Corporate Business Alliance

Self-assessment · Finance

FP&A Professional

Rate yourself against each learning objective in the CBA Standard for FP&A Professional. Your profile builds as you go, domain by domain, weighted as the standard is.

Standard
Version 7.4
Domains
5
Objectives
27to rate
The scale
0
Not yet. This is new to me.
1
Aware. I know what it is, but have not applied it.
2
With guidance. I can apply it with guidance or a reference to hand.
3
Independently. I apply it in my work without guidance.
4
Can guide others. I could teach it, or review someone else’s work on it.

  1. Domain 1FP&A Foundations and the Planning Cycle

    15% of the standard
    1.1Distinguish the FP&A role and its outputs from financial accounting, management accounting and treasury responsibilities.
    1.2Interpret how the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement interact within a planning model, including the accruals-to-cash bridge.
    1.3Sequence the activities of an annual planning calendar and a monthly close-forecast-report rhythm, identifying dependencies and common bottlenecks.
    1.4Select appropriate levels of planning granularity (entity, cost centre, product, channel) for a given decision purpose.
    1.5Evaluate the quality of source data for planning, identifying issues such as mismatched hierarchies, timing cut-offs and inconsistent definitions.

  2. Domain 2Budgeting and Annual Planning

    20% of the standard
    2.1Select an appropriate budgeting approach (incremental, zero-based, activity-based, top-down, bottom-up or hybrid) for a given organisational context.
    2.2Calculate budget lines from underlying assumptions, including headcount and payroll plans, inflation and phasing across months.
    2.3Evaluate budget submissions for padding, sandbagging, unfunded assumptions and internal inconsistency.
    2.4Distinguish operating expenditure from capital expenditure in a budget and interpret the P&L and cash consequences of each.
    2.5Interpret the behavioural effects of target setting and budget-linked incentives on the quality of submissions.

  3. Domain 3Forecasting and Driver-Based Modelling

    25% of the standard
    3.1Distinguish rolling forecasts from static budgets and select the appropriate horizon, frequency and granularity for a business context.
    3.2Construct driver trees that link operational drivers (volumes, prices, headcount, utilisation, conversion rates) to financial outcomes.
    3.3Calculate forecast values using run-rate, trend, driver-based and event-adjusted methods, and select the method suited to each line.
    3.4Evaluate forecast accuracy using bias and error measures, and interpret what persistent bias reveals about the process.
    3.5Interpret scenario and sensitivity analysis, distinguishing a scenario (coherent set of assumptions) from a single-variable sensitivity.
    3.6Evaluate the appropriate and inappropriate uses of statistical and AI-assisted methods within a forecasting workflow, including validation of machine-generated outputs.

  4. Domain 4Variance Analysis and Performance Insight

    20% of the standard
    4.1Calculate variances between actual and plan or forecast, correctly labelling them favourable or adverse for revenue and cost lines.
    4.2Decompose a total variance into price, volume, mix, rate and efficiency components using standard bridge logic.
    4.3Distinguish controllable from uncontrollable variances and permanent from timing differences.
    4.4Interpret a variance bridge or waterfall to identify the underlying business cause rather than the arithmetic effect.
    4.5Evaluate when a variance warrants action, escalation or a forecast change, applying materiality and trend judgement.

  5. Domain 5Management Reporting and Business Partnering

    20% of the standard
    5.1Select the content, comparatives and level of detail appropriate for a monthly management pack aimed at a stated audience.
    5.2Evaluate KPI sets for a business, distinguishing leading from lagging indicators and diagnosing weak or gameable metrics.
    5.3Interpret data visualisations and identify misleading chart choices in performance reporting.
    5.4Distinguish effective from ineffective finance commentary, applying an insight-led structure (what happened, why, so what, what next).
    5.5Evaluate business partnering situations, selecting responses that balance constructive challenge, independence and commercial support.
    5.6Calculate simple decision-support figures, including break-even points, payback periods and the directional impact of a proposed action on profit and cash.

Developing against the standard