The Challenge
A mid-sized technology company was experiencing strong growth, but leadership was making decisions without reliable forward-looking data. Their finance function produced:
- Backward-looking reports that focused only on past results.
- No forecasting or scenario planning, leaving the leadership blind to future risks and opportunities.
- Cash flow uncertainty, as inflows and outflows were not modelled accurately.
- Weak KPI visibility, making it hard to track project profitability, customer churn, and recurring revenue.
The absence of structured FP&A meant strategic decisions — from hiring to investment — were based on assumptions rather than insight.
Our Solution
1Financial redesigned the finance function with FP&A at its core:
- Budgeting & Forecasting: Introduced rolling forecasts, aligned with business cycles and market drivers.
- Cash Flow Modelling: Built dynamic models to project liquidity under different growth and cost scenarios.
- Scenario Analysis: Created frameworks to test best, base, and worst-case outcomes for revenue and expenses.
- KPI Dashboarding: Designed dashboards linking financial performance with operational metrics such as project profitability, SaaS renewals, and client acquisition costs.
- Integration with Accounting: Ensured that FP&A insights were built directly on top of accurate accounting data — avoiding the disconnect between reporting and strategy.
The Outcome
- Predictive Clarity: Leadership gained visibility not only into what happened, but what was likely to happen next.
- Stronger Cash Flow Management: Proactive liquidity planning reduced financial stress and enabled smoother scaling.
- Smarter Decision-Making: Investments, hiring, and pricing decisions were backed by forward-looking data, not guesswork.
- Improved Profitability: Clearer cost-to-revenue tracking and scenario planning allowed the business to optimise spending and protect margins.
- Board & Investor Confidence: Transparent FP&A reporting enhanced trust with stakeholders, positioning the company for future fundraising.
