Can't help falling in love with FP&A

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We spoke to Hadia Lugo who is a director of Financial Planning and Analysis for Duke Energy, the largest utility in the United States. In this role, Hadia supports Duke’s regulated and renewable energy organization as well as its project management and construction organization. Duke Energy operates in six states and specializes in various business segments such as electric, gas, and commercial renewables with the electric business segment being the largest. “Our business partners build new and or operate and maintain all of the electric generation power plants which include nuclear, coal, gas, combustion turbine, combined cycle, hydro, pumped storage and solar,” explains Hadia. “I provide financial support to all our generation fleets within our electric segment within for all the states we operate in except the nuclear fleet.” 

Key FP&A roles and business partnerships

What does the FP&A partnering role look like from Hadia’s perspective? It’s a complex and endlessly challenging landscape. “We provide financial planning and budgeting, forecasting, management and performance reporting, financial and scenario modeling, analytical activities, and business partnering,” she says. “My team manages all those activities for our business partners monthly. We ensure that our business partner's plans and strategies are aligned with our enterprise strategies. We are currently working on our 5-year financial plan as well as the carbon plan filing that will outline Duke Energy's carbon plan for net-zero.”

On top of all the financial planning and budgeting activities we perform, we also partner with the business from an operational perspective. “We provide them analytics at a unit, station, regional, and state and or jurisdictional level that helps them make a risk-informed decision” They share indicators of progress against plans monthly, checking that expectations and budgets are being met, and help their business partners to make strategic decisions using forecasting and financial information. It’s a rewarding process. “The amazing thing about it is that it becomes a team decision,” says Hadia. “There is a lot of collaboration, engagement, and sharing experiences.”

In the context of the energy sector, there are also specialist areas for FP&A to tackle, such as managing and tracking planned outage costs for plant maintenance and the replacement of major parts. Capital investment support is also a high priority, especially with carbon planning. In the next five years, Duke is projected to invest over  $60 billion on capital investments,” says Hadia. “We're projecting to be net-zero by 2035. We are looking at what kind of investments we are going to choose from an economic perspective? Which type of project has the best benefit for the customer, stakeholders, and the company?  We help support the teams in identifying those projects that we think would align with our company's strategic goals.” 

FP&A in transformation 

As part of her role supporting business partners across the organization, Hadia sees first-hand the importance of analytics and the impact of culture in business and process transformation. “We have been supporting very big opportunities in regard to process improvements,” she explains, “saving 10-15,000 employee hours on an annual basis. Leading process improvements includes a cultural change for my entire finance team and our business partners' entire team, totaling over 3,000 employees. There has to be a clear strategy, and we are working on executing integrated analytics to get the descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive data analytics that we need to help us make the best risk-informed decision.”

There are a lot of challenges ahead both in process improvement and the drive to net zero, but throughout this process of transformation, Hadia is focused on effective partnering. “I want our business partners to know we are a team,” she says. “I make time for the business partners because the input they share is critical for my role, for my team, and for the finance leadership community.” 

Building an FP&A career

During her FP&A journey, which started in 2005, Hadia worked across multiple operational sectors in large utility companies. Starting her FP&A journey at Progress Energy, it was a challenge at first to transition from the financial services industry to utilities, but 2 weeks in, she was hooked. She spent some time also working for another utility company, Entergy supporting their nuclear merchant fleet. She joined Duke when her previous employer, Progress Energy, merged with Duke in 2012 and worked her way through support for non-nuclear generation, project management & construction, fuels system optimization, coal ash combustion products, transmission, distribution, and various corporate organizations. Prior to this, she worked for several household names including Morgan Stanley, Reuters, E&Y, Time Warner, Citibank, MetLife, and Coca-Cola. But her career started at Morgan Stanley in New York, and Hadia attributes her success in FP&A to the basic core foundation and hugely varied experience she gained from all the large companies she worked at.

“While working at many large organizations, I have done stints in Corporate Accounting, Consolidations, Insurance Accounting, Statutory & Regulatory Reporting, A/P & A/R, Consolidations, Tax, Audit, Investor Relations, and Fixed Assets to name a few,” she says. “I think I've experienced everything possible under the accounting umbrella. And my last role in the financial services industry was in FP&A and I just fell absolutely in love with it.”

What was the coup de foudre? “I loved how I was able to bring my accounting and finance hat, as well as my business and strategy experience, and be that business partner to the company,” she says.

After living in New York all her life, Hadia and her husband relocated to Tampa, Florida in 2002, where she spent a further three years working for the big brands while seeking a dedicated FP&A role. “The core foundation that I built from real-life experiences at those companies helped shape the FP&A business partner that I am today.” 

Awareness builds relationships

“I can't believe that I've been here since 2005,” says Hadia. “I feel like I just started yesterday, and I enjoy every bit of it.” Despite her love for FP&A and the dream role that she had landed, she recalls the first few weeks being an intense learning experience. “I came from investment banking and financial services, very conservative, very traditional, going in with the suit,” she says. “On my first day, I'll never forget this, the general manager at the largest power plant in Florida said, let's go take you around the site.” The introductions were very formal, and not the best way to start a business partnering relationship. “He said, you’ve got to lose the suit,” says Hadia, “and I realized that something as simple as what you're wearing changes how you're perceived. I lost the suit in the plant, but I kept the jacket in my office in case I ever needed it.”

With this newfound awareness (and slacks and a top), Hadia set about building relationships. The staff took her under their wing, and she learned the ins and outs of operations from turbines to cooling towers, but that left her quite overwhelmed. “I didn’t feel like I was adding value in the first few weeks,” she says. “The General Manager told me, "You need to focus on things that have dollar impacts, not turning the wrench.” This was a great reminder but a valuable lesson, and only the start.

“It's been nonstop,” says Hadia, “a tremendous amount of knowledge, and I'm still learning. I want to continue to learn to add more value because there are things that are changing so quickly. But that business partnership, that's something that I can't do my job without. And I take it very seriously. I tell others, if you don't have a business relationship and or value the partnership, you cannot be successful in your FP&A role.”

Not only is it essential for an FP&A professional to know the business, but also to keep up with the latest developments in accounting, finance, and technology to be a better business partner. “I have an accounting and business management undergrad degree,” says Hadia, “and an organizational management and finance graduate degree. I'm currently working on another graduate degree in Business Analytics. I'm also taking a certification in finance data with impactful business results, on understanding the behind-the-scenes of all the data systems and the execution of integrated analytics. I have always been interested in business analytics and have created various integrated analytics for many of the operational sectors I have supported. Currently, my team and I are working on creating integrated analytics, which includes financial and operational data to help our business partners make better decisions. The continued education and training will allow me to continue to stay abreast of what capabilities are out there such that we can continue to integrate our financial and operational analytics as effectively as possible for our business partners. I'm a nerd, I'll be 90 and still learning. I enjoy leading and developing a team, the continuous process improvements, and the business partnering support within my FP&A role.”

Storytelling for success

One thing that comes over loud and clear when speaking to Hadia is the importance of communication in different registers, from how you dress to how you approach people. Hadia agrees. “It's not just what you say, it's how you say it,” she says. “The body language and tone used, is very important.”

Once the relationships are established and communication channels are well and truly open, the next thing to focus on is the message. “The way you deliver the message is just as critical as the message you're delivering,” says Hadia. “One of the biggest things that have truly helped me in my career is being able to share a message, good, bad, or ugly, in the most positive way possible. If it's bad, then how do we turn the ship around? And if it's positive, how do we continue to do what we're doing?”

She always asks people; do you want to be a storyteller? Or do you just want to be a financial reporter? “If I was in the elevator, and the CFO was right next to me, and I'm going from the 12th floor down to the 10th floor, I better have an elevator story that lasts one second.”

Being able to tailor your story based on your audience is critical. “We have direct reporting to our finance leaders on various things,” says Hadia, “and then we’re reporting and sharing best practices and process improvements with our peers all while we also provide financial support to our business partners. Being able to understand and tell your story and knowing your audience is one of the most important things in FP&A.” 

What is the best thing about working in an FP&A role in such a diverse and complex organization? What is the greatest outcome of this love affair with FP&A?

“The fun thing about FP&A is the sharing of financial information with a non-finance person, the learning from each other as well as working together to come up with a plan,” says Hadia. “It’s that business partner interaction and relationships being built to achieve a common goal, that is the most rewarding in my role. But the best thing is being able to take the data, explaining to our business partners, and sharing with them what it means, what they can do with it, where that next step is, and give them options and information to help them make that risk-informed strategic decision. And I get to do this with amazing folks in the company. It's been truly amazing. I have had the pleasure of providing financial support to various operational and corporate groups within our company and I have learned and continue to learn from every business partnership I have had.”

What are your key takeaways from Hadia's story? Share them in the comments and let's continue learning together as a community how to have a successful career in FP&A!

This was the ninth article in my latest series "Charting the course of a successful FP&A career". You can read the previous article(s) below.

Charting the course for a successful FP&A career

FP&A basics for finance professionals

From financial analyst to CFO

A day in the life of a financial analyst

The challenging life of an FP&A leader

The FP&A professionals' career plan

Why FP&A professionals need to be curious

Why FP&A professionals need to take more risks in their careers

While you await future articles you can read my latest series "Planning (as we know it) is dead!" below.

Planning as we know it is dead. Long live... WHAT?

A history of planning: How did we get here?

A review of the contenders for the planning crown

Enter the new paradigm for planning

A planning approach fit for the next normal

FP&A perspectives from the frontline

Planning in the real world

Can we trust the machine for financial planning and analysis?

You can read a lot more articles about FP&A, Business Partnering, and Finance Transformation below. It all start's with “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” where you set the ambition for your transformation. You should join the Finance Business Partner Forum, which is part of the Business Partnering Institute's online community.

The secret sauce of FP&A transformation (the last article in the series "FP&A Transformation Talks")

How Finance should use its seat at the table (the last article in the series "The Unfair Advantage of Finance")

The ultimate guide to decision-making for finance professionals (the last article in a series about the decision-making process and how Finance should impact it).

The Mindset Change Checklist For Finance Professionals (the last article in a series about the mindset change that finance and accounting professionals should make to become business partners)

It's Time To Decide If You Want To Be A Business Partner (the last article in a series about the personality traits of business partners)

All Successful Business Partners Are "Leaders" (the last article in the series about our new capability model)

Should We Keep Talking About Business Partnering? (part of a 17-article series where we deep-dive into the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of business partnering by putting it on a formula)

Your Journey To Successful Business Partnering Explained

How To Create Value Through Business Partnering

Everyone Can Adopt A Business Partnering Mindset (part of a six-article series about FP&A Business Partnering)

From Business Partner To Working Within The Business (part of an article series where I interview finance professionals about their careers in FP&A and Business Partnering)

Is Your Product Optimized For Value Creation? (part of a toolbox series where we look at what tools FP&A professionals should leverage to drive value creation)

How Business Partners Turn Analysis To Insight (part of case study series where I interview business partners about how they drive value creation using real cases)

The Future Of FP&A: Two Ways To Take The Reins

What Is The Accounting Profession Paradox?

What Defines A Finance Master?

The New Career Path For Finance Professionals

How Finance People Can Be More Successful

The CFOs Roadmap To Transforming Finance

How To Become A Finance Business Partner

Financial Analyst vs. Finance Business Partner

Finance Business Partner Is A Bullshit Job

How Business Partners Keep A Plan On Track

Anders Liu-Lindberg is the co-founder and a partner at the Business Partnering Institute and the owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with more than 10,000 members. I have ten years of experience as a business partner at the global transport and logistics company Maersk. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a long-time Finance Blogger on LinkedIn with 90,000+ followers and 155,000+ subscribers to my blog. I am also an advisory board member at Born Capital where I help identify and grow the next big thing in #CFOTech. Finally, I'm a member of the board of directors at PACE - Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence where I support the development of new analytics frameworks that can improve profitability in companies around the world.