Updated by AFP Staff: 05/15/2026

Why Explaining Financials Well Is an FP&A Core Skill

Presenting financial information to people who don't work with numbers every day is one of the harder tasks in corporate finance. The numbers have to be accurate, the explanation has to be accessible and the takeaways have to be useful. Done well, financial presentations shape strategic decisions and build cross-functional trust. Done poorly, they leave the impression that finance is a black box producing reports nobody reads.

At an AFP FP&A Leadership Summit, Jokim Pluijmers, Head of Planning & Control, Consolidation & Reporting, ING Nederland, led a session on communicating FP&A’s story. It is indicative of how challenging that task is that Pluijmers offered more questions than answers. “It’s an art more than a science,” he said, and attendees agreed.

9 Tips for Communicating Numbers to Colleagues

You have to tell a story. “What is the real message you are trying to convey,” said one FP&A manager in attendance. “Are we on track? If not, what are you going to do about it? Too often FP&A will say the obvious: ‘You didn’t make your projections.’ People want to know what they should do.”

Don’t be afraid to be concise. “There’s a risk of FP&A analysts looking at data for three days, making it hard to justify putting a summary into two sentences when you’ve spent so much time on the data,” another FP&A manager said. “You want to prove that you worked long and hard. But the CFO doesn’t care. We see this mistake as a risk, so we try to do as much as we can in graphical format.”

Know your audience. “Our old CEO was from finance, so he had a clear vision of what he wanted his financial reporting packages to look like,” an FP&A manager said. “The new CEO is from sales, so the new reporting package is different, let’s just put it that way.

In fact, each slide can be tailored to different audiences, an attendee added. “What’s the central message on each slide?” she asked. “It’s like an onion. The outside slide is for the CFO. The next slides are for the next level. Leave the details for the end of the reports.”

Be prepared to defend your numbers. “We had to defend the analytics for a while,” said one FP&A professional. “In front of a micro-manager, you may have to defend them. You just have to take a systematic approach to your financials. Be very consistent with your presentations and spend lots of time cost-checking. There’s a point where no errors are allowed. But now that situation is done, and we’ve built credibility. When you feel some level of comfort, then you can introduce more analysis.”

Make the data directly accessible for users. “We can organize the structure in which they get to see the data, but at some point, they have to act on it,” said an FP&A head. “There are people who expect us to prepare the data and send comments.”

However, one attendee disagreed with this approach. “When you make too much available, they may be making a wrong analysis of the numbers,” she said. “You have to limit it: This is the one KPI you should manage.”

Use your reports as the start of a financial discussion. “Producing the report is an entry ticket,” one attendee said. “What happens is you gain trust, you discuss through quarterly reviews, and then they invite you to join other committees. That’s when I become most effective. I can contribute in the right moments when they’re neglecting things from a metric or shareholder perspective.”

Experiment with formats. One FP&A manager said she has settled on a one-pager after many experiments. The one-pager includes KPIs, and on the right side of the page, she includes observations of the results. The second part of the one-pager consists of concerns and questions. “We also include action items based on what they will do with these concerns,” she added. “We use rolling forecasts to see trends.”

Offer only as much data as you think helps the organization. “If you don’t think your company is fairly valued by investors or shareholders then you need to disclose more,” one FP&A executive said. “We started doing more on actuals of separate business units for analysts.”

Added another attendee: “We offer very little forward guidance as a rule. Investors can track this, but internally we track it from separate metrics.”

Finally, know your role. “Do you challenge [during presentations] or add value? It depends on the organization,” an attendee said. “If the CFO has to sign off on it, the business units will come to him. If not, you might have to challenge more.”

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you explain financial information to non-financial managers?

Start by storyboarding the context, i.e., the “setting” of the story, including the operating environment, drivers and goals of your partners. This ensures everyone has the same starting point. Next, explain the “characters” involved, which include the customers, colleagues or vendors who are impacted. Clearly describe the conflict, obstacles, uncertainty or choices that have to be made and are likely the reason for the conversation. Then, if you have it, explain the idea or resolution you propose.

Along the way, bring in the numbers that support your story (think numbers second, story first). Use visuals appropriate to the audience and the takeaway: trend lines for directional questions, comparison bars for cross-segment questions and tables for detail that supports the narrative.

What are the key principles of communicating financial information?

The key principles are accuracy (because the numbers have to be right), accessibility (because the explanation has to fit the audience's level of financial fluency) and actionability (because the takeaways have to give the audience something they can act on, not just a record of what happened).

How can FP&A teams improve cross-functional communication?

Spend time with the operating teams whose numbers you report on so that you understand the operational reality behind the financials. When you present financial results, frame them in terms of the operational decisions and trade-offs the audience is already familiar with. Treat every financial report as the start of a conversation, not the end of one.

What visuals work best for non-financial audiences?

Trend lines work for directional questions ("Are we growing?"). Comparison bars work for cross-segment questions ("Which region is leading?"). Waterfall charts work for explaining how a number got from point A to point B. Tables are useful for backup detail but rarely work as the main takeaway. Pie charts are best avoided unless there are three or fewer segments. The right visual depends on the question being answered.

How do I tailor financial reporting to different executive audiences?

Think of the report structure as a pyramid. The top layer is for the CFO and other senior executives who want the conclusion quickly and trust the process that reviewed the work before it reached them. The next layer is for VPs and directors who want the key supports and insights to act on. The bottom layer is the appendix, containing detailed tables that support the insights. A CFO from finance will want a different package than a CEO from sales — calibrate the level of financial detail to the audience's fluency.

How long should a financial report or summary be for executives?

Many FP&A teams settle on a one-page executive summary with KPIs, observations, concerns and questions, and action items — backed by deeper detail in appendices for anyone who wants it. The exact format varies, but the principle is consistent: Lead with the takeaway, justify with the numbers and leave the data dives to the appendix.

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