- Certification Overview
- How It Works
- What you’ll learn
- Career Paths
- Testimonials
- FAQ
FP&A Specialization Overview
Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) is one of the most in-demand areas of finance. CFI’s FP&A Specialization teaches the skills and knowledge to excel as an FP&A professional by supporting business leaders with top-tier financial models, budgets, forecasts, analysis, and more.
You’ll learn to use quantitative and qualitative analysis to evaluate a company’s financial progress, develop clear, well-formatted Excel financial models, and use modern data tools like Power Query and Power BI to boost productivity and visualize your analysis.
Whether you're a financial analyst, finance student, accountant, or new to finance, earning an FP&A Specialization certificate will enhance your ability to shape the financial future of businesses and influence strategic financial decisions. Gain practical expertise in modeling, budgeting, forecasting, and data analysis, and become a CFI-certified FP&A Specialist.
What's in the Financial Planning & Analysis Specialization?
19 courses
19 courses and 835 lessons
830+
interactive exercises
Receive a Certificate
To verify your skills
500,000+ 5-star ratings
Best-in-class training, as rated by you
How the Program Works
Step 1.
19 Required Courses
The Role of The FP&A Professional
4.8(68 Ratings)
1.5 hours
1.5 hours
FP&A for New Analysts
4.5(2 Ratings)
3 hours
3 hours
FP&A Professional Excel Forecast Model Design
5(3 Ratings)
1 hours
1 hours
FP&A Professional Formatting & Revenue Forecasting
5(5 Ratings)
2.5 hours
2.5 hours
FP&A Professional Headcount Forecasting & Analysis
2.5 hours
FP&A Professional Contractor Forecasting & Analysis
1 hours
FP&A Professional Debt and Capex Forecasting & Analysis
5(1 Ratings)
1.5 hours
1.5 hours
FP&A Professional Financial Statement Aggregation & Analysis
5(1 Ratings)
2 hours
2 hours
FP&A Professional Dashboard Visualizations & Analysis
4(1 Ratings)
1.5 hours
1.5 hours
FP&A Professional Model Build & Configuration
2 hours
Budgeting and Forecasting
5(947 Ratings)
7 hours
7 hours
Data Visualization & Dashboards - The Basics
5(3 Ratings)
1.5 hours
1.5 hours
Financial Analysis Fundamentals
4.9(1,786 Ratings)
5 hours
5 hours
Introduction to 3-Statement Modeling
4.9(88 Ratings)
6 hours
6 hours
Advanced Excel Formulas & Functions
5(944 Ratings)
4.5 hours
4.5 hours
Fundamentals of Data Analysis in Excel
4.8(255 Ratings)
8 hours
8 hours
Power Query Fundamentals
5(274 Ratings)
6 hours
6 hours
Power BI Fundamentals
4.9(178 Ratings)
6 hours
6 hours
Workflow Best Practice for Analysts
5(4 Ratings)
1.5 hours
1.5 hours
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Step 2.
Coming Soon
FP&A Professional Model Roll-Forward & Analysis
Coming Soon
FP&A Professional Model Protection & Presentation
Coming Soon
Skills & Learning Objectives in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
FP&A - Financial Modeling
Understand best practices for FP&A model design and how they may differ from other types of financial models.
Practice building models in Excel to learn common formulas and functions commonly used for FP&A models.
Learn a detailed procedure for filing monthly models, setting a new budget forecast, and rolling the models forward for each new fiscal year.
FP&A Financial Analysis
Use FP&A financial model templates to analyze incoming monthly data.
Learn how to review historic year-over-year results for seasonality and decide when it is appropriate to update forward-looking forecasts.
Perform quantitative and qualitative analysis to distill your views down to concise commentary written for key stakeholders.
FP&A Data Transformation
Learn how to transform data from multiple sources, reducing manual errors and saving valuable time.
Automate transformations to enable report refreshes at the click of a button.
Use Power Query in Excel and Power BI to perform efficient data transformations.
FP&A Data Analysis
Learn modern data analysis formulas and techniques in Excel and Power BI.
Learn how to supercharge your analysis using a data model.
Create measures and metrics that help quantify the most important trends.
FP&A Data Visualization
Create clear visuals that communicate key financial insights.
Learn how to choose the right visual for the right type of data.
Combine visuals to tell a story, allowing users to drill down into issues or trends using interactive dashboards.
Taught by Industry Experts
Duncan McKeen
Duncan is the Executive Vice President, Financial Modeling at CFI. Since 2014, Duncan has been focused on designing courses and teaching financial modeling to employees working in accounting, valuation, investment banking, equity research, and private equity.
Scott Powell
Scott is the Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of CFI. Over the past 30 years, he has focused on designing and delivering learning solutions for clients in the financial services sector, particularly in the areas of commercial banking, investment banking, capital markets, and asset management.
Jeff Schmidt
Jeff is the Vice President, Financial Modeling at CFI. Prior to joining CFI, Jeff Schmidt taught financial modeling and valuation to thousands of learners all over the world for over a decade.
Tim Vipond
Tim is the Chair of the Board of CFI Education with an extensive background in entrepreneurship, financial analysis, and investment banking.
Sebastian Taylor
Sebastian leads our BIDA® program, and has worked with a variety of BI tools across a number of industries. From quant energy risk management to financial and retail analysis, Seb loves the challenge of automating and communicating complex analysis with simplicity and clarity.
Joseph Yeates
Joseph is passionate about driving better decision making by creating, curating, and communicating insights from data. He has a degree in Business Administration and Finance, with further certifications in Business Analytics & Decision Making and Applied Database Administration & Design.
Carl Seidman
Carl’s FP&A development methodologies and curriculums have been implemented by leading organizations as part of their financial leadership development programs (FLDPs) for top talent and emerging leaders.
Careers in Financial Analysis & Strategy
Financial Analyst
Work closely with other members of the finance team. Financial Analysts must regularly provide insights and recommendations to help in strategic decision-making. Also, Financial Analysts work alongside sales, marketing, and operations to support financial planning and decision-making.
Project Evaluator
Work with project managers and senior management to evaluate potential projects and create project budgets. Project Evaluators also collaborate with marketing, engineering, and operations. Also, Project Evaluators with other financial analysts and members of the FP&A team for peer review and collaboration.
FP&A Manager
Lead an FP&A team and collaborate across departments for cohesive financial planning. FP&A Managers typically develop and manage the annual budget and forecasts. FP&A Managers also analyze financial reports for insights into company performance and make recommendations to senior management.
Our Learners Work At:
What Our Students Say
I’ve transitioned from audit to FP&A. Not only did I transition to a new role, but it allowed me to pick up the new role fast and gain several spot bonuses.
Travis Bruns
Everything was explained clearly and carefully by the instructor which made things easy to understand.
Joss Atkinson
The skills are actual real-world skills (unlike most financial qualifications) that have already helped me land a new role.
Mark Wheeler
I would absolutely recommend CFI’s training for anyone who’s looking to rapidly increase their ability to add value through a certification program.
Anthony Santillanes
Frequently Asked Questions
If you haven’t found your answer from our FAQ, please send us a message.
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Will these courses help me advance my career?
Reviews from learners who have taken CFI courses include numerous stories about how people have been able to advance their careers. There is a proven track record of CFI graduates marking successful transitions into the careers of their dreams and this is based largely on the resources that we make available to our learners upon enrolment. Our training is designed to be fully practical and simulates the experience of being trained as a professional financial analyst. Additionally, we offer a wealth of information through our free career resources. The unique blend of all these elements is what sets us apart from other eLearning platforms when it comes to giving you all the tools you need to create a successful career in finance.
What are the admission requirements for the courses?
This specialization bundle is recommended for learners and professionals with knowledge or experience in environmental, social and governance analysis. To take the courses and complete the exercises, learners will only need access to a PC and/or Mac, Microsoft Suite (2016 or newer), and a stable internet connection.
How much time do I have to complete the courses?
Take as much time as you need. You will have access to all courses and all future upgrades in your subscription. You can review the video lessons as many times as you like and complete the courses at a pace that is most convenient for you. All of the required courses, resources, and assessments to obtain the certifications will be provided, for as long as your subscription is active.
How are the exams conducted?
Learners are required to complete an online assessment (MCQ's, Fill-in-the-Blanks, and Excel Questions) at the end of each course. You can take the exams at your own schedule and will need to earn at least 80% to pass the course and earn your certificate of course completion. Please note that course exams can be repeated as many times as you need.
Can I download and edit the course material and templates?
Yes! You can download the resources included in your courses. All of the files needed in a course are available for download. Please note that while our study materials can be downloaded, the lecture videos are only available online due to copyright infringement issues.
How do I earn my certificates?
You need to complete all the video lessons, quizzes, and final assessments in each course to earn your course certificates. The certificate will then be available on your learner dashboard and also emailed to you as soon as you have completed all of the requirements.
What currency are your courses priced in?
All of our online courses and programs are priced in USD.
What payment methods do you accept?
As this is a recurring payment, we accept all major credit and debit cards including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.
Are there any additional fees or costs?
None! The program tuition includes everything and there are no additional fees required to earn your digital certification.
More Questions?
Please email us and we'll be happy to answer any of your questions!
If you haven’t found your answer from our FAQ, please send us a message.
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