FPAC study guide
FPAC · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis Professional (FPAC) is a credential established and administered by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), which describes itself as the certifying body in treasury and finance and which also administers the Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) credential. AFP positions FPAC as a way for FP&A practitioners to stand out, framing credential holders as financial experts and trusted advisors to the business, and stating that earning and maintaining the credential confirms commitment to the profession and identifies someone ready to drive FP&A and the organization forward. The credential is aimed at corporate finance professionals working in planning and analysis rather than treasury, and AFP lists FP&A topics under two headings: Financial Analysis, and Technology and Data. Those two headings are the published topic areas to organize study around; candidates should confirm the detailed content outline, item counts, and scoring directly with AFP, since this page does not reproduce them. Topics on this exam: Financial Analysis and Technology and Data. The FPAC study guide has 2 sections and about 834 words.
01Financial Analysis
The Financial Analysis domain tests whether you can turn statements into decision-ready insight: ratio construction, common-size and trend analysis, cost-volume-profit (CVP) reasoning, variance decomposition, capital budgeting, and cash conversion. Questions often provide a compact data set and ask which conclusion is supportable, so marks sit in method and interpretation rather than recall. Liquidity: current, quick, and cash ratios; interpret alongside the cash conversion cycle, not in isolation. Solvency: debt-to-equity, net debt/EBITDA, interest coverage (EBIT/interest).
454 words, about 2 min02Technology and Data
The Technology and Data domain tests how FP&A systems, data architecture, and controls produce reliable planning and reporting. Expect questions on the system stack, data quality, master data, automation, dashboard design, and the controls that keep numbers auditable. ERP: transaction source (GL, AP/AR, payroll). Data warehouse/lake: stores integrated data; supports history and granularity.
380 words, about 2 min