Improving your finance business partnering

1. Management as Enabler
Leading Your Team through the
Change
Jamie Davies, Finance SSC Manager,
Computacenter

2. 22 years in
Finance,
Consulting,
Coaching, SSC

3. CFO & Finance leaders face
complex challenges
•Vast increase in available data
•Business demanding more
•Complex economic environment means path
to profitable growth not straightforward
•Value not just cost and P&L monitoring
•New & complex business model

4. Above the line needs a partner
strategy
Catalyst
Stimulate behaviour
across org to achieve
strategic financial
objectives
Strategist
Provide financial
leadership in direction
and align financial
strategies. Key
stakeholder in
business.
Steward
Protect and preserve
assets of the
organisation.
Regulatory compliance
Operator
Balancing capabilities,
costs and service.
FP&A, accounting
expertise
Control
Current
Performance
Efficiency
Execution
Future
Performance
Value
Adapted from Deloitte Business Partnering Report 2012

5. Priority competencies
Execution
Future
Performance
Value
Catalyst
Stimulate behaviour
across org to achieve
strategic financial
objectives
Strategist
Provide financial
leadership in direction
and align financial
strategies. Key
stakeholder in
business.
Adapted from Deloitte Business Partnering Report 2012
Analytical
Capability
Commercial
Acumen
Strategic
Thinking
Relationship
Management
Negotiating
Influencing

6. Leadership reality - 1
Finance Business Partners are costly and
valuable resource, but spend most of their
time on data manipulation, reconciliations
and reports that are of no direct value to
the business.
This is typically caused by poor systems
and processes, but also a lack of
understanding about what activities will
drive value in the business.

7. Leadership reality - 2
New responsibilities are being added, by
my old ones haven't gone away...
I am expected to take this on and do what
I did before...and its not measurable...
It is hard to be a strategic CFO in the face
of an accounting restatement or controls
breakdown...
The team and therefore you cannot be successful as a premier
striker if your defence and midfield are not effective

8. So what can I do to
help lead the change?
•Assess where you are today

9. Clarifying
Can the team make sense of what is
expected?
Do we know the value drivers and KPIs?
Do we have the right ERP / analytical
enabling technologies?
Commissioning
Do we know clearly what is expected of us
now, and in the future from our key
stakeholders and what a good BP is?
Do we know where we can add value?
Do we have a
seat at the table and buy-in?
Co-Creating
Do we have the right skills & capabilities
and training programmes?
Is our structure set up to enable or hinder
this change?
What else is going on that either enables or
hinders us?
Connecting
Are we able to demonstrated value?
Are we building relationships and engaging
with stakeholders
Are we role modelling behaviours &
practises and celebrating successes?
Core
Learning
Outside
Finance
Within
Finance
People Focus
Task Focus
Top Down assessment

10. The reality Commissioning
Do we know clearly what is expected of us
now, and in the future from our key
stakeholders?
Do we know where we can add value?
Do we have a
seat at the table?
“Just get it in” culture
Multiple stakeholders
Regional versus Divisional
No “one mind”
No overall vision buy-in
System before people

11. 11
Exercise 1
Discuss and agree on your table
what are the top 3 challenges your
organisation faces to becoming better
Business Partners

12. So what can I do to
help lead the change?
•Assess where you are today
•Start with small, current activities and build outwards..

13. 13
You are already have
opportunities to empower
Aged Debt
Problem
SSC
Credit
Terms
Billing
Quality
Finance
Other
Sales
Ownership
Product & Market Strategy
Contract Bid Process
Customer
P&L
Country P&LBusiness Strategy
Procure to Pay
Problems
Bid
P&L
Product
P&L

14. 14
Exercise 2
Discuss and agree on your table
what are the 3 things you can already
do next week to start on your Business
Partnering journey

15. No one person has it all the skills and
characteristics necessary for perform
the modern day Finance Leader alone,
so get complementary skills in your
team.
Key message

16. 16
Leadership
Dialogue
Senior
Manager
Dialogue
Team Based
Problem
Solving
Dialogue
Front line
Manager
Dialogue
Set Strategic Vision & Goals
Voice of the Business
Continuous
Improvement
Team
Coaching
Integrated approach
Top Down
Bottom Up

17. Practical Mindset changes for all levels
I’m a Top
I’m a
Middle
I’m a
Bottom
I’m a
Customer of
information
•Provide vision & empowerment to your teams and organisation
•Continually scan business context,
•become shapers of strategy, provide the voice of business into Finance
•Turn everyday problems into projects
•Initiate your own movement using CI or Lean methodology
•Coordinate effort, share information & lead across departments
•Use you unique position to see upwards, downwards, sideways
•Understand how things work and get involved in the solutions.
•Build Partnerships with those key who are key to the quality of
information you use.

18. In Summary:
what can I do to
help lead the change?
•Assess where you are today
•Create a vision, but don’t over-dream
•Start with small, current activities and build outwards..
•While addressing the big enablers medium term
•No one person has it all, so get complementary team