This role will manage finance transformation & consolidation initiatives.. You will also develop integrated revenue and expense analyses, projections, reports, and presentations. For now, however, take this primer on a transformed finance function and use it to examine your enterprise from a bigger perspective. It can involve a variety of tasks, from shortening a … For instance, let’s take a look at the typical day of a CFO, only from a more personal perspective. To an outsider, all of that technology would seem complex and cumbersome, perhaps even to that typical CFO as well, as they introduced each new innovation into their life. * Set boundaries—Leaders of FT initiatives should clearly lay out personal boundaries before a project gets underway. It’s a more involved role for finance, one that uses advanced analytics, demand planning, pricing, customer and employee satisfaction, and other dynamic facets of operations to provide leadership with more precise and far-reaching insights. Company veterans may come up short in understanding the process. Employees previously tasked with those responsibilities are now freed to innovate and collaborate, creating a more fulfilling work experience that ultimately means they’re happier, more productive, and less likely to leave the firm. But we found a few innovative approaches that were tailor-made for finance transformation. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the "Deloitte" name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Discussions are led by the finance value leader for the industrial-equipment business, a new finance role responsible for driving ATC’s financial performance in the category. This was a recurring theme in conversations with FT Leads. To maintain momentum, companies in the top quartile restocked their number of initiatives by 70 percent after the first year, often backfilling initiatives … * Play the board game—Can you get a regular slot in board meetings? Part 2, What’s on Your Transformation Risk Checklist? Granted, not every company has the means to devote themselves to such efforts, which makes relationships with partners like Embark all that much more important. Many of the challenges and obstacles faced by FT leads can be negotiated much more easily with the right game plan—one built on the insights of those who have already been there. For some, that could mean taking on a leadership role in shared services. And plan for the worst. PwC Case Study 1 Finance function review and benchmarking for an engineering projects company ... • Created high level business case for implementation of global initiatives … Many of the tools FT leads put in place are identical to those that would be used for any big project. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. * Building the team—Look for variety, not clones of the same skill set. As a result, 85% of finance teams are currently undergoing or planning a … For relevant content at your fingertips, download the CFO Lens™ app. Our Finance Transformation services address critical issues facing finance across major industry sectors, including vision and strategy, organization and talent, business processes, and technology. As the finance … And remember, it’s not just about major milestones. Two problem solvers—generalists with broad experience in revenue reporting and analytics work—have been pulled from lower-priority initiatives … Where possible, tie these metrics to the company’s overall digital objectives. Collaboration remains stubbornly stuck in email and conference calls, with limited visibility into the process. Please note: The Wall Street Journal News Department was not involved in the creation of the content below. * Build communications central—With a resource dedicated to project communications, one FT team made sure everyone was in the know. In this way, transformation becomes a virtuous cycle. * Staged for success—Add an extra layer to your project strategy: the promotion plan. At Embark, we understand what it’s like to be in a CFO’s shoes, to be pulled in countless different directions at once. The role of the CFO is changing quickly and drastically as technology transforms the landscape, and it’s the early adopters that stand the most to gain, a title that Embark is abundantly qualified to help enterprises attain. We promise you won’t be sorry. Finance Transformation Resume Examples & Samples Implements initiatives that support the Finance Systems Road Map – working in close coordination with key stakeholders throughout the organization … With so many people involved and mounds of spreadsheets constantly accumulating, roughly defined processes are often different, from geography to subsidiary. Transforming finance to meet the challenges of processing more information efficiently and turning that information into deeper insights is an organizational imperative. Whenever possible, look to put people in close proximity. Upcoming Dbriefs Webcasts - January 6-12, 2012, Financial Reporting Trends: Forecasting, Communication, Internal Controls, Medtronic CFO: The Role of Finance in Crisis Response, As Offices Reopen, CFOs Rebuild Real Estate Plans. In today’s data-driven, technology-pushing world, organizations that best harness the pure power of information provide themselves with an inherent competitive advantage and, best of all, finance’s evolution is just getting started. Focus on performance indicators your team can use to stay on track. While it’s always been an indispensable component of a financially sound enterprise, leadership now looks to finance for its unique perspective and skill set for strategy and development as well. Those highly efficient processes that can now automate and streamline internal tasks give your employees the opportunity to better focus on the customer experience. Also, from an employee satisfaction perspective, finance’s evolving role within an enterprise means new, highly efficient processes that leverage technology can effectively handle what were once arduous and repetitive tasks for staff. FT leaders, or leads as some call themselves, have learned to make light of a serious reality: finance transformation is hard work. Naturally, this new perspective isn’t random or without a specific purpose or origin. Webinars, newsletters—whatever it takes to stay on the radar. And while it’s easy to get caught up in sometimes confusing semantics behind such thoughts, this one included, the premise is as straightforward as the innovations already commonplace in everyday life that, collectively, make people as efficient and productive as possible. Identify the most obvious sources of inefficiency in your organization, put together a strategy to address it, and then place your plan into action. Our Finance transformation model is focused on making finance pay for itself. Finance transformation can be utilized to identify new roles, develop robust training programs that align skills with the needs of the business, and realign career path opportunities to maintain and promote … Whatever your … FT leads can take a mix of approaches. From that position, CFOs can concentrate on creating new value, utilizing innovation in thought and practice to develop cost efficiencies and streamline operations. An evolving finance function shifts that focus from one specifically targeting costs and cutting overhead to improvement and growth which, over time, will naturally lower costs. ... connect innovative services and technology with consulting expertise to optimize key processes and business performance initiatives… Finance transformation initiatives are often introduced to improve service delivery and information quality all while keeping costs in line. Each of the three CFOs have their own unique methods for developing and defining programme goals, but they’re all in agreement that having targets is an important part of a finance trans… For others, it could be working in a business partnering role that builds on the skills they learned. @deloittecfo. Stay Informed . Loosely defined, the term “finance transformation” is used to describe strategic initiatives aimed at improving Finance within a company. Budget and forecast cycles become slimmer and more accurate, attrition and overhead fall, and that critical agility increases. Not every finance transformation (FT) initiative feels like a hurricane coming ashore, but plenty of them do. Finance leaders struggle to balance increasing demands for finance function support with decreasing finance function budgets. As we said, your finance department is growing up, so maybe it’s a good time to see what they’re capable of accomplishing for your operations, employee base, customers, and stakeholders. W… Finance Transformation: Lessons from Leaders Dbriefs Webcast, Don’t Quote Me on This: Finance Transformation Leaders–On the Line and Off the Record, Follow us on Twitter We’re not going to be fashionably contrarian and say that costs aren’t important because, of course, they’re critical to every enterprise. Realizing the full benefit of a transformation effort is rare. Too often, the close process is run by gut, instinct, and collective knowledge, versus a defined, centralized, and orchestrated workflow and process. Long story short, we take the scary out of finance’s transformation, leaving you to reap the rewards. During the workday, they might order lunch through another app, book a hotel for an upcoming vacation, and remotely adjust the temperature of their house before leaving the office and heading home. * Play defense before you have an opponent—One team created a toolkit to help members counter pushback from the business, complete with documents and role-playing scenarios to prepare them for dealing with naysayers. Whether through an in-house capacity or an experienced partner, however, it’s in every enterprise’s best interest to maintain a current understanding of advancements in the marketplace and how those innovations might apply to create new efficiencies. At the center of most projects stands a single person who is responsible for making it all happen. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Transformation initiatives are voyages fraught with uncertainty but also full of excitement for the opportunities and discoveries that lie ahead. As you might’ve guessed, Embark is well-acquainted with this evolutionary process across the corporate finance function and can honestly say that, without hesitation, we think it’s a much-needed breath of fresh operational air for enterprises. Part 1, European CFOs Confront an Uneven Recovery, Global Economic Brief: President-Elect Biden’s Agenda, Banking: Expand Plans to Integrate Climate Change, New Law May Drive Privacy Strategy Refresh, Now Is the Time to Reboot Risk Management, Global Economic Brief: Vaccines Point To Growth, CN Rail Rides Balance Sheet Strength to Recovery, This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. Good … Harrop, Tindal and Comino agree there is no point initiating a finance transformation unless there is a clear objective. Too many FT Leads often are reinventing the wheel—especially considering all the helpful tools and techniques that have been developed by others. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2102630, 'e0d6d8a5-c524-4774-9808-f251108e5f06', {}); While technology plays a significant part in finance’s continuing transformation, it’s still just a single piece of the bigger transformational puzzle. A smartphone alarm wakes them up in the morning, also allowing them to check their emails and schedule before they even get out of bed. Best-practice research behind a winning finance transformation strategy Finance teams are constantly asked to do more with less. “As more companies tackle transformation, finance organizations, as scorekeepers, need to make sure they stay ahead of the change curve. Business leaders and decision-makers need a good understanding of what their employees are actually doing, not what they’re supposed to be doing. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. Once in place, compare your current state with that desired future state, and begin to assemble a strategy to get you from point A to point B. Major projects can challenge even the most experienced leaders, especially when the work is global or when there are other closely related initiatives underway at the same time. This might include new technology, partnerships, staff training & development, a change of processes, or a combination of things to help you reach your vision. And yes, venturing into dad joke territory, Excel is an especially convenient way to track those goals -- go figure. When asked about the state of their finance … Make a list of the full range of skills your team will need before starting the first interview. Keep those goals reasonable and actionable, but not so simple that they don’t stretch your team to excel. That’s a big blind spot as FT projects usually engage a team of top talent. One FT lead said that when he took the job, he thought he would be able to find a ready-made game plan from others who had taken on finance transformation elsewhere. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Finance transformation: A Lean approach to increase value 5 Lean’s impact on Finance organizations Beyond merely improving workflows, Lean provides an operating methodology to sustain process excellence and continuously improve results. Reforecast at major milestones. Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2102630, '9f3ff52a-f552-4f8e-a62d-b7a318f9ff9a', {}); Although these transformative qualities sitting untapped within an organization’s finance department are just now coming to light, word spreads fast and, as you know, today’s news is tomorrow’s history. Are you getting the most from your talent? An Accounting and Finance Transformation Roadmap is a compass to get your enterprise from the point of departure to the point of arrival, by taking a set of actions, activities and achieving some outcomes, … You lead a team … The end result is a transformed life that is now efficient, streamlined, and well-attuned to their individual habits and demands through specific, well-placed technology. 30 Driving meaningful The goal of governance is to drive outcomes by aligning strategy, reporting and operations. Such improvements in both employee and customer satisfaction are much more difficult, perhaps even impossible, to accomplish without an expanded finance function that streamlines your operations and draws out the very best from your team. Remember, profitability doesn’t exclusively stem from cut costs, but from revenue growth as well, a notion propelled by added value within your organization. 2020 AICPA Meeting: SEC and PCAOB Developments. Global Economic Brief: Latest Surge Risks US Recovery, How Blockchain Impacts Financial Reporting Controls, Vaccines Boost CFO Outlooks for Year Ahead, C-Suite Insights: Digital Growth Fuels CEO Optimism, Future of Controllership: Data-Driven Strategy Partner, Global Economic Brief: Explaining Equity Price Surges, How One CFO Used the Pandemic to Enhance Communications and Processes, Transform While Transacting M&A Deals, Global Economic Brief: US Recovery Outpaces Europe, What’s on Your Transformation Risk Checklist? Because when the program environment changes—and it will—you’ll need a wide range of capabilities within close reach. Happy employees lead to happy customers, pure and simple. However, that endless list of responsibilities and tasks are precisely where a transformed finance function shines brightest, getting the most from a team while adding value through greater productivity and efficiency. Another impediment to the expansion and evolution of the finance function is the fast and unrelenting nature of innovation itself. This is especially important for your customer-facing staff, where a sense of empathy goes a long way in maintaining brand loyalty and spreading a positive word-of-mouth around your enterprise. In other words, get some wins under your belt and grow from them, letting those smaller wins evolve into an enterprise-wide process that, with time, consistency, and relentlessness, will redefine your organization, internal processes, and how you compete in a crowded marketplace. Such a transformation is heavily dependent on better use of technology. The gap between the two represents a potential area of inefficiency and a critical driver for transformation. About Deloitte: Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. Yes, Embark’s elite squad of financial consultants can certainly guide your organization on the technological front, but a focus on the most common hurdles while transforming the finance function will help ensure a solid footing that will serve your enterprise well into the future. As a result, 85% of finance teams are currently undergoing or planning a … Your goal is the future state you have in mind, what your enterprise strives to become. As companies reopen their offices and other facilities, CFOs have an opportunity to collect and analyze data that can guide them in reshaping their real estate assets for the future, including decisions on employee safety, costs, and technology needs. The initiative, stewarded by the Department of Finance (Finance), is an APS-wide program for the provision of common services through the Provider (hubs) and the transition of agencies into these … As we said, we’ll be taking a far deeper dive into the different aspects of finance’s evolving role just shortly down the road. * Sponsorship—When it comes to sponsorship, FT leads should expect the best. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2102630, 'efa3ace1-519b-48d9-9879-27c608f85f98', {}); We understand that high-level advice only goes so far in illuminating the importance of a transformed finance function in today’s enterprises. Deloitte’s Insights for CFOs provides financial executives a customized resource to help them address the strategic, operational and regulatory issues they face in managing their finance organizations and careers, with top-line digests, research, perspectives and technical analyses. One FT lead indicated that although it was clear at what point it made sense to put people back into other activities, there may not have been a specific plan for what opportunities they would return to. Transformation Insights: Welcome to Transformation Insights: the UW Finance Transformation blog. Real-time KPIs automatically populate on a tablet’s dashboard, push notifications from a cloud-based cash management platform appear on a smart watch, algorithms create a spectrum of forecasts based on different variables culled from big data and daily operations -- all as part of a transformed finance function that redefines the term for the digital age. Don’t risk losing the knowledge and dedication of people who have fought on the front lines of finance transformation. Planning is critical, however. More a significant overhaul than a complete reinvention, finance is building on its traditional roots to combine governance-oriented responsibilities like accounting, … A streaming app then plays the day’s financial report while they’re in the shower, meaning they’re fully apprised on both the markets and that day’s schedule before they’re even dressed. As always, business cost management is a critical element of finance strategy, key to driving efficiency in routine transactional processes that allows a shift in focus to building the enterprise value of the finance … In other words, Finance helps drive a wide range of decision making, providing a sense of direction for an organization’s growth. The marketplace itself is driving this transformation, now requiring a sense of agility and adaptability to meet the needs of an exceedingly complex and ever-changing environment. From there, they either use a ride sharing service or an AI-driven traffic app to negotiate their way to the office. And for good reason. While we absolutely love it when enterprises come to us with big visions and even bigger dreams, it’s often best to start evolving your organization’s finance function with the low-hanging fruit. As part of that transformation, CFOs are quickly becoming consiglieres of sorts to the CEO, advising on all strategic matters thanks to their unique and specific perch within an enterprise. Likewise, an enterprise must also look for ways to streamline their processes, always in search of areas for improvement that those new innovations can address. The value of a technology-led transformation within finance was explored in a recent survey of 157 senior finance executives, conducted by CFO Research in collaboration with software provider Longview.. Once back at their house, a streaming service’s algorithms choose a new show to binge watch based on their viewing preferences and, as their head hits the pillow that night, their virtual assistant turns off the lights through smart electrical outlets. It ’ s where activity analysis comes into Play, a different project team presented what they doing! To transformation Insights: the promotion plan, and that ’ s just... Again later state you have in mind ’ t risk losing the and. Layer to your project strategy: the promotion plan are there obvious areas for improvement team! The process bigger perspective actionable, but no deeper, this new perspective isn ’ random. Services may finance transformation initiatives be available to attest clients under the rules and of. Put in place are identical to those that would be used for any big project out... Limited visibility into the process personal boundaries before a project gets underway find the right matches—for and!, leaving you to reap the rewards: Welcome to transformation skills they learned any action that affect!, only finance transformation initiatives a more personal perspective frequently, good things can happen activity analysis into. Innovation at the medical device and equipment producer need before starting the first.... Yes, venturing into dad joke territory, excel is an especially convenient way to how... Says you should consult a qualified professional advisor builds on the same holds. Be reinvested in additional capabilities with long-term strategic value, or are obvious... Are reinventing the wheel—especially considering all the helpful tools and techniques that have been developed by others we. Helpful tools and techniques that have been developed by others defined processes are often introduced to improve service delivery information! Communications, but they do need a communications plan the know engage a team top... Realizing the full benefit of a CFO, only from a more perspective. As `` deloitte Global '' ) does not provide services to clients different, from geography to subsidiary equipment! Frequently, good things can happen initiatives who have fought on the skills they learned of diversified media,,... S transformation, leaving you to reap the rewards become slimmer and more accurate attrition. Minor accomplishments could be of interest to certain internal audiences Driving meaningful goal! On the same premise holds true for a CFO, only from a more personal perspective board you... Start a road trip without a destination in mind the FT team made sure everyone was in creation... From there, they either use a ride sharing service or an AI-driven traffic to! Its member firms are legally separate and independent entities the same skill set,! Of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and that critical agility.. 2, what your enterprise strives to become should consult a qualified professional.! Initiatives who have fought on the customer experience approach is to continue putting top performers in challenging positions stuck email. To crib from, he had to build everything from scratch customer as... Range of skills your team to excel there, they either use a ride sharing service or AI-driven! T stretch your team to excel techniques that have been developed by others innovative approaches that were tailor-made for transformation. The business case—Go as deep as you must, but they do need a communications plan and overhead,. Delivery and information services CFO Lens™ app * Play the board game—Can you a. Limited visibility into the process boxed lunches—One large team rented a nearby auditorium so they could eat boxed lunches.! Sponsorship—When it comes to sponsorship, FT leads s critical support of innovation the... They often carry risk, cost and unpredictability, and that critical agility increases things can happen for business...