English Presentations in Foreign-Affiliated FP&A: 3 Things I Focus on When Creating Materials

To start with the conclusion, I believe that the most important thing in an English presentation is not your "speaking ability," but rather "how you create your materials."

As an FP&A manager at a foreign-affiliated manufacturer, I have regular opportunities to review monthly figures in English. Honestly, I was quite intimidated at first. Although I had a TOEIC score of 860, that was from when I joined an investment bank, and I was so bad at even English "interviews" that I had to prepare for them, so I thought presentations would be even more impossible.

However, once I actually started doing them, I realized that what is needed is not fluent English, but rather the design of materials that convey information effectively. Today, I will write about that based on what I do in my daily work.

The English used in meetings is different from "daily conversation"

To be honest, I still don't have much trouble with daily conversation. I can keep up with casual small talk in overseas online meetings just fine.

But when it comes to explaining figures, it's a different story. Explaining "logically" in English why a forecast fell short or how next term's budget was structured uses completely different muscles than daily conversation.

What helps me here is a habit I've kept since my investment banking days. I read business books in English and listen to WSJ or investment banking podcasts every day, but this is closer to the process of internalizing the patterns of "how to construct numbers and logic in English" rather than just English conversation skills.

What I want to say is that preparing for an English presentation is not enough if you only practice how to speak on the day. The quality of your explanation in a meeting changes significantly depending on whether you are consistently inputting business English.

Even if there are moments in your work where you feel you can't keep up, I feel that in many cases, it's not a problem with your English ability itself, but simply that you are not used to the vocabulary and logical patterns of that field.

Things I focus on when creating materials

To start with the conclusion, my experience is that materials are "80% decided before you even speak."

First, I am conscious of not cramming too much into a single slide. Materials explaining figures tend to have a lot of information, but I narrow the message down to one point. I place the conclusion I want the other party to take away from that slide at the beginning, and show the supporting graphs or tables afterward.

This might be a sense unique to FP&A, but management and business unit members want to know "so what?" rather than the detailed calculation process. Therefore, I thoroughly follow a pyramid structure: conclusion at the top of the material, then reasons, and finally details.

Honestly, there are many materials even from native English speakers that don't do this. Conversely, if the structure is proper, you can create materials that get the point across even if your English expressions aren't perfectly polished. In fact, I spend more time worrying about how to structure the content than I do worrying about words or phrasing.

Being "prepared for questions" is more important than fluent English

Actually, what makes me more nervous than the explanation on the day of the presentation is the Q&A session that follows. If the numbers are different from what was expected, I will definitely be asked "why."

What is useful here is the experience I had with online English conversation when preparing for investment bank interviews. At the time, I struggled because I wasn't used to the special English interaction of interviews, but what I learned then was the attitude of "identifying potential questions in advance and preparing how to answer them."

I do the same thing in FP&A meetings. At the stage of creating materials, I list who might ask what kind of questions when they see these numbers, and prepare simple anticipated Q&As. It is still not easy to answer impromptu in English, but if you can anticipate the questions themselves, you only need to put the core of your answer, which you thought of in Japanese, into English.

Honestly, I get the impression that those who are good at English presentations actually rely more on the volume of their preparation than on their ability to improvise on the day. Since I am not the type who can speak perfect English, I have settled on a method of covering that gap through the preparation of materials and anticipated Q&A.

I believe this method is especially effective for those who lack confidence in their English, and I feel that improving the quality of your design and preparation for conveying information is much more cost-effective than trying to train your speaking skills first.

For those who want to dive deeper and pursue a career in foreign finance

Thank you for reading this far. What I have written in this article is merely the entrance to the world of foreign finance.

I have prepared a complete guide that covers everything I actually did, from preparation to receiving an offer and negotiating salary: how to use agents wisely, templates for English resumes and cover letters, 30 standard English interview questions and sample answers, salary negotiation (RSU and what you should never say first), and a one-year roadmap for balancing it with the USCPA.

It includes all the templates and question sets you can use as-is. If you are serious about targeting a career in foreign finance, please take a look at this as well.

▶ Complete Guide to Foreign Finance Career Changes (The Full Record from Investment Banking to Foreign Manufacturer FP&A)