Topic: Best Practices in FP&A - Corporate Forecasting and Planning

Speaker: Dimi Yar, Frankfurt Co-Chair and Founder/CEO VOSA Income Inequality Solutions

Presentation: 
- Overcoming the flaws of “traditional” M-o-M, Q-o-Q, YTD vs PYTD variance commentaries with “event-based” approach to variance analysis
- Integrating monthly P&L variance analysis seamlessly into your rolling forecast and annual planning process
- Planning Process debates: Top-Down or Bottom-Up? Cost Center level planning?
- Planning tip 1: The Finance role in clearly identifying and managing the 5 key components of any Plan: (1) Baseline, (2) Driver-based organic growth, (3) Operational Initiatives, (4) Strategic Initiatives, (5) Scenario Analysis
- Planning tip 2: The Finance role in ensuring credible and consistent pricing of initiatives (using data-driven and driver-driven standard initiative pricing templates)
- Planning tip 3: (Case Study) How I condensed the global annual planning process from 9 months of broad organizational efforts -> into a “best-in-class” exercise that took only 6 weeks to complete from start to finish
- Planning tip 4: How to effectively deal with internal and cross-functional cost allocations when building a business plan (proper phasing and responsibility split)
- Bonus topic: Strategic Workforce Planning 

Speaker’s bio:

- You may know Dimi Yar as Dmitriy Yaroslavskiy, a FENG member since 2014 and a recently appointed Co-Chair of the Frankfurt FENG branch. Dimi left the Corporate world earlier this year to launch a startup, called VOSA Income Inequality Solutions, after spending two years designing and refining VOSA’s unique compensation plan that he believes can help companies address their talent attractions, retention and engagement issues, and, with wide adoption, can solve the Income Inequality crisis from the bottom up.

- In the 25 years of his professional life. Dimi was a CPA, an Auditor with PwC, Controller with Deutsche Bank and Head of FP&A at DWS, AIG and Allianz Global Investors. Five years ago (while working at Allianz), he relocated from New York to Frankfurt, Germany and currently resides there. Dimi is a thought leader on HR, Compensation, broader Workforce and Socio-Economic topics, and has quite a bit of a cult following on LinkedIn thanks to his thought-provoking posts offering a fresh perspective and tangible solutions. He is also looking for passionate VOSA “Ambassadors”, “Academics” and “Advisors” who are interested to learn more, contribute and help VOSA change the world for the better, one company at a time.