When delivering a presentation to senior leadership, FP&A professionals need to demonstrate executive presence. In an upcoming FP&A Guide, underwritten by Workiva, AFP provides practitioners with the tools they need to present to CFOs, CEOs and boards of directors.
According to a study of 268 senior executives by the Center for Talent Innovation, executive presence is largely considered to be one’s ability to display confidence, composure under pressure and decisiveness. Communication and appearance play key roles; it is not uncommon to rehearse your presentation, or even have someone play the role of the executive.
Many FP&A practitioners aspire to one day be the CFO, and more broadly, the FP&A function wants to feel like it truly has a voice in the strategic role of the company, even if it does not yet have a presence in the C-suite. But for either of those things to eventually happen, FP&A professionals must be able to speak to the CEO, CFO, etc. on their level. Communications expert Karen Friedman told Forbes that people who exhibit executive presence typically use strong and clear language, communicate with passion and energy, and display positive body language.
Watch for AFP’s latest FP&A Guide on developing effective presentations, coming later this month.