How FP&A Bridges the Gap Between Data and Finance

From Data Overload to Strategic Insight - A Story of Transformation

A CFO of a $30M+ SaaS company, struggled to gain clear visibility into his ARR and sales metrics. Despite having a BI dashboard, reports were formatted in ways that made it difficult for him to uncover critical insights, such as gross retention by account owner or new bookings performance broken out by Direct and Channel Partner Sales.

Trying to review the data and pull it into an Excel model was even more challenging. It was confusing for him to figure out where the proper data tables were and how to ensure the right filters were in place for specific time frames and exclusions such as one-time deals.

Every time the CFO wanted to make a change or request, the Data Professional running BI and SQL database would not be able to understand what the CFO wanted or the reason why. 

His approach was to load the BI tool with as much data as possible so the CFO would have “everything.” However, this overwhelmed the CFO, who became unsure of what he was looking at and ultimately stopped using the tool. Instead, he reverted to manual Excel pulls and calculations, where he felt more confident in the source of the numbers. 

Rather than a costly system overhaul, the CFO added an FP&A Consultant to his team. This specialist worked directly with the company's data professional to understand existing processes and the type of view the CFO wanted.

The FP&A Consultant was able to work with the CFO to understand conceptually what was important for him to see. He even did a few exercises in Excel that included the dataset with the preferred aggregation and filters. These exercises also included important tables for the CFO, such as ARR Waterfall with product migration calculations.

He made sure what was being built would provide all the insight needed so that no large overhauls would be required down the line. The FP&A Consultant was then able to take all this information to the Data Professional. 

In his language, the FP&A Consultant was able to communicate the specific data requirements and the formatting needs for data summarization so the CFO would be able to understand the output

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The data professional was able to make the adjustments to the SQL code while the FP&A consultant was able to build the needed tables and summarizations in the desired format for the CFO in BI.

By effectively bridging the gap between the CFO and the Data Professional, the Data Professional was able to provide a data workflow that flowed into a BI Dashboard. Now the  CFO was able to utilize a BI tool that  presents the data in a way that was valuable in helping him communicate the Top Line Performance of the company to investors.

The Data-to-Strategy Disconnect

This CFO's experience represents a challenge faced by finance leaders across mid-market companies. Let's explore why this data-to-finance disconnect happens and how to systematically address it.

Mid-market companies have plenty of data but struggle to convert it into actionable financial insights. The substantial investments in reporting tools and dashboards aren't paying off because of a fundamental disconnect between data owners and financial executives.

Three Steps to Bridge the Gap Between Finance and Data

1. Align the Data

• Evaluate current reporting structures and identify critical information gaps

• Establish repeatable data collection processes and automate workflows to ensure consistency

• Build the foundation for reliable financial insights with clean, structured data

Garbage in, garbage out. If your data isn't clean and structured, no tool or report will fix it. Just as our CFO discovered, you need to start with the critical business questions your leadership needs answered and map them to specific data requirements. The FP&A Consultant's Excel exercises demonstrated how this clarity makes all the difference.

2. Build Reports and Forecasts with Desired Business Views

• Understand what specific view of the business will be needed by the executive team and investors

• Track unique business metrics such as revenue by region, channel performance, and product migration

• Create unified views that connect financial and operational data for better decision-making

Standard metrics are helpful, but every business has unique reporting needs. Before building any reports, it's crucial to gain clarity on how executives and investors need to see the business. For our SaaS CFO, the ARR Waterfall with product migration calculations provided the specific insights he needed—insights that wouldn't have emerged from standard templates. By first prototyping these views in Excel, the FP&A Consultant ensured the final BI implementation would deliver lasting value without requiring constant revisions. 

Taking time to understand these strategic perspectives upfront eliminates the costly cycle of building, revising, and rebuilding reports that don't meet leadership needs. Your reporting architecture should reflect your specific business model and decision-making processes, creating a stable foundation that evolves with your business rather than requiring painful overhauls.

3. Implement Advanced Tools such as BI or AI

• Leverage BI and AI capabilities after establishing clean data and aligned metrics

• Uncover real-time insights on sales efficiency, cash flow, and churn by asking the right questions

• Enable data-driven forecasting that accounts for your company's unique business drivers

Our CFO's story shows that having a BI dashboard isn't enough—it's how you structure and present the data that matters. Everyone wants advanced tools, but many skip the basics. With clean data and aligned metrics, these tools become truly valuable rather than sources of more confusion.

Implementation Guidance

When implementing these steps in your business, focus on:

• Creating 30-60 day quick wins that demonstrate immediate value

• Working side-by-side with your team rather than delivering recommendations

• Building operational cadences that connect insights to decision points

• Phasing implementation over 6-12 months, starting with critical business questions

The FP&A Consultant succeeded by working directly with both the CFO and Data Professional—bridging the gap rather than replacing either role.

Take Action Today

To bridge the gap between finance and data in your organization:

1. Assess your current FP&A processes against the three-step framework

2. Identify your top 3 business questions lacking data-driven answers

3. Map the specific data, skills, and process gaps blocking progress

4. Develop a phased plan that delivers quick wins while building capability

If you're facing visibility challenges like our CFO—struggling to get the insights you need despite having reporting tools—you're not alone. The communication gap between finance and data teams is common, but it can be bridged with the right approach.

Not sure where to begin? Book a quick chat with me below and we can discuss what's going on with your specific situation. 

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About the Author

Austin Camacho transforms finance functions at rapidly growing companies from backward-looking reporters into forward-thinking strategic partners through practical FP&A approaches that deliver critical business insights.