Certified Corporate FP&A Professional (FPAC)

Course details

Become a Certified Corporate FP&A Professional (FPAC)

The goal of the FP&A function is to improve business decisions by allocating capital to its best use. The FPAC professional is a financial expert, strategic and adept communicator, as well as a trusted advisor to the business.

When you become certified in FP&A, you will prove that you have deep knowledge of the entire decision support process and are able to contribute to and be responsible for individual components of that process. You also will validate that you know how to perform these functions accurately and efficiently, and can identify, assess and adapt the processes to changes in the business environment.
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FPAC Exam Part I Financial Acumen: Gathering, Interpreting, Understanding and Communicating Business and Financial Information Knowledge

• Domain A Gathering and Interpreting Information: 40% of Exam Part I
  • Knowledge of sources of historical information and historical financial data about an organization and its industry.
  • Ability to understand corporate structure and functions (, hierarchy, corporate groups, the value of the group to the organization, etc.)
  • Knowledge of sources of information about a company's business environment, including sources of tax policies, economic indicators, business models, financial ratios, and industry metrics.
  • Ability to read and interpret corporate annual reports.
  • Knowledge of basic macro-economic concepts used in financial planning (, consumer price index, gross domestic product, exchange rates, interest rates, inflation rates, economic indicators, etc.).
  • Knowledge of risk factors and risk management concepts (, value at risk, hedging, insurance, interest rate risk, diversification, etc.).
  • Knowledge of strategic planning concepts and frameworks (, SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces model, growth share matrix, etc.).
  • Ability to determine information needs of and gather information from internal/external stakeholders and business partners (, operations, sales, and marketing departments; senior management; customers; etc.).

 

• Domain B Understanding Financial Concepts and Communicating/ Coordinating Work with Other Professionals: 60% of Exam Part I
  • Knowledge of finance principles and processes (, financial management concepts, corporate finance activities, etc.).
  • Knowledge of general financial concepts and common financial formulas (, time value, opportunity costs, debt structures and covenants, earnings per share, cost of capital, etc.).
  • Knowledge of financial accounting concepts, principles, and practices
  • Knowledge of basic micro-economics (, marginal costs, pricing, price elasticity of supply and demand, etc.).
  • Knowledge of managerial accounting/reporting and cost accounting concepts.
  • Knowledge of types of budgets/forecasts (, zero-based budgets, annual budgets, rolling forecasts, etc.) and their application.
  • Knowledge of the financial close process, including the resulting financial reporting activities, and the role of the FPAC function in the close/ reporting process.

FPAC Exam Part II Financial Analysis: Building and Interpreting Financial Projections Knowledge

• Domain A  Analyzing Information: 35% of Exam Part II
  • Ability to determine the applicability/acceptability of tools, processes, models, etc.
  • Ability to determine the applicability/acceptability of tools, processes, models, etc.
  • Ability to develop assumptions, draw conclusions, assess the reasonableness of assumptions / conclusions, and test conclusions against various scenarios.
  • Ability to perform a financial ratio analysis.
  • Ability to perform variance analysis and competitive analysis.
  • Ability to determine and assess the seasonality of an industry or business.

 

• Domain B Building Financial Projections: 35% of Exam Part II
  • Ability to create financial statement projections (, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, etc.).
  • Ability to create a capital expenditure/investment analysis (, discounted cash flow analysis, return on investment projections, net present value projections, etc.).
  • Ability to create sales volume/revenue projections.
  • Ability to create "what-if" scenarios.
  • Ability to perform a sensitivity analysis.
  • Ability to perform a risk analysis Knowledge.

 

• Domain C Using Technology/Software: 30% of Exam Part II
  • Ability to use basic spreadsheet functions
  • Ability to use advanced spreadsheet functions (, financial functions, pivot tables, value lookups, macros, integration with other common software, etc.).
  • Ability to perform common statistical calculations (, standard deviation, expected value, correlation, regression, means, modes, etc.) using a spreadsheet.
  • Ability to document and maintain models (, understand documentation concepts, document assumptions, create supporting information and protocols, document functionality and structure, use software/data version control concepts and techniques, etc.).

Updated on 25 January, 2024