FP&A AI builds next year's budget from drivers, by company and team, keeps rolling and three-statement forecasts up to date, and shows where you are ahead of or behind plan, and why. Scenarios, break-even, headcount and capex, valuation, financing needs and cash runway all work from the same plan and the same ledger.
What does FP&A AI do?
FP&A AI is the planning side of the finance department. It holds your budget and forecasts in one model, on the same chart of accounts and the same ledger as your actuals, so plan and actual always add up the same way. Closed months come from the ledger and are never overwritten; the rest of the year is the plan.
| Area | What FP&A AI does |
|---|---|
| Budgeting | Builds next year's budget from drivers, by company and team, and takes it through approval to a locked version |
| Forecasting | Keeps rolling and three-statement forecasts of where the year will land, with the balance sheet and cash flow carried from the profit and loss |
| Variance analysis | Compares actual with budget and with the prior period, line by line, and marks each variance favourable or unfavourable |
| Scenario planning | Branches a what-if from a base plan and applies drivers such as a price change, a cost increase or new hires |
| Break-even analysis | Splits costs into fixed and variable to show the revenue needed to cover them and the margin of safety, by company and month |
| Headcount and capex | Plans positions and hires, with pay, employer social insurance and end-of-service, and capital projects with their returns |
| Valuation and financing | Runs a discounted cash flow and comparables on the forecast, sensitivity on the main drivers, and the funding the plan will need |
| Working capital and runway | Shows days sales, payables and inventory outstanding, how long the cash lasts, and what frees more of it |
For each variance, FP&A AI can show the posting lines that moved the figure most against budget, split by company, department, project and counterparty. Where the budget was set at its own exchange rates, the variance separates the currency effect from the underlying performance.
How does a month run with FP&A AI?
Planning follows the close. Once a month is closed, the plan takes its actuals and the questions start. A typical month looks like this.
- Actuals replace planWhen the month closes, its actuals come from the ledger into every plan. The forecast for the remaining months stays as your team set it.
- Variances are explainedActual is compared with the approved budget and with the prior period. The lines that moved most are traced to the company, the department and the counterparty behind them.
- The forecast is checkedFor months that have since closed, the plan shows what it said against what happened. For the open months, it shows where the plan departs from a statistical baseline on today's ledger, so the assumptions can be defended.
- The forecast is updatedYour team changes the drivers that moved. A rolling plan moves its window forward, and the three-statement forecast carries the profit and loss into the balance sheet and cash flow.
- Scenarios are runA scenario is branched from the base plan so the base stays intact. Each driver applied is recorded in the plan's assumptions, so a scenario always explains itself.
- Results go to the boardThe forecast of record feeds the board pack in Reporting AI, and versions can be compared side by side with a bridge from one to the other.
Once a year the budget cycle runs on top of this. A plan is proposed as a budget, the owner submits it, each company's budget goes to that company's approvers under your authority matrix, and once every company is approved the version becomes the budget that actuals are measured against. Locking makes it final. Budget versions are never edited in place: you revise the plan and propose it again.
Who is FP&A AI for?
FP&A AI is for CFOs, heads of FP&A and finance business partners who own the budget and the forecast, and for the company and department managers who contribute to them. It suits a single company, and it suits a group that plans each company in its own currency and needs the group total translated at planning rates.
It fits teams whose budget lives in a large spreadsheet that takes weeks to consolidate and is out of date by the second quarter. If you are deciding between planning software, close software and an AI finance department, our guide to finance software categories sets out what each does.
What stays with your team?
FP&A AI does the arithmetic and keeps the model consistent. The assumptions and the decisions stay with people.
- Setting the drivers: prices, volumes, hires, cost changes and timing.
- Approving the budget. Each company's budget goes to its own approvers by amount, and nobody approves their own request.
- The inputs to valuation. The discount rate, terminal value and peer multiples are entered by a person; nothing is looked up or assumed, and without them there is no value.
- Classifying costs for break-even. The fixed and variable split is an assumption, and it is always shown next to the result.
- Confirming the statutory rates in the headcount plan. Country defaults are a starting point to check with your adviser.
- Deciding what to do about the result: hire, cut, borrow or wait.
Valuation is labelled as a model, and runway scenarios are stress assumptions a person can change, not a forecast. Nothing in FP&A AI posts to your ERP.
Which systems does FP&A AI work with?
Actuals come from each company's ERP, such as ERPNext, Odoo, Xero, QuickBooks Online, Oracle NetSuite or SAP S/4HANA Cloud, or from Excel and CSV files for any other system.
A headcount plan can be seeded from the latest month of the payroll register, which comes from a payroll file or from an HR system such as Jisr, ZenHR, Deel or Frappe HR; positions are titled by role, never by name. Open deals from a CRM such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Zoho CRM, weighted by the CRM's own stage probability, can be included in the revenue model. Figures can be pulled live into Google Sheets and Excel with a key that sees only what it is allowed to.
How do you start with FP&A AI?
Our team connects your companies and maps their accounts to the management profit and loss, then builds your first forecast with you from the ledger. Plans are on request; see pricing or book a demo.
Questions people ask
Is the forecast built by the AI?
The forecast is built by the product's own finance functions from your ledger and your drivers. A statistical baseline gives a starting point and a check on your plan, and every figure can be traced to the lines and assumptions behind it.
How are exchange rates handled in the budget?
Each company plans in its own currency. A budget can carry its own planning rates, frozen when it is approved, and variance to budget then splits into the currency effect and constant-currency performance.
How does the headcount plan handle GOSI and end-of-service?
Each position's monthly cost includes pay, the employer's social insurance and the end-of-service accrual, from country defaults overlaid by your company's own rules. Confirm the statutory rates with your adviser.
Is the valuation an opinion of fair value?
No. It is a model on your own forecast and labelled as one. Every input is shown, the discount rate and peer multiples are entered by a person, and nothing is looked up for you.
Does FP&A AI change our books?
No. Plans and budgets live in Naarvin. Nothing in FP&A AI posts to your ERP, and approved budgets are compared with actuals read from your ledger.