Read Time: 5 minutes
When NCAA March Madness kicks off, all bets are off. Upsets happen. Brackets get busted. Cinderella teams dance their way into the spotlight.
Sound familiar? If you’ve ever worked in FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis), you know planning season can feel a lot like tournament time.
That’s the vibe Paul Barnhurst—aka The FP&A Guy—captured with his first-ever March Madness FP&A Style bracket. 64 FP&A software vendors. AI-assisted seeding. Community-powered voting.
Kepion is proud to have landed on the podium! In a field packed with heavy hitters and rising stars, we’re pleased to be recognized—and grateful for the support from our customers and partners.
But beyond the fun, the whole thing got us thinking…
What does March Madness have in common with FP&A?
Turns out, quite a bit.
Bracket Logic = Scenario Planning
Filling out a bracket isn’t just about who you think will win—it’s about imagining how different matchups could play out. That’s pretty much how scenario planning works.
- What happens if revenue drops 10%?
- What if costs go up? Labor, tariffs, or otherwise?
- What if the product launch slips a quarter?
You need to map it. You need to model it. You need to see how it flows through.
The most successful planners we talk to aren’t waiting around for someone else to run the numbers. Just like the players on the court, they’re grabbing the ball, creating their own paths and pressure-testing their strategy as they go. And even then..
Paul Barnhurst said it well… “March Madness FP&A Style is full of upsets!”
Upsets happen in business, too. But the teams that can model and test them in advance and on the fly? They’re ready to respond to unexpected fouls, dust themselves off, and find the next play.
Organizations who leverage modern FP&A software get the ability to build those what-ifs into plans and forecasts—without having to rebuild spreadsheets, write more formulas, or burden IT with another data refresh or edit request.
How quickly could you pivot if your best-case bracket busted tomorrow?
Flexibility Wins Championships
Let’s be real—no bracket survives the first round of March Madness; there’s always an upset of some sort. And no budget survives the first exec review.
That’s why flexibility matters. On the court and in your planning models.
Whether a shift in the market happens, caused by tariffs, bird-flu or other macro change,, or leadership pivots the strategy (again), you need the self-service freedom to update, recalculate, and adjust without blowing up the model.
That’s what FP&A and Operational Planning professionals love about tools that put them in control. No ticketing queue. No custom build. Just the ability to pivot and keep moving forward.
The most resilient planners aren’t tied to one way of working—they work in real-time, flex fast, regroup, and move forward.
If your strategy changed today, how fast could your plan catch up?
Curious how other teams are bringing flexibility to their planning?
See how some Kepion customers like IHME, Reece, Energizer and more are doing it 👉
Overtime = Budget Season
There’s always one more version. One more meeting. One more “Can we see it by department and region and channel?” request.
It’s budget season—and it always goes into OT.
The best FP&A teams don’t just brace for it. They set themselves up with workflows and tools that make last-minute changes feel… manageable. Maybe even painless.
When you’re not fighting spreadsheets or hunting for data, you can actually think.
Adjust assumptions. Test a few new ideas. Push back with data that’s solid.
And when that process happens in real time—without waiting on refreshes, reconciliations, or version control—you’ve got a serious advantage.
That’s the kind of game planning that helps teams not just survive, but win.
What could your team accomplish if budget season didn’t feel like double OT every year?
READ WHY REAL TIME PLANNING IS KEY TO BUSINESS SURVIVAL IN 2025
A Shout-out to FP&A Community
The real win in March Madness FP&A Style? It’s not about the contenders (aka vendors)—it’s about you.
The community of planners, analysts, and leaders who make the hard stuff look easy (or at least easier).
We’re especially grateful to March Madness MVP Paul Barnhurst, who brought this bracket to life. He’s an amazing partner to Finance with training, content and peer Finance insights. You can find him on…
If you don’t know or follow Paul, now’s a great time to do so and up your Finance game!
Want to See More Winning Plays?
The bracket may have been for fun—but the real excitement is what planning teams are doing out in the field, every day.
Our customers are turning flexible planning into a competitive edge by:
✅ Reacting faster to market shifts and adjust financial plans accordingly
✅ Empowering their leadership with proactive insights instead of historical reports
✅ Eliminating unnecessary costs and allocating resources strategically
✅ Gaining a competitive advantage through financial agility
Whether it’s Forecasting, Budgeting, Operational Planning, or Modeling the next What-if, these teams are building smarter, more flexible processes.
To see how others are putting this into practice
🏀 Explore the full bracket of Kepion customers winning the planning game.
Until Next time. Go FP&A!