By Mark Bodger, Director at ICit Business Intelligence

As we enter into 2026 at pace, I find myself asking a question that most FP&A teams think, but few actually say out loud:

Are you aiming for a better process next year…
or just one that finishes sooner?

Because let’s be honest, finishing faster has become the default objective for many finance functions. It’s easier to point at a finished pack than to articulate what better actually means.

And yet, despite five more years of digital transformation and new platforms in play, too many organisations remain stuck in the same old cycle:

  • Spreadsheets copied forward with only cosmetic changes
  • Assumptions tweaked without deeper validation
  • “Lessons learned” that feel awfully familiar

All while the fundamental challenges persist: the process still takes too long, still breaks under pressure and, perhaps most damning, is obsolete before it even lands on the board’s desk.

That shouldn’t be a surprise. According to recent industry research, only around 35 % of FP&A time is devoted to generating insights and driving decisions, with the rest still spent on data collection, validation and manual consolidation.

If your team is chained to emails, manual aggregation, and heroic last-minute efforts, this isn’t a discipline problem – it’s a toolset problem.

Modern FP&A isn’t about templates. It’s about drivers.

Traditional budgets too often start with a template and numerical slots to fill. In reality, the most valuable budgeting begins with understanding what actually moves your business:

  • What drives revenue and margins?
  • What cost levers matter most at scale?
  • Which decisions leaders want to stress-test before they commit?

This shift, from data collection to strategic modelling, is the heart of modern FP&A. It’s why top teams are embracing platforms that unite budgeting, forecasting, and scenario planning, rather than relegating them to disconnected files.

Workday Adaptive Planning, for example, removes much of the manual reconciliation that plagues spreadsheet processes, pulling real-time financial data together, enabling driver-based models and rolling forecasts that truly reflect business dynamics.

The result? Plans that aren’t just finished, they’re useful. Teams can update assumptions on the fly, leaders can explore what-if scenarios, and FP&A becomes less of a bottleneck and more of a strategic partner.

The FP&A evolution is real and relentless

Beyond basic process pain points, the industry itself has shifted. Finance teams are being asked not just to generate plans, but to interpret them:

  • Real-time insights and scenario modelling have moved from “nice to have” to essential.
  • Rolling forecasts and connected planning improve responsiveness to change.
  • CFOs are increasingly involved in digitalisation and strategic decision support.

And yet, this isn’t about jumping on the latest tech bandwagon. It’s about aligning planning practice with purpose.

A challenge worth embracing

So here’s my challenge to FP&A teams approaching next year:

Don’t ask:
“How do we survive the budget cycle?”

Ask instead:
“How do we make it useful?”

Because the goal was never to produce a perfect spreadsheet.
It was to help your organisation make better decisions with confidence, clarity and agility.

If you could change just one thing about your budgeting process for next year, what would it be?

The answer might just tell you whether you’re aiming for better… or just faster.

Looking to improve your budgeting processes?

At ICit, we help finance teams evolve from spreadsheet-heavy reporting to agile, insight-led planning and budgeting. As a platinum Workday Adaptive Planning partner, we’ve supported hundreds of organisations on their journey to smarter, more strategic FP&A.  

If you’re ready to elevate your FP&A function and build a true business partnership, get in touch and make finance the growth engine your organisation needs.

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