Global Finance Function

Global Finance Function published by Optima Media Group in April, 2009. This report consists of 334 Pages and the price starts from US $ 1690.

Introduction

Abstract

ChapterDevelop the capabilities to succeed in an interconnected global economy

• How to offset the impact of the credit crunch through leaner finance operations
• Managing risk, governance and talent in the wake of the downturn
• Using shared services to reduce costs and improve service delivery
• Transforming finance efficiency and effectiveness - a 20-point action guide
• New ways to support the business in a tougher operating environment

Is it possible to excel at both service delivery and value-adding support for the business? How has globalization affected these challenges? What does the business want from finance in tough economic times?

Business Intelligence takes a fresh look at what it means to be a world-class finance organization in today' s demanding business climate - and what CFOs can do to raise finance' s contribution and value to the enterprise.

This authoritative guide is based on extensive research into top-performing finance organizations - including GSK, Whirlpool and StatoilHydro - plus input from leading consultants and findings from the latest research. The Finance Function: Achieving Performance Excellence in a Global Economy focuses on the latest performance methods and approaches to inspire new thinking and approaches in your organization.

Table of Contents

Author Profile

Acknowledgements

About Business Intelligence

Preface

Chapter 1: Globalization - The Challenge for Finance

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• How Globalization Became a Priority Issue
  • The little g and big G of globalization
  • The little g of globalization
• Opposition to Offshoring
  • The big G of globalization
• The Move to Asia-Pacific
• Asia-Pacific and the Finance Organization
• The East Fights Back
  • The hidden globalization threat
• Succeeding With Globalization: Experts' Views
  • John McMahan - BearingPoint
  • Nick Jarman - PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Jodiann Hobson - The Hackett Group
  • Rick Roth - Deloitte
• Case Study Organizations and Globalization
  • SKF
  • Alcoa
  • Whirlpool Corporation
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Purolator
  • City of Christchurch
• Globalization Challenges Summarized
• References

Chapter 2: The Siz Capabilities of a World-Class Finance Organization

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• New Models of Finance
• Ernst & Young Finance Function Model
  • Four finance service and interventions
  • Scorekeeper
  • Commentator
  • Custodian
  • Business partner
• Top-performing Companies Have Top-performing Finance Organizations
  • KPMG study
  • Top performers spend less time on cost control and more time on
  • business partnering
  • Top performers make greater use of shared services
  • Top performers provide better forward-looking insights for investors
  • Talent management less of a challenge for top performers
  • Top performers have streamlined their finance operations
• Accenture study
  • 1. Value-centred culture
  • 2. Business performance management
  • 3. Finance operations
  • 4. Capital stewardship
  • 5. Enterprise risk management
• World-Class Defined: The Hackett Group
• How Case Study Companies View World-Class Finance
  • Alcoa
  • Barclays
  • Christchurch City Council
  • Carlson Companies
  • Easynet
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Purolator
  • Reuters
  • SKF
  • StatoilHydro
  • Whirlpool Corporation
  • Case study observations
• Expert Advisors Define World-Class Finance
  • Atos Consulting
  • BearingPoint
  • Deloitte
  • The Hackett Group
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers
• World-Class Finance: Mastering the Six Core Capabilities
  • Capability 1: Masters of flawless delivery of transactional
  • processing activities
  • Capability 2: Masters of strategic and business partnering
  • Capability 3: Custodians of corporate performance management
  • Capability 4: Custodians and champions of the governance process
  • Capability 5: Masters of talent management
  • Capability 6: Masters of finance performance measurement
• Exploring the Implications of the Six Capabilities
• References

Chapter 3: Masters of the Flawless Delivery of Transaction Processing Activities

• Executive Summary
• Capability 1: Masters of Flawless Delivery of Transactional Processing Activities
• Introduction
• Offshoring, Outsourcing and Shared Services Defined
  • Offshoring
  • Outsourcing
  • Shared services
• Transactional Processing Cost Savings: The Story So Far
  • Cost of finance as a percentage of revenue
  • Reducing the cost of transactional processing activities
• Progress Towards Mastering Transactional Processing
• Transactional Processing and the Global Finance Delivery Model
  • Philip King - Atos Origin
  • Jodiann Hobson - The Hackett Group
  • Nick Jarman - PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Michael Janssen - The Hackett Group
  • Rick Roth - Deloitte
  • Divided opinion on suitable processes for offshoring
• The Steady Trend to Offshoring
  • Offshoring: the cost benefits
  • Globalization cost savings
  • Barclays Case Report
  • GlaxoSmithKline Case Report
  • SKF Case Report
  • Cost savings - a caution
• Offshore Destinations
• Usage of Shared Services and Outsourcing
  • KPMG: Being the Best study
• The Constraints on Outsourcing
  • Risk aversion
  • LogicaCMG study
  • CFO Research/Capgemini study
  • Atos Consulting study
  • Other risk constraints
• The Benefits of Outsourcing
  • Beyond labour arbitrage
  • Access to scarce talent
  • Ability to focus retained finance function on mission-critical activities
  • Continual cost reduction and performance enhancement
  • Ability to increase working capital and directly impact the bottom line
  • Availability of new finance and accounting technologies and bundled solutions
  • Potential to integrate multiple systems into a common global standard
  • Transferal of risk to the supplier
  • Preparation for M&A activity
• Case Study Deployment of Outsourcing
  • GlaxoSmithKline Case Report
  • SKF Case Report
• The Shared Services Option
  • Alcoa Case Report
  • Reuters Case Report
  • Onshore shared services: StatoilHydro
  • Consolidating higher-value work
  • Diageo Case Report
• The Role of Technology
  • Alcoa
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Purolator
  • Carlson Companies
  • StatoilHydro
• Conclusion 66
• References 66

Chapter 4: Masters of Strategic and Business Planning

• Executive Summary
• Capability 2: Masters of Strategic and Business Partnering
• Introduction
• Making the Case to Business Leaders
• Experts Define Business Partner
  • The Hackett Group
  • Rick Roth - Deloitte
  • Nick Jarman - PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Azfar Hussain - Injazat Data Systems
  • The practitioner' s view
  • IBM study
  • Boeing
  • Case examples
  • Purolator Case Report
  • Easynet Case Report
• Spending More Time on Business Partnering
  • Finance and the fear of strategic partnering
• Finance Change Programmes
  • Barclays Case Report
  • Carlson Companies Case Report
  • Whirlpool Corporation Case Report
  • What the best practice examples reveal
  • Unilever Case Report
  • Accor North America Case Report
• Keeping the Advice Practical
• Conclusion
• References

Chapter 5: Custodians of Corporate Performance Management

• Executive Summary
• Capability 3: Custodians of Corporate Performance Management
• Introduction
• Research Findings into CPM Practice
  • Deloitte findings
  • Atos Consulting findings
  • The knowledge-crunch
  • Unrealistic vision
  • The benefits of integrated CPM - research findings
  • Integrated CPM for the knowledge era
• The Balanced Scorecard
  • The importance of non-financial metrics
  • Unbalanced scorecards
  • Christchurch City Council Case Report
  • SKF Case Report
  • StatoilHydro Case Report
  • Finance as custodians of the scorecard
  • Ownership of the scorecard
  • Bank Niaga, Indonesia
• Budgeting and Planning
  • Beyond Budgeting Roundtable
  • Budgeting is cumbersome and too expensive
  • Budgeting is out of kilter with the competitive environment and no
  • longer meets the needs of either executives or operating managers
  • Alternatives to the annual budget
  • Venturing into the unknown
  • Case study examples
  • StatoilHydro Case Report
  • Rolling forecast shortcomings
  • Forecast accuracy
  • The Hackett verdict on forecasting accuracy
  • Ericsson Case Report
  • KPMG findings
  • How to improve forecasting
  • KPMG findings
  • Forecasting and integrated CPM
  • Nordea Case Report
  • Conclusion
  • References

Chapter 6: Custodians and Champions of the Corporate Governance Process

• Executive Summary
• Capability 4: Custodians and Champions of the Corporate Governance Process
• Introduction
• The Credit Crunch
  • The roots of the 2008 financial crisis
• Risk and Incentive Compensation
• Sarbanes-Oxley
  • Sarbanes-Oxley and world-class organizations
  • Finance shared services and Sarbanes-Oxley
  • Alcoa Case Report
  • Reuters Case Report
• Effectiveness of corporate governance reforms
  • ACFF research
  • McKinsey research
  • CFO Magazine research
  • The benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley
  • Benefits - case examples
• Compliance: The Impact on the Finance Function Roles and Responsibilities
  • An enhanced role for the CFO
  • Whirlpool Corporation Case Report
• Corporate Governance and Bsuiness Partnering
  • GlaxoSmithKline Case Report
  • Reconciling potentially conflicting responsibilities
  • How improved decision support combines with improved compliance
• Managing Organizational Risk
  • Easynet Case Report
  • Risks of globalization
  • Booz Allen study of compliance issues
  • External reporting and non-financial information
• Conclusion
• References

Chapter 7: Masters of Talent Management

• Executive Summary
• Capability 5: Masters of Talent Management
• Introduction
• Short-termism and the Barrier to Talent Management
• The Benefits of a Talent Management Strategy
  • Top performers in talent management outperform the market
• A definition of Talent Management
• Talent Management and the Finance Function
  • KPMG research: talent shortages are the biggest barrier to change
  • Hiring MBAs or employees with accounting qualifications
• Changing Skills Requirements
• Structured Finance Development Programmes
  • 1. Improve the impact of learning & development
  • 2. Attract, develop and retain the best people
  • 3. Help ' make change stick' in finance
  • Barclays Case Report
  • SKF Case Report
  • Purolator Case Report
  • Whirlpool Corporation Case Report
  • Alcoa Case Report
• Globalization and Finance Skills Requirements
  • Cultural awareness
• Forecsating Skills Requirements
  • A global view of performance
  • Dedicated talent management strategies for globalized working
• New Skills Requirement for the CFO
  • Creating the chief focus officer
  • The role of the chief value officer
  • Expert commentators define a world-class CFO
  • Jodiann Hobson, senior business advisor, The Hackett Group
  • David Ketchin, senior consultant, Parson Consulting
  • Kevin Bounds, director, Briefcase Consulting
  • John McMahon, managing director, BearingPoint
  • Jonathan Schiff, Schiff Consulting
• Conclusion
• References

Chapter 8: Masters of Finance Performance Measurement

• Executive Summary
• Capability 6: Masters of Finance Performance Measurement
• Introduction
  • The failure of the measurement agenda
• Strategic Alignment
  • Whirlpool Corporation Case Report
• The Balanced Scorecard
  • Building scorecards for finance and other functions
  • Alcoa Case Report
  • Carlson Companies Case Report
  • Reuters Case Report
  • Christchurch City Council Case Report
  • StatoilHydro Case Report
• Developing a Balanced Scorecard for Finance
  • Applying the finance scorecard: a worked example
  • Organizational background
  • Finance function background
  • Creating a finance balanced scorecard
  • Why the balanced scorecard is not widely used in finance
  • Balanced scorecard and finance shared services
  • Higher value finance measures
• Benchmarking
  • The benefits of benchmarking
  • Hackett Group benchmarking methodology
  • The importance of benchmarking like with like
  • Alcoa Case Report
  • Carlson Companies Case Report
  • Purolator Case Report
  • StatoilHydro Case Report
  • Barclays Case Report
• More Than the Numbers
• Conclusion
• References

Chapter 9: Conclusion and Action Checklist

• Executive Summary
• Introduction: Predictions from the Class of 2005
• The Predictions of the Report' s 2008 Class of Expert Advisors
• Globalization and emerging sourcing models
• Sourcing trends
• Next step-change finance function change improvements
  • Insights
  • Efficiency
  • Controls
  • People
  • Systems and data
• Better decision support
• The end of the line for the finance function?
• A Roadmap for Mastering the Six Capabilities of World-Class Finance
  • 1. What strategies should you put in place to secure the labour arbitrage benefits of globalization?
  • 2. How will you configure the finance organization to support the enterprise' s globalization strategies?
  • 3. What is your vision for world-class finance in your organization?
• Capability 1: Masters of the flawless delivery of transactional processing activities
  • 4. Which solutions will you use to deliver transactional processing services?
  • 5. How will you use a finance shared services solution?
  • 6. How much scope is there for standardizing finance processes?
• Capability 2: Masters of strategic business partnering
  • 7. What does being a strategic and business partner mean for finance in your organization?
  • 8. What essential changes will you have to make in your organization to reach world-class status?
• Capability 3: Custodians of corporate performance management
  • 9. How will you integrate all the aspects of corporate performance management into an integrated, value-adding whole?
  • 10. What are the major non-financial drivers of financial performance?
  • 11. As custodians of corporate performance management and reporting, how will finance capture and report a balanced portfolio of performance metrics?
  • 12. How will you ensure that the budgeting process drives real value for the enterprise?
• Capability 4: Custodians and champions of the governance process
  • 13. What role will finance play to ensure robust corporate governance procedures and policies are in place organization-wide?
  • 14. How will finance professionals manage the trade-offs and conflicts between their roles as business partners and responsibilities for ensuring compliance?
• Capability 5: World-class talent management
  • 15. How will finance acquire the right mix of talent to deliver the other capabilities?
  • 16. How do you ensure that you have the night mix of talent to compete globally?
  • 17. How are you shaping new career paths to meet the requirements of a new finance delivery model in the global era?
  • 18. How will you ensure that the objectives and metrics of the finance organization directly support those of the enterprise?
  • 19. How will you create a balanced performance management framework for the finance organization that shows both efficiency and effectiveness dimensions?
  • 20. What scope is there to use benchmarking to improve performance against effectiveness and efficiency dimensions?
  • 21. How long will your journey toward world-class status take?
• References

Case Studies

• Alcoa
• Barclays
• Carlson Companies
• Christchurch City Council
• Easynet
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Purolator
• Reuters
• The SKF Group
• StatoilHydro
• Whirlpool Corporation

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