By: Natalie Johnson
Finance leaders today are surrounded by more information than ever before, with dashboards updating in real time and reports arriving faster than teams can review them. Having more data, however, does not automatically lead to better decisions. What matters is how clearly that information is understood and how quickly it can be turned into action.
For Dr. Mitchell T. Horn, Chief Financial Officer at WM Partners, LP, the defining role of modern financial planning and analysis (FP&A) leadership is not simply reporting performance. It is creating the trust, visibility, and operational discipline that enable organizations to make faster, smarter decisions.
“FP&A teams are primarily focused on providing decision support,” Dr. Horn says. “It’s critical that the FP&A team partners very closely with the key stakeholders and decision owners within the organization.” This is the heart of strategic finance today, where finance professionals have evolved beyond “scorekeepers” to become trusted business partners capable of driving sustainable growth.
Building High-Performing Fp&A Teams Starts With Trust
Building high-performing FP&A teams begins with relationships. Finance teams create the greatest value when they earn credibility across the business and become the first call for leadership during critical decisions. FP&A professionals often work alongside executives with backgrounds in operations, engineering, marketing, or sales rather than finance. Their responsibility is to translate financial complexity into practical business insight.
“It really requires the FP&A team to take the time to build the partnership, build a relationship, and invest in that leader with knowledge and information that’s going to help them make sound business decisions,” he says. This approach strengthens data-driven financial decision-making by embedding finance into everyday business conversations. Instead of acting as a reporting function, FP&A becomes an advisor that improves decision velocity, while increasing business visibility across the organization.
Finance Transformation Requires Insight With Action
While identifying trends remains a core responsibility, Dr. Horn believes finance creates strategic value when every insight is paired with a recommendation. “We have access to a wealth of information,” he says. “More often than not, the FP&A function is the first to discover business trends that would require corrective actions.”
This mindset helps simplify complexity in finance while creating a framework for forecasting accuracy that supports proactive decision-making rather than reactive management. It also reinforces operational discipline by giving leadership greater confidence that potential scenarios have been evaluated by finance before options are presented. “If you deliver an insight without a recommendation, that could often lead to a poor decision by general management,” Dr. Horn explains. “It’s better to bring a solution, because that essentially gets the conversation started.”
AI-Enabled Finance Creates Capacity For Better Decisions
The future of AI-driven FP&A is less about replacing finance professionals and more about redesigning the work they perform. Dr. Horn’s AI-enabled finance transformation strategy focuses on reviewing every workflow through the lens of automation, simplification, and continuous improvement. “We’re looking at every task, every journal entry, every workflow through the lens of how to apply Claude and make it faster, automate it, or even eliminate it,” he says.
The results are measured through tangible operational improvements, including shorter close cycles, fewer reworked transactions, and reduced manual effort. Rather than pursuing automation for its own sake, the objective is to improve forecasting accuracy while giving business leaders access to information sooner. “Over the past six months, every month we’re getting a little bit better,” Dr. Horn says.
That progress has already reduced the organization’s close timeline significantly, with the long-term objective of achieving a five-day close without increasing reporting risk. Earlier financial reporting also creates valuable time for commercial teams to act on insights. “We’re essentially giving you an additional two days in the month to go operate and do what you do,” Dr. Horn says. “It’s creating space in the organization for process enhancement and more projects.” This combination of AI-enabled finance, customer profitability analysis, innovation modeling, and operational alignment provides finance with a much broader strategic role.
The Finance Professionals Who Thrive Will Blend AI With Business Judgment
As automation continues reshaping finance, the greatest value will come from understanding how to work alongside AI, while maintaining strong financial judgment and clean, reliable data. “The most important skill set that anybody on my team is using right now is how to be effective with Claude,” he says. “Not only how to use Claude to generate results, but how to use Claude efficiently.”
AI remains only as effective as the information it receives. Developing disciplined data practices, understanding business context, and strengthening strategic finance capabilities will continue separating strong finance organizations from average ones. As finance transformation accelerates, the organizations that build trusted partnerships, embrace AI-enabled finance, and strengthen FP&A leadership will be best positioned to improve decision velocity and create lasting competitive advantage.
Follow Dr. Mitchell T. Horn on LinkedIn or visit his website for insights on FP&A leadership, AI-enabled finance, strategic decision-making, and building high-performing finance organizations.
