Do you wonder about the goals your finance peers set for themselves each year? What are their priorities? How are they thinking about their organization as we enter the new year?

We asked the finance professionals of AFP’s North America FP&A Advisory Council to share some of their goals for 2024. Perhaps these goals will inspire ideas for your own 2024 goals!

Vision Amplified

One CFO shared their lofty vision for the finance department, as well as how it would contribute to the company’s mission, objectives and goals.

“We will be completing a comprehensive finance digital transformation initiative with significant investments in automation and integration to reduce manual work, touchpoints, and error, and to shift from tactical, backward-looking work to strategic, forward-looking business partnering,” they said.  “Once that is established, we will continue investing in our people to ensure we are learning, improving, and finding better, more effective ways to do our work. One of our primary goals to achieve this is to build a learning finance infrastructure.

“We will also be moving cross-functionally to showcase how our new finance systems and processes can add value across the entire organization. In other words, we will deliver on the promise of automation and business partnership to ensure our organization can best navigate strategically and operationally for the future.

“In addition, as CFO, my focus in 2024 will be to build a cohesive, informed and collaborative finance organization that provides each staff member with a clear and understandable vision, career pathing and progression, and a clear understanding of how finance supports the mission, objectives and goals of the company.”

Making Me a Priority

Some finance professionals decided that 2024 is the year to focus on themselves and their well-being.

In their pursuit of a new role with a new company, one finance professional said, “I’m going to challenge myself to say yes to opportunities and prove myself worthy. And I’m going to challenge myself to say no to nonproductive requests. I’m also going to continue to improve my physical health and well-being and strengthen my moral compass.”

Another finance professional said, “I’m going to improve my work-life balance by setting boundaries between my personal and professional life and making time for myself and my loved ones.”

Personal Connections

Some finance professionals are making room for a goal of better and/or more personal connections in 2024.

“I’m going to listen more, talk less and ask a lot more questions,” said one finance professional.

Another finance professional plans to enhance their ability to “read the room more accurately,” while another is more focused on their personal relationships, wanting to “strengthen my relationships and spend more quality time with my loved ones.”

Another finance professional is planning to achieve greater connections through mentorship and team development. They have a three-step plan:

1. Create individual development plans for each team member outlining their career goals, strengths, areas for improvement and a roadmap for skill development.
2. Provide job shadowing — within the finance department and in other departments — and cross-training initiatives.
3. Encourage their team to attend continuing education sessions, get a certification like the FPAC, and attend external conferences, including AFP 2024.

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Open to New Avenues for Growth

Professional growth — skills, knowledge, network and presence — is on the agenda for many in 2024.

Networking was on the mind of more than one finance professional in the group: “I want to establish a friendly group of professionals to exchange ideas with, mirroring the master class William Washington discussed at AFP 2023.” Another said they want to build a more meaningful and authentic professional network and engage with their network more.

Skills building is on the mind of a few others, “I want to round out my knowledge of unfamiliar finance spaces,” said one finance professional.

“Developing my leadership skills is important to me,” said another finance professional. “Specifically, learning how to better motivate and inspire others.”

Another said they wanted to “continue to move forward on the continuum to ‘big thinker’ by further developing my strategic thinking and leadership skills.”

Becoming an FP&A influencer is on the agenda of another: “I plan to enhance my FP&A thought leadership presence through webinars (e.g., act as moderator, SME), white papers, blogs, etc.”

Implement and/or Improve Advanced Financial Forecasting Models

Several FP&A practitioners have this as part of their plan for 2024. More specifically, they plan to:

• Upgrade their financial forecasting models to improve accuracy and provide more insightful projections.
• Stay updated on the latest financial modeling techniques, collaborate with data analytics teams for predictive modeling, and incorporate macroeconomic factors for a more comprehensive forecasting approach.
• Immerse themselves in the world of generative AI and its applications for FP&A and finance.

Drive the Business Forward

For one FP&A professional, their focus is on revenue strategies and changing existing methods for 2024. To achieve this, they plan to:

• Organize cross-functional brainstorming sessions to get diverse and creative revenue ideas, then model out the ideas and present the best ones for implementation.
• Stay abreast of industry trends by reading market research every week.

Are you ready to get started on goal setting for 2024? Learn about how to set goals and read about what other finance professionals learned in 2023.