If you’ve spent a decade or more building your reputation on producing excellent Excel models and polished PowerPoint packs you may feel like you are at the top of your game. However, it can feel deeply unsettling when you realise that there are FP&A professionals out there, with less experience that are significantly out performing you in terms of speed, accuracy and ability to provide high value insights in real time. But how?
Historically, FP&A professionals careers have been built upon the ability to build a robust Excel models, interpret data and create well-structured decks. These are skills (amongst many others) that will have taken years to develop and will have been invaluable in career progression. But the uncomfortable truth is that the goalposts have moved and traditional FP&A professionals risk becoming left behind as the world adapts to new practices and technology.
The reality is that while the tools of yesterday have served you well, it’s worth being honest about what using the those familiar tools are really costing you today and into the future. Excel, for all its strengths, carries hidden risks that many finance teams have quietly accepted over the years as ‘normal’ such as version control issues, manual errors, and the sheer time cost of maintaining complex spreadsheet models. The pace of change is rapid with around 50% of organisations now using dedicated FP&A software.
Three days is now three hours
Technology, and increasingly the explosion of AI has fundamentally changed what’s possible in financial planning and reporting. Automated data pipelines, connected planning platforms, and AI-assisted analysis mean that what once required a full working week can now be delivered before lunch.
This isn’t theoretical. Businesses that have invested in modern FP&A tools such as Jedox are already operating at a different pace. Reports that used to land on Monday morning after a frantic Friday are now refreshed in near real-time. Variance commentary that took hours to write is being drafted in minutes. Scenario models that required a senior analyst to build from scratch are now generated at the click of a button.
And once a business has experienced that speed, there’s no going back. Expectations shift permanently. As we explored in our piece on the number one benefit of AI in FP&A, time is the only truly finite resource in any organisation and modern AI enabled FP&A tools give it back.
Adapting isn’t optional — it’s professional
There’s a version of this story where experienced FP&A professionals become the biggest advocates for change, because they understand better than anyone what the old way cost in time, stress, and human error. And there’s another version where those same professionals become blockers, defending familiar processes because change feels risky. The difference usually comes down to mindset, not capability.
The good news is that adapting doesn’t mean starting over. It means layering new skills onto solid foundations. If you’ve spent ten years building financial models, you already understand what good output looks like, which puts you in a far better position to use AI tools effectively than someone who doesn’t.
Understanding the three types of AI now shaping FP&A is a practical starting point, it cuts through the buzzwords and helps you understand what’s actually changing and why it matters for your day-to-day work. What you may need to develop is comfort with new platforms, a willingness to let automation handle the repetitive steps, and perhaps most importantly, a shift in how you think about where your time adds the most value.
Staying relevant is also critical for your future career, in a job market where you are competing against FP&A professionals that have already skilled-up and reaping the rewards. Recent research suggests that this shift is already being recognised and rewarded in the market. FP&A professionals who are AI-literate, comfortable working with data science concepts, or embedded in teams using dedicated AI-enabled planning and reporting platforms are now commanding a clear salary premium. Studies such as those from the University of Oxford indicate that professionals who can design, question and interpret AI-assisted models – rather than simply operate traditional spreadsheets – can earn between 20% and 40% more than peers who rely solely on manual tools.
In practical terms, that premium reflects employers’ willingness to pay for finance talent that can turn modern FP&A technology into better decisions: people who understand how to configure AI-powered forecasts, challenge outputs, explain methods to senior stakeholders and embed these capabilities into planning cycles. As more organisations adopt integrated planning and AI, this differential is likely to widen, making AI fluency not just an efficiency advantage, but a material factor in long-term earning potential and career resilience.
Where the real value sits now
If reporting is faster, that creates space for something more valuable: insight. The FP&A professionals who will thrive in the next decade aren’t the ones who can build the most elaborate Excel model, they’re the ones who can take fast, accurate data and turn it into clear, commercially-relevant thinking. They’re the ones having better conversations with the business, earlier, with more confidence.
That’s not a lesser version of the FP&A role. It’s a more senior one. And it sits at the heart of what digital finance transformation actually looks like in practice.
A practical starting point
If you’re wondering where to begin, here are a few some starting points:
- Get curious about the tools your organisation already has. Many businesses are underusing platforms they’ve already paid for. Ask what’s available before assuming you need something new. If you’re evaluating options, our top tips for choosing FP&A software is a good place to start.
- Identify one report or process that still takes longer than it should. That’s your pilot. What would it look like if it took a third of the time?
- Don’t wait to be trained. Most modern FP&A and AI tools are designed to be picked up through exploration. Give yourself permission to experiment, and if you want to see what’s possible, the Jedox agentic AI demo is a useful watch.
- Talk to peers who’ve made the shift. The FP&A community is more open and collaborative than it’s ever been, there’s a lot of practical experience to tap into. If you’d like to hear from finance leaders in person, our Finance Lunch events offer a great opportunity.
The change is already happening. Businesses are raising their expectations, and the definition of “good” in FP&A is being rewritten in real time. The professionals who adapt won’t just keep up, they’ll lead.