How do you maximize visibility on hiring with your HR/recruiting team?  While we have just upgraded our FP&A system, our recruiting is run in spreadsheets and so we don't have great visibility on how quickly the team is hiring and which roles are open.

One thing that we used to do is hold a recurring meeting to review positions.  This gave us the opportunity to review any upcoming promotions or changes in current positions and any new HC.   After the meeting HR would send us the information and we would incorporate it into our forecast. It worked really well and helped to avoid any unexpected HC expenses.  

Agree with below proposal. In the absence of an integrated system this will require a manual solution and periodic maintenance for accurate financial planning. Attrition/turnover should also be considered. I suggest someone in HR be accountable for maintaining an Excel record of headcount actuals & projected by compensation level covering the financial planning period.   

The quick fix is to have your FP&A team in the HR/Recruiting spreadsheets and performing periodic updates to the workforce planning component of your FP&A system (if it has one).  Longer term solutions would be to explore a talent management system or module within a broader HRIS and automated integration to your FP&A system.