Welcome to Decentralised Success Story Series Episode 2
๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ ๐๐! From Vasai to Bangalore and from Audits to FP&A
As part of my decentralized (PR free) success stories series, Meet Dickson Dabre, one of my earliest followers and now a solid FP&A professional in a global role at Hitachi Energy
Dickson hails from small town Vasai in Mumbai, like all commerce students he started on the CA route, cleared inter & started articleship in Tax & Audits.
While prepping for finals, an unsuccessful attempt nudged him to consider alternatives and coincidently he received an offer in General Accounting (R2R) – involving relocation to Bangalore.
It was uncertain path but he took the leap and moved across the states.
Accounting was never his end goal – it felt clerical, repetitive, even boring at times.
But Dickson didnโt complain. He showed up, did the job! #patience
And quietly kept upskilling himself in Excel, Power BI, and business finance – being ready for the opportunity if it arises in future.
He gradually pivoted into Cost Accounting, Data Roles, and SAP reporting.
But he never lost his curiosity:
๐ โWhere does this come from?โ
๐ โWhy are we showing this trend?โ
๐ โWho is ultimately responsible for the numbers?โ
That mindset introduced him to the world of FP&A – budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, and presenting real business insights to leadership.
He had no formal training, no CFA or MBA tag.
But he self-learned everything from scratch:
๐ ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ:
โข Budgeting & Forecasting: Top-down, bottom-up, zero-based, rolling forecasts
โข Variance Analysis: Revenue vs. price/mix/volume, cost drivers
โข Financial Reporting โ Segment-wise P&L, cost centers, cash flow, working capital, KPIs
โข Storytelling with Numbers โ Executive-ready reporting, simplifying the unstructured data
Today, he handles finance transformation projects with a global footprint, helping leadership drive visibility, efficiency, and impact.
๐ก ๐๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฃ&๐ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐:
๐ฏ Target the role โ Start with a GCC or directly in business. GCCs are a great FP&A launchpad.
๐ Master concepts โ Budgeting (Top-down, Bottom-up, Zero-based), cost allocation, Variance Analysis, Story Telling, Reporting – all matter.
๐ง Learn the tools โ Master Excel/Power BI and also slice, dice, and drive business insight from them.
๐ป Bonus edge โ Learn ERP (Oracle/SAP) or Anaplan.
๐ค Business partnering โ Talk to stakeholders. Understand the story behind the numbers.
๐ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐:
1. Financial planning & Analysis and performance management by Jack Alexander
2. All about FP&A by Asif Masani.
This is what growth looks like.
No Tier-1 MBA. No CFA.
Just consistent intent and compounding curiosity.
Dickson – proud of your journey, brother.
Youโre what I call a decentralised success story.
Letโs bring more of these stories out ย ๐
You can reach out to Dickson here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dickson-dabre/
My Original LinkedIn Post : https://www.linkedin.com/posts/amtechinmaya_patience-chinmayaamteexcel-fp-activity-7349666809828052992-ljW7/
TimeStamp: July2025
#ChinmayaAmteExcel #FP&A #SuccessWithoutMBA
