The State of the FP&A Market: Briefings, Research & Quarterly Updates
The most current view of the FP&A software landscape, built from hundreds of vendor conversations, tool demos, and ongoing research with founders and operators.
Built for Two Audiences
Same research and same depth, applied to the questions each audience needs answered.
Sharpen Your Positioning. Understand Your Competitors.
An outside-in view of the overall market, where the category is moving, and how the most effective competitors are positioning themselves in this shifting landscape.
- Where your category is heading and where the white space is
- How AI-native entrants and adjacent categories are reshaping competitive dynamics
- Where the category is fragmenting and where it's consolidating
- How the strongest competitors are repositioning themselves today
- A briefing your marketing, product, and sales teams can align around
Map the Market. Improve Deal Flow. Sharpen Diligence.
A grounded, current view of the FP&A and broader finance software landscape, including the finance agent layer, Excel AI agents, and AI-native ERPs. Useful for sourcing, diligence, portfolio strategy, and investment committee preparation. Built from regular conversations with founders and hands-on research, not pulled from analyst databases.
- Comprehensive market map across categories, segments, and stages
- Which segments are fragmenting and which are consolidating
- How AI is reshaping the competitive landscape and creating new categories
- How midmarket, enterprise, and SMB dynamics differ across the category
- An efficient way to get smart on the space before an IC or a deal
Two Ways to Engage
Start with a comprehensive market briefing, then keep your team current with quarterly updates as the landscape shifts.
Comprehensive Market Briefing & Q&A
A live, in-depth session covering the full FP&A software landscape, scoped to your team's priorities. Designed for vendor leadership teams, marketing and product teams, investment teams, and operating partners who want one cohesive view of the market in a single sitting.
- State of AI in FP&A and where it's heading
- Tool category breakdown across LLMs, Excel AI agents, EPM/planning tools, finance agent layer, and modern ERP
- Leader / Challenger / Maturing positioning by segment
- Open Q&A with your team
- Includes the full report deck and the underlying tools spreadsheet
Scoped to emphasize what matters most to your team, whether that's vendor positioning, deal flow, diligence prep, or category strategy.
Quarterly Update
Stay current with what has changed across the market each quarter. The FP&A software space moves fast, with new entrants, M&A, funding rounds, AI releases, and shifting positioning happening constantly. The quarterly update keeps your team aligned to the current state of the market without starting from scratch.
- Live 1-hour session covering what changed in the last 90 days
- Updated tools spreadsheet with new entrants, exits, and changes
- Refreshed report deck reflecting the current landscape
- Live Q&A on the changes that matter most to your team
Available only to teams who have completed the Comprehensive Market Briefing. The quarterly update assumes the shared context of the full briefing.
What's Inside the Research
The briefing covers the full FP&A software landscape, including categories most market overviews miss.
State of AI in FP&A
Setting the stage with current adoption data and a few examples of how finance teams are using AI today.
LLMs in Finance
The major LLM providers are going after finance directly. A look at how Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot are positioning for the category.
Excel AI Agents
The emerging category of AI agents built to operate inside Excel, including who's building, who's winning, and what the category looks like.
EPM / FP&A Planning Tools
Deep coverage of the planning software market including who is winning and who is struggling in this space.
Finance Agent Layer
A new wave of finance-specific AI agents and agentic competitors entering the category.
Modern ERP & AI-Native Ledgers
The wave of AI-native ERPs and ledgers reshaping accounting and finance infrastructure, and how they intersect with the FP&A stack.
BI & Data Tools
The growing landscape of BI planning options, and how Microsoft Fabric Planning could potentially disrupt the category.
Underlying Tools Spreadsheet
The working dataset behind the briefing. 150+ tools tracked with momentum, classification, ownership, and funding, updated continually as the market shifts.
What Clients Say
Hear from the leaders who have brought this research to their teams.
Paul led a detailed market landscape analysis workshop for our Marketing team. He brought a tremendous amount of insight, asked thought-provoking questions, and is helping us think about our messaging differently. Paul not only brings genuine expertise but also humor and personality, which combined for a super exciting session! Can't wait to have him come back again.
Paul provided an incredibly valuable deep dive into the evolving FP&A software landscape, drawing on his experience of demoing over 100 different tools. His objective breakdown of emerging competitors and "4th Generation" AI trends directly helped us sharpen our strategic positioning. I highly recommend Paul to any organization seeking actionable intelligence in finance technology.
Over the last year I have had the privilege of getting to know Paul Barnhurst, "The FP&A Guy." He is my go-to expert in the FP&A software space and I find him to be one of the most authentic and trusted voices in the industry. He has incredibly broad and deep market knowledge and a compelling perspective on where FP&A is today, and where it's headed, that I can trust. His ability to translate complex market dynamics into clear, actionable insights sets him apart. His State of the FP&A Market presentation that he presented to my team delivered tremendous value and reinforced to me why he is so highly regarded across the FP&A community.
Trusted by Leading FP&A & Finance Brands
A selection of the 40+ FP&A and finance software vendors The FP&A Guy has worked with.