Supercharged Finance

What does good Finance business partnering look like?

This article shares some of my observations from many years working with the business as a Finance Business Partner of some description.

“It ain’t what you do. It’s the way that you do it!”
(I love eighties music, can you tell?!)

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/finance-business-partnering

Working with the business as a Finance Business Parter What are some of the crucial things to remember when trying to work well with the business as a Finance Business Partner? Here's a perspective on the things that matter most.

The BPM Wheel was something I came up with a long time ago as I was thinking about how the Finance function adds value in business.

It looks very simple when you see the picture. And simple is good!

It’s easy to understand and to relate to things you know. And it’s easy to explain to others in the business.

The power comes in using it. And in essence it comes down to this:
“If you know all the things that are involved in business performance management, then doing all of those things better will help you to manage business performance better... which will lead to better business performance!”

You can read more about this in my free pdf short guide – How Finance Can Drive Business Performance.

Download here: https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/44847/

After you passed your accounting exams, did anyone tell you what new tools and techniques you needed to keep on learning and growing in your Finance career?

No-one ever gave me any advice.

So, if you're looking for some ideas, here's an article, based on my experience, all about how to plot a course (pardon the pun) through learning those tools, techniques and practical subjects, that build on your accounting qualification.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tools-techniques-you-need-learn-after-your-accounting-andy

After you pass your accountancy exams, you get your certificate and the letters after your name. Then you get told that you have to pay a fee and get your CPD signed off every year to keep them!...

“Continuing professional development? What? I did exams! I passed them! What more do they want?”

“And ok, what’s the syllabus for this CPD? Where’s the study guide?”

“What do you mean there isn’t any syllabus?”

“I have to choose what I learn myself?! Yikes!”

“There’s so much to choose from! How can I make sure I learn things that will help me?”

That’s why you need people who have been through it all before to help guide you...

And that’s why I wrote this article:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tools-techniques-you-need-learn-after-your-accounting-andy

How can you tell whether your financial forecasting process is any good?

It’s not a question of whether you get a financial forecast wrong, but by how much? But does that mean it’s pointless trying to make better predictions? And what does ‘better’ look like when it comes to financial forecasting?

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/forecast-accuracy

What is a good forecast? Forecast accuracy is important. But there are so many complications in assessing accuracy. Join me as I think through ways of adding value with predictive modelling even when perfect accuracy isn't possible.

Finance and non-Finance areas in a business can sometimes be involved in stand-offs and bitter arguments over things.

This article argues that the best way for CFOs and Finance business partners to avoid those unhelpful situations is to develop a win/win mindset.

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/finance-relationship-business

Finance business partnering and the Win/Win mindset Win/Win is not just a description of the outcome of negotiations. It's a mindset relating to a set of values. Values that should be important to Finance professionals.

My Finance Career Action Planner – which you can download by using the link in this post – is sometimes misunderstood.

It’s not a career planner. It’s a career ACTION planner! Subtle difference!

You see, having a rigid step-by-step career plan is probably not the best approach. So, this planner doesn’t help you to plot out the experience you’re going to get and the jobs you’re going to do, all the way ‘til you get to the top.

Things rarely work out the way you want in detail!

What the Finance Career Action Planner helps you to do is to highlight the gaps in your learning and experience, on the assumption that your objective is to progress into a senior leadership role in Finance eventually...
.. and it helps you to assess what your next steps should be – what you need to learn, what you need to get better at, and what experience will help you most in your progression.

I’ve tried to put something together that will help you to think through the kind of things I would ask you about if I were coaching you in your Finance career.

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/182941

Finance people can sometimes be a bit cynical about ‘soft skills’. Sometimes we see much more value in learning how to use a new fancy tool or a new technique in data visualisation or analytics.

Surely ‘soft skills’ are things you pick up by osmosis as you get older?
The thing is, until you actually look into this side of things, you don’t allow yourself to find out that what the wise old experienced guys say is actually true...
.. developing the so-called ‘soft’ skills helps you more in terms of personal progress and career development than anything you can learn from a textbook or ‘how to do’ course.

Isn’t that true?

And if you’re one of the cynical ones who’d rather be tinkering with PowerBI and Excel than learning better ways to relate to the other human beings who might read their reports...
.. why not have a quick read through this article and start to open yourself up to thinking about this?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/important-soft-skills-business-focused-finance-burrows-bsc-bfp-aca

The involvement of Finance in business projects shouldn’t just be in rushing to get a business case approved to get projects started.

For instance, the way we do project reporting, and the way we engage in the governance of projects, also influences project success.

Projects should bring about a step change in business performance. But they will struggle to do that without Finance doing their bit to help.

So, what more can we do to help? I can think of seven things...

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/finance-can-make-projects-successful

Can anyone think of any other areas where Finance can help projects?

7 Things Finance Can Do to Make Business Projects Successful The Finance function should be on the front line helping business projects to succeed, rather than standing back on the sidelines spectating. Here are 7 ways we can help.

Would it surprise you if I said that one of the problems I see in Finance functions is that CFOs do too much business partnering?

Surely, you might say, we’re supposed to be doing more business partnering in Finance!

And I’d say, absolutely. But to facilitate more business partnering, the CFO should be doing other things too.

I hope I’ve piqued your interest enough for you to click this link and read this thought-provoking article!... and then let me know your thoughts...

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/future-cfo-less-time-business-partnering-not-more

CFOs as Leaders The CFO role is already mainly about business partnering. But to move forward the future CFO must do less business partnering, and spend more time with the Finance team.

Finance business partnering can be really difficult. Every different area you partner with has different priorities and roles in the business. And that can make it difficult to see how you can add the most value.

Sometimes it’s tempting just to default to the template approach, a financial report once a month, sitting in meetings, hassling about budgets, forecasts, accruals.

But you have a sneaking feeling that it should be more than that. And it should!

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to Finance business partnering. Your work should always be tailored to your colleagues in the area you’re partnering with.

So, my 7-Day Finance business partnering challenge is designed to help you think differently.

If you sign up (using the link below), you’ll get an email from me each day for a week. The content is designed to help you think your way, step by step, through what your business area is all about...
.. and get to a clearer picture of how you must work in order to be the valuable partner you want to be.

It’s a different way of thinking. Hopefully it at least helps you to break out of the mould, and to see a way forward that is more helpful, as well as being more satisfying.

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/79362

As accountants we feel most comfortable with our heads in the numbers, being left-brained, analytical, fact-based, ‘how to’, cause and effect.
We’re attracted to numbers because they 'just are'! They don’t have an agenda or a desire to manipulate. We can do what we want with them. Whatever they add up to they will always add up to, however many times you ask them!

Trouble is if we stay with our heads in the numbers we will never progress in business-focused Finance.

So, learning the ‘soft skills’ is essential for progression and development.

This article outlines my current way of thinking about the soft, behavioural skills needed as a developing business-focused Finance professional.

And, hey, you get out what you put in. These skills may be called soft, but they can be hard to master and need a lifetime of effort...
.. but the rewards are massive in terms of personal progress.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/important-soft-skills-business-focused-finance-burrows-bsc-bfp-aca

It’s got to the stage where when Finance people hear the words “Finance Transformation” they think of reducing headcount, faster close, more pressure... and that the only way we can more add value as a Finance function is to be cheaper.

That’s sad. It’s wrong. And we need to change it.

There is a kind of Finance Transformation that doesn’t involve cost cutting, efficiency savings, outsourcing, automation or new software... at least not initially. There’s a transformation that is more important and has to come first...

And that’s what I’m talking about in this short article:

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/finance-transformation-without-new-software

Transform Finance without new software or outsourcing More than process improvement, automation, efficiency and cost savings, Finance Transformation must be about a shift in understanding what Finance is about.

Feeling stupid… and loving it!

At one stage in my career I used to set reminders for myself to “do something different today”. That could be anything from sitting in a different place in a meeting, being the first to volunteer for things when asked, or whatever. My theory was that you develop an open (growth) mindset, and you keep learning and growing by being outside your comfort zone. And here I am in this blog post setting an example for other Finance people!

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/Finance-no-comfort-zone

The one risk you should always take as a Finance professional The one risk you should always take as a Finance professional is to get away of the comfort zone that is your desk and PC. Go and interact with people in the business!

Why do CFOs get fired if their company underperforms?

The simple answer is that, next to the CEO, it’s the CFO who is mostly held responsible for business performance.

We could moan that it’s not fair. But it’s better to read from that situation that CFOs – and Finance teams – are actually expected by investors to have more influence over business performance than their non-Finance colleagues sometimes give them credit for.

And there’s only one reason that investors expect this kind of influence...
.. it’s because investors have seen the difference that great CFOs have made for their businesses.

If you’re a Finance professional, and you’re reading this and feeling puzzled, it’s probably because you’re missing a few pieces of understanding.

So, I’ve written a short white paper, called How Finance Can Drive Business Performance.

In it, I describe why the purpose of Finance is to drive business performance, why that’s expected...
.. and I introduce you to an 8-part framework that will help you – as a Finance professional - to find ways to improve the business to get better performance out of it.

How Finance Can Drive Business Performance (White Paper) - Click this link to get it: https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/44847/

And let me know what you think.

Sometimes in your Finance career it’s difficult to work out what the next steps should be to make sure we’re moving consistently in the right direction.

What jobs should we be targeting as the stepping stones in a journey towards senior leadership? What can we work on that will get us promoted?

What courses should we go on? What do we need to learn? What topics are the most important?

What help should we get along the way?

Our Finance Career Action Planner is a free downloadable resource that takes you through a structured set of questions to help you to identify the gaps, so that you can plot your next steps confidently.

Follow the link to register for immediate access:https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/182941

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Business acumen, in the context of Finance business partnering, has been described as “understanding what running a successful business is all about, how each function and management team need to make an appropriate contribution to long-term value creation. It is about encouraging fact based decisions, understanding the importance of strategic advantage and how it can best be applied in different contexts. It is also about understanding the competition and knowing how to beat them, about knowing your customers and how best to meet their needs. And finally it is about joining in the identification of business opportunities while showing understanding of the pressures and constraints of colleagues.” (From “Finance Business Partnering – the search for value” by Alan Warner)

The link below will take you to an article in which I attempt to unpack that concept, and outline how Finance professionals can get all that understanding:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-acumen-mystery-ingredient-finance-leadership-andy

LinkedIn: Log In or Sign Up 1 billion members | Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network. Access knowledge, insights and opportunities.

Sometimes we forget that cheapest is not always best. Is Uber always the cheapest ride? Is Amazon always the cheapest seller? No, but they are successful because they make it easy and quick for customers to use them.
The implication is that customers value their time more highly than the cost differential.

But we can apply this in Finance as well.

We think far too much about our impact on the P&L, rather than our impact on the business! We’re not just a cost!

And sometimes in our efforts to be more efficient (and make less impact on the P&L as a cost), we can make things more difficult for our business colleagues.

The thing is that making things more difficult for the business may be destroying more value than we create through being cheaper.

That's the dynamic I'm discussing in this article...

Is the drive for efficiency actually making Finance any better? Is it possible that a more efficient Finance function could actually destroy value by making things more difficult for the business? Always ask "simple for whom?"

Finance business partnering is about leadership in a sense.

It’s about taking the leadership and influence of the CFO and filtering it down into the business to ensure that performance is well-managed.

At least this is the way I see the relationship between CFOs and Finance business partners.

That means leadership skills should be part of the development plans of Finance business partners.

This article describes the very simple but powerful place to start in developing those skills.

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/finance-leadership-effectiveness

For Finance leadership start by leading yourself One set of behavioural skills can ignite your Finance business partnering and CFO career more than any other. And it's one that we don't talk about very often.

Ambitious Finance professionals often wonder what they’d need to do to become a CFO. How can they get to the top? Well, it’s not quite as straightforward as making sure you have a Big 4 audit background!

But help is at hand!

Writing down our goals and plans makes us more likely to achieve them.

So, the workbook I’m offering here can help. It’s based on a framework for business-focused Finance skills and what we call five “promotion keys”.
The questions are designed to help you to identify gaps that you can work on to give your career a push in the right direction.

So, with a little bit of effort you can put together a plan with tangible steps you can take every week to take you closer to your goal.

Click below to download and get started...



https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/182941

Why do people choose to go into accounting?

When I was setting out, my thought was just that I was good with numbers. Further than that, I didn’t know what I was letting myself in for!

But the thing is that I’m never satisfied with raw numbers on a page or in a spreadsheet. I always have to know what they represent and how they came to be.

And I came to realise that because the accountants in the business deal with every transaction, that means that we get a good understanding of the business through curiosity about the numbers.

Then I realised that business owners actually expect the senior Finance people to not just understand the numbers, but to be able to influence the ultimate performance of the business.

That’s what we call ‘business acumen’. And whilst all senior leaders in business need to develop it, it’s particularly relevant to Finance professionals. And it turns out we have a head start if we choose to recognise it.

The attached article fleshes out this important, but little appreciated, concept a bit more for you.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-acumen-mystery-ingredient-finance-leadership-andy

How do you measure business performance? What’s in your reports each month? Does it really tell you how well your business is doing? Really?

In this article I give a few tips to help you make sure you’re reporting on the most relevant things – saves time in the long run!

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/business-performance-reporting-dashboard

Tips for building a business performance reporting dashboard When you're reporting on business performance, it's not all about the P&L. You need a balanced dashboard of performance measures. Some measures will be non-financial.

Stephen Covey once said that, “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”

The point is that leaders need the skill to set the destination and direction..... which is a deeper skill than you think...

In the context of CFOs and Finance business partners, find out how in this article...

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/finance-leadership

The skill of setting destination and direction as a CFO To be any kind of leader, not least in Finance, you need to be able to set direction and destination, and know the motivations that lie behind them. It's a skill to be learned.

Finance professionals – are you clear on how your role helps to maintain and improve the performance of your business?

Or are you just going through the month-end checklist every day until the next month-end comes around?! (Been there, done that!)

I remember the days (a long time ago) when I was still saying, “hey, don’t shoot the messenger!” As if, as a Finance person, I was literally just there to print out reports and pass them on.

I realised quite early in my career, however, that I was actually part of a pivotal team within the business... a team with quite a lot of responsibility for driving the performance of the business, not just reporting on it.

How, though?

How can Finance do anything for business performance when we’re not involved in selling stuff, making stuff, serving customers, etc?

If you want a very quick intro, I’ve written a short white paper, which you can download at no cost:

Click this link to get it: https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/44847/

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, too.

HFDBP White Paper Register When you register you will be added to the Supercharged Finance mailing list. That means you will also get some fantastic newsletters with tips and advice for your Finance career, as well as being notified of products available to help you in your work.

Business-focused Finance is all about recognising that the Finance fundamentally exists to help the business.

But it’s not all about insight and decision-making and FP&A and Finance business partnering.

For instance, doing VAT returns is helping the business (by complying with the law and thereby avoiding reputational damage, financial penalties and business disruption). But it’s not Finance business partnering.

You could argue, if you wanted to be blunt, that this is just “stating the bleeding obvious”!

This article makes the case that it’s being purpose-driven, and it gives recognition to the valuable place of the whole of Finance and not just the “chosen few” in FP&A.

It also makes clear that business-focused Finance skills are what you need to move towards a Finance leadership role, and that you may get the best practice with those skills in a Finance business partner role.

Confused? See if you still are after reading this article!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-business-focused-finance-whats-all-andy-burrows-bsc-bfp-aca

Finance business partners should be able to reel off the key value drivers for their area of the business in their sleep!

CFOs should see value drivers as fundamental to guiding business strategy at Exec and Board level.

But how can we work out what the value drivers are?

Fear not. Here is an article introducing you to a step by step approach to identifying value drivers (with a link to a downloadable short guide)...

https://superchargedfinance.com/blog/how-to-define-value-drivers

It has been my experience that in Finance we tend to be ruled by the urgent.

Our schedules are packed with either regular deadlines or things we’re told need to be done now... or else something bad will happen...

The trouble is that forces out the important things we know deep down we should be doing.

Here’s an article that describes
- how we can do more of the important things that aren’t urgent,
- why we frequently fail to prioritise the important, and
- why Finance leaders and Finance business partners should pay particular attention to this

Any other techniques you find helpful?

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/blog/finance-leaders-choose-important-non-urgent

The best Finance leaders choose important over urgent The core skills needed for any Finance business partner, CFO or Finance leader, start with personal effectiveness. Part of this is knowing how to get important non-urgent things done.

Finance processes are a means to an end. And that purpose is mainly to manage business performance.

That is to say, like any other part of the business, we don’t just have a to do list. It’s not just stuff to get done.

And the point is that we do the stuff in Finance mainly to manage business performance, because...
.. if you manage performance better, the business will perform better.
So, we’d be well advised to get really good at thinking in terms of managing business performance in Finance.

How do we do that?

Well, I’ve written a white paper, called “How Finance Can Drive Business Performance”, which talks all about this. You can get access to it via the link below.

https://www.superchargedfinance.com/pl/44847

Is “business-focused Finance” the same as Finance business partnering? Why does it really matter?

Personally, I think there are reasons to make a distinction. In this article I explain a little further.

What do you think?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-business-focused-finance-whats-all-andy-burrows-bsc-bfp-aca

The truth of that saying – “what gets measured gets done” – struck me when I drove my son’s Merc once.

The dashboard has a mode to show how economically you are driving. It lights up green in different segments if you’re driving in ways that maximise fuel efficiency.

The funny thing was that once I saw that dashboard, I changed the way I drove. I was determined to make the dashboard go as green as possible. And I had a bit of fun trying to make the journey average ‘miles per gallon’ figure go as high as possible.

(If you drive a BMW or Audi, you probably haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about – you only have one measure… “am I in front of everyone else?” 😂!)

The point is that measuring and reporting the fuel efficiency, and the KPIs for the “efficiency drivers”, made me drive differently.

And it’s the same with reporting about business performance. The measures we report are not just cold, hard, facts. They have the power to influence behaviour in the business.

And therefore, we have to be really careful what we do and don’t report.
This article explains more, and gives some examples:

https://superchargedfinance.com/blog/measure-what-matters

Are your monthly reports leading the business astray? "What gets measured gets done" is a well-known saying. And very true. And it has both positive and negative implications. Positively, if it matters you must measure it. Negatively, if you measure the wrong things, you'll encourage the wrong behaviour.