and explains the gap. An FP&A analyst CV should show you can build and run planning models, and that your forecasts are trusted.

What employers look for

• Planning cycle experience. Annual budgets, quarterly reforecasts, long-range or three-year plans.
• Modelling skill. Driver-based models, scenario analysis and sensitivity testing.
• Forecast accuracy. If you can show how close your forecasts landed, do.
• Clear commentary. Variance explanations that say why, not just how much.
• Systems. Larger businesses often use planning tools such as Anaplan, Adaptive Insights (Workday Adaptive Planning), Hyperion, Pigment or Board, plus BI tools such as Power BI.

Part-qualified or newly qualified CIMA, ACCA or ACA candidates are common for analyst roles. Some businesses will take a strong numerate graduate.

Keywords from FP&A adverts

• Financial planning and analysis, FP&A
• Budget, reforecast, rolling forecast, long-range plan, annual operating plan
• Driver-based modelling, scenario planning, sensitivity analysis
• Variance analysis, actual vs budget, commentary, insight
• P&L, balance sheet and cash flow forecasting
• Board pack, monthly reporting, KPIs
• Anaplan, Adaptive Insights, Hyperion, Power BI, advanced Excel
• Business partnering, stakeholder management

A typical advert, decoded

A paraphrased example of what FP&A analyst adverts usually say, and what each line is really asking for.

The advert says	What it really means
"Support the annual budget and quarterly reforecasts"	You'll gather inputs from budget holders and build the consolidated numbers.
"Driver-based modelling"	They want forecasts built from volumes, prices and headcount, not last year plus a percentage.
"Prepare board pack commentary"	Your words will reach the CFO and board. Show you can explain variances clearly.
"Experience of Anaplan, Adaptive or similar"	They use a planning tool, or are about to. Name any you've used.
"Improve forecast accuracy"	Forecasts have been missing. Quote your accuracy if you can.

Example CV profile

Part-qualified CIMA FP&A analyst in a SaaS business with £35m of annual recurring revenue. I run the monthly reforecast, own the driver-based revenue and headcount models, and write the commentary for the board pack. Over the last four quarters our revenue forecast has landed within 2% of actuals.

Forecast accuracy is one of the few hard proof points in FP&A. If you have it, lead with it.

Example achievements

Replace these with your own numbers.

• Built a driver-based revenue model linking pipeline, conversion and churn, improving quarterly forecast accuracy from ±8% to ±2%.
• Moved the annual budget from 30 linked spreadsheets into Anaplan, cutting the cycle by three weeks.
• Created a headcount planning model used by eight department heads to manage hiring against budget.
• Wrote the monthly board pack commentary, explaining variances in terms of business drivers rather than account codes.
• Modelled downside and upside scenarios for the three-year plan, used by the CFO in a funding round.
• Reduced the monthly reforecast from five days to two by automating actuals loads with Power Query.

Common mistakes

• Describing reporting instead of planning. FP&A is forward-looking; make sure your examples are too.
• No mention of drivers. Hiring managers want to know you understand what moves the numbers, not just that you can roll a forecast forward.
• Missing the system names. Planning tools are often explicit search terms in recruiters' systems.
• No outcomes. How did the business use your model or forecast?

Interview questions to prepare for

• Talk me through how you'd build a revenue forecast for a business like ours.
• What's the difference between a budget and a forecast, and how should each be used?
• Tell me about a forecast that turned out to be wrong. What did you learn?

See all 12 FP&A analyst interview questions, with why interviewers ask each one and what a strong answer covers.