So just what is financial planning and analysis anyway? Like many practitioners, at first Jake Hammon, FP&A, thought it was about forecasting, budgeting and spreadsheets. Now he's not so sure. Today Hammon acts more like an internal consultant to his company's business units. "Honestly that's one of the things I pitched to new hires as they come in," he says. "It's one of the benefits of working in FP&A."
In this edition of AFP Conversations, hosted by Ira Apfel, Jake Hammon talks about the changing role of FP&A, what he looks for when hiring for his team, and all the crazy things he did as a member of his college's Financial Society Management Consulting Club. (Okay, not really.)
Manage the US corporate FP&A team, consolidating management reporting of financial, marketing, and operational performance for monthly presentation to Exec Management. Oversee monthly updates of rolling forecasts of $100M OpEx and $50M CapEx (content & fixed assets), including detailed headcount forecast of 500+ via Hyperion Planning and Excel models. Advise key Executive business partners in expense management, process improvement, and strategy. Forecast monthly global consolidated Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows (4 yr horizon). Managed full P&L forecasts of Germany & Mexico geographies, including multi-year modeling of subscription revenue, deferred revenue waterfall, SAC, ARPU, subscriber retention and inventory.
