Wharton Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Certificate: Program Guide

An 8-week online certificate from Wharton Online & Wall Street Prep that builds the modern FP&A toolkit—forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis, decision-support modeling, and finance business partnering—through real-world cases and weekly office hours.

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About the Certificate

This program blends Wharton's academic rigor with Wall Street Prep's hands-on approach so you can plan, analyze, and communicate financial performance at an institutional level. You'll learn to design the planning cycle, build driver-based forecasts, translate analysis into action, and partner with business leaders to drive results.

Learning Experience & Support

• Self-paced lessons paired with practical, corporate-finance case studies.
• Weekly office hours for Q&A and guidance from faculty & instructors.
• Career-ready deliverables (forecasts, variance reviews, dashboards, decks).
• Digital certificate from Wharton Online on completion.

Who Should Enroll?

• FP&A analysts/managers and corporate finance professionals
• Accountants/Controllers moving into planning & analysis
• Consultants and business unit leaders who partner with finance
• Career switchers and recent graduates targeting FP&A roles

Curriculum Overview (8 Modules)

Module 1 — Introduction to FP&A

• Role of FP&A, core deliverables, tools, and finance operating model
• Foundations of financial storytelling and stakeholder alignment

Module 2 — Planning Cycle & Budgeting

• Long-range planning; top-down vs. bottom-up budgeting
• Calendar design, ownership, and cross-functional inputs

Module 3 — Forecasting

• Driver-based planning, scenario analysis, time-series basics
• Revenue, opex, capex, headcount, and cash-flow forecasting

Module 4 — Financial Analysis

• Variance analysis (price/volume/mix), KPI trend reading
• Root-cause analysis, risk & opportunity management

Module 5 — Decision-Support Modeling

• ROI, payback, DCF, CLV, and break-even models
• Model structure, assumptions, auditability, sensitivities

Module 6 — Finance Business Partnering

• Influence without authority; challenging assumptions with data
• Operating cadence, accountability, and stakeholder trust

Module 7 — Reporting, Presenting & Storytelling

• Management decks, flash reports, and dashboard design
• Executive-ready narratives that drive decisions

Module 8 — The Future of FP&A

• GenAI & automation in finance workflows; analytics maturity
• Career prep: common FP&A interview cases & prompts

What You'll Walk Away With

• Institutional-grade planning, forecasting, and variance analysis skills
• Decision-support modeling you can deploy immediately
• Clear, persuasive financial storytelling for executives
• A Wharton Online digital certificate to showcase on LinkedIn and your resume