Establishing a financial planning and analysis (FP&A) function at a scale-up company presents unique challenges and opportunities. This case study highlights the essential steps and strategies needed to drive accountability and enhance performance measurement within an evolving business landscape.

The AFP FP&A Case Study series is designed to help you build up key FP&A capabilities and skills by sharing examples of how leading practitioners have tackled challenges in their work and the lessons learned.

Insight: A new FP&A function must build its capabilities and establish itself as a strategic business partner by driving accountability through effective performance measurement.

Background

This case study is about a cross-border e-commerce company founded in 2014. The company serves markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Macau, Australia and Vietnam. Its success comes from having addressed two main problems: high local prices and the unavailability of products in certain regions.

The company has grown significantly from its inception, with a revenue target of just under 100 million USD in 2025. It is venture capital-funded, with investments from a global investment fund and a local venture capital firm.

Before joining the company, the CFO had a diverse and extensive background in finance and investment. He worked as an investment banker, led corporate development for News Corp in China and spent nearly two decades of his career in public market technology investing for Goldman Sachs and (Singapore-based) Dymon Asia. While he has deep multi-decade experience in financial markets, the CFO has worked in pure corporate finance for under five years.

Challenges

Breadth of a CFO function: For the CFO of a start-up, “There are basically 10 to 15 different key areas for potential focus, and those are all highly cross-functional,” he said, “including building out accounting, FP&A, treasury, investor relations for current and new investors, M&A, tax, business development, legal, corporate strategy and more.”

Lack of an FP&A function historically, including no budgeting of income or cash flow forecasting or a regular variance and reforecasting cadence. This caused financial surprises, and the lack of systematic performance management processes ultimately held the company back in terms of growth and profitability.

The finance department had been separate from other departments and had been concentrating on accounting and payments rather than integrating financial skills into operations.

Approach

In his first six months, the CFO addressed these challenges by building up the FP&A function with some immediate steps. His goal was to “get dedicated resources, move the data analytics function closer to finance and think of cost-effective ways to drive quick wins.”

In his second six months, his effort was to “get more bandwidth” for his team to extend its influence. He considered what would be needed and achievable in terms of people, processes and systems.

The CFO’s plan to address the challenge of finance’s legacy segregation was to focus on tracking metrics and ensuring accountability among managers. For example, there was an instance where the company invested in automation, but the relevant labor cost metrics didn’t show improvement after this investment. This led to a critical self-examination and tough internal conversations, but it highlighted the role FP&A plays in ensuring people use the company’s resources well and promote continuous improvement.

Regularly reviewing and discussing metrics can address issues and ensure that everyone is aligned with the company's goals — but not everyone wants an outside group poking around their business.

Managerial resistance and a lack of data were two of the challenges they faced when introducing metrics. In response, the CFO pursued a low-cost, low-friction method for implementing these metrics, including leveraging existing data analytics and encouraging cross-functional collaboration. Finance aligned their analyses with the items that mattered most to managers, such as reducing labor costs in the warehouse and improving marketing efficiency.

This required a cultural shift, highlighting the importance of direct relationships and trust between departments — something that was reinforced by clearly communicating the process and setting expectations. The CFO discussed the importance of how finance professionals can drive this impact by embedding within other departments. “You can build trust through proximity and regular interaction,” he said. By sitting physically close to colleagues from other departments and engaging in joint activities like regular lunches, these collaborative finance-business relationships naturally strengthened over time.

Outcome

The initial impact of these changes includes:

• Improved full-management understanding of past performance through better tracking of actuals versus budget and forecast. The CEO, COO and board members have deepened their understanding of the company due to these FP&A changes.
• Improved financial performance, including accelerated top-line growth, reduced customer acquisition costs, increased revenue per employee and profitability metrics.
• Increased investor confidence, with positive feedback from investors highlighting the company's improved ability to manage performance and achieve its targets. This has been particularly valuable in securing Series C funding, where investors tend to focus more on metrics than narrative. Several current investors have indicated interest in making additional investments.
• Increased influence of the finance department, especially through the monthly performance review cadence. Finance is now fully embedded with the business as opposed to being off to the side.

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