IBM

IBM Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) with AI Skills Professional Certificate

IBM

IBM Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) with AI Skills Professional Certificate

Become an AI-Powered FP&A Analyst.

Build the budgeting, forecasting, and AI skills modern finance teams need. No experience required.

LearnQuest Network

Instructor: LearnQuest Network

Access provided by University of Nebraska Lincoln

Earn a career credential that demonstrates your expertise
Beginner level

Recommended experience

4 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
Earn a career credential that demonstrates your expertise
Beginner level

Recommended experience

4 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

  • Build driver-based financial models and run price-volume-mix variance analysis in Excel and IBM Planning Analytics.

  • Apply generative AI to automate data prep, accelerate forecasting, and stress-test scenarios — with governance and human oversight built in.

  • Turn analysis into executive-ready narratives that connect FP&A findings to decisions and hold up under boardroom Q&A.

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Taught in English
Recently updated!

July 2026

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Professional Certificate - 7 course series

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A): Foundations

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A): Foundations

Course 1, 5 hours

What you'll learn

  • Explain what FP&A teams do and how budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis structure the finance calendar.

  • Read core financial statements and apply accrual concepts to real business situations.

  • Select and structure KPIs that link daily operations to the financial outcomes leadership tracks.

  • Connect FP&A analysis to organizational strategy and prioritize insights by stakeholder need.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Category: Financial Statements
Category: Accrual Accounting
Category: Accruals
Category: Management Reporting
Category: Financial Forecasting
Category: Financial Planning
Category: Financial Accounting
Category: Variance Analysis
Category: Financial Modeling
Category: Financial Reporting
Category: Financial Data
Category: Financial Statement Analysis
Category: Working Capital
Category: Financial Services
Category: Financial Analysis
Category: Performance Measurement
Category: Financial Acumen
Category: Business Reporting
Category: Profit and Loss (P&L) Management
Budgeting & Driver-Based Planning

Budgeting & Driver-Based Planning

Course 2, 4 hours

What you'll learn

  • Map the end-to-end budget cycle and diagnose where and why traditional static budgeting stalls under real business conditions.

  • Build driver-based models that link volume, price, and headcount to P&L outcomes, and run sensitivity tests on key assumptions.

  • Design stage-gate approval workflows and run cross-functional reviews that move a budget from first draft to leadership sign-off.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Budget Management
Category: Stakeholder Communications
Category: Business Operations
Category: Business Modeling
Category: Financial Modeling
Category: Business Analysis
Category: Business Workflow Analysis
Category: Business Communication
Category: Influencing
Category: Process Design
Category: Financial Planning
Category: Cross-Functional Collaboration
Category: Microsoft Excel
Category: Operating Budget
Category: Planning
Category: Process Mapping
Category: Budgeting
Category: Data Analysis
Category: Financial Forecasting
Category: Process Improvement
FP&A Modeling: Variance Analysis & Forecasting

FP&A Modeling: Variance Analysis & Forecasting

Course 3, 3 hours

What you'll learn

  • Structure Excel models with separated inputs, calculations, and outputs plus built-in error checks.

  • Calculate budget-to-actual variances and decompose them into price, volume, and mix components.

  • Build variance bridges and waterfall charts that turn the numbers into a story leaders can act on.

  • Produce and validate rolling forecasts using moving averages and error metrics like MAE and MAPE.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Variance Analysis
Category: Financial Analysis
Category: Forecasting
Category: Financial Modeling
Category: Budgeting
Category: Time Series Analysis and Forecasting
Category: Financial Forecasting
Category: Financial Data
Category: Revenue Forecasting
Category: Financial Planning
Category: Financial Controls
Category: Microsoft Excel
Category: Performance Measurement
Category: Analysis
Category: Performance Reporting
Category: Statistical Analysis
Category: Statistical Methods
Category: Performance Analysis
Category: Operating Budget
Category: Management Reporting
AI for FP&A Automation & Modeling

AI for FP&A Automation & Modeling

Course 4, 3 hours

What you'll learn

  • Write structured AI prompts that standardize messy financial data and validate cleaned outputs.

  • Generate financial model logic with AI and audit it for errors and bias before it goes live.

  • Apply AI to anomaly detection and reconciliation with review trails that keep models trustworthy.

  • Build governance habits — prompt guardrails, output logging, audit evidence — that meet finance standards.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Reconciliation
Category: Generative AI
Category: Responsible AI
Category: Anomaly Detection
Category: Auditing
Category: Prompt Engineering
Category: Financial Controls
Category: Financial Modeling
Category: Prompt Engineering Tools
Category: Financial Auditing
Category: Audit Planning
Category: Financial Analysis
Category: Financial Forecasting
Category: General Ledger
Category: Finance
Category: Financial Data
Category: Data Mapping
Category: Risking
Category: Cyber Governance
Category: Financial Planning
Forecasting & Scenario Development with AI

Forecasting & Scenario Development with AI

Course 5, 2 hours

What you'll learn

  • Break a time series into trend, seasonality, and noise and measure forecast quality with MAE and MAPE.

  • Generate AI-assisted forecasts and apply clear rules for when to accept or override them.

  • Build base, best, and worst-case scenarios with probability weights tied to strategic risk.

  • Construct sensitivity tables and use AI to stress-test assumptions for leadership review.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Forecasting
Category: Financial Forecasting
Category: Time Series Analysis and Forecasting
Category: Contingency Planning
Category: Decision Support Systems
Category: Performance Stress Testing
Category: Demand Planning
Category: Financial Modeling
Category: Financial Analysis
Category: Decision Intelligence
Category: Budgeting
Category: Advanced Analytics
Category: Responsible AI
Category: Revenue Forecasting
Category: Predictive Analytics
Category: Trend Analysis
Category: Prompt Engineering
Category: Financial Data
Category: Data-Driven Decision-Making
Category: Financial Planning
Executive Storytelling & Governance

Executive Storytelling & Governance

Course 6, 6 hours

What you'll learn

  • Distill variances and forecasts into clear executive headlines prioritized by stakeholder need.

  • Build a headline-proof-action narrative and match FP&A findings to charts that land in seconds.

  • Map FP&A control points, build a risk register, and set compliant AI-use rules for audit review.

  • Rehearse for high-stakes executive Q&A with concise, data-backed answers that hold under pressure.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Data Storytelling
Category: Risk Management
Category: Executive Presence
Category: Governance Risk Management and Compliance
Category: Data Presentation
Category: Financial Analysis
Category: Business Reporting
Category: Financial Planning
Category: Financial Controls
Category: Financial Forecasting
Category: Communication Strategies
Category: Data Visualization
Category: Data Literacy
Category: Cash Flow Forecasting
Category: Stakeholder Management
Category: Business Communication
Category: Financial Data
Category: Management Reporting
Category: Stakeholder Communications
Category: Financial Modeling
FP&A with AI: Capstone Project

FP&A with AI: Capstone Project

Course 7, 9 hours

What you'll learn

  • Build an end-to-end driver-based financial model with variances, forecasts, and AI-assisted scenarios.

  • Execute the full FP&A lifecycle — budget, variance, forecast, scenario — on a realistic case company.

  • Assemble an executive narrative pack that leads with insight and connects findings to decisions.

  • Embed governance evidence and AI-use documentation that meets finance and audit standards.

Skills you'll gain

Category: Performance Analysis
Category: Gap Analysis
Category: Operational Analysis
Category: Financial Modeling
Category: Risk Analysis
Category: Variance Analysis
Category: Financial Data
Category: Financial Acumen
Category: Performance Measurement
Category: Finance
Category: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Category: Forecasting
Category: Business Metrics
Category: Management Reporting
Category: Data Storytelling
Category: Financial Management
Category: Financial Analysis
Category: Business Modeling
Category: Business Analysis
Category: Financial Forecasting

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Instructor

LearnQuest Network
217 Courses1,007,021 learners

Offered by

IBM

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