As stakeholders increasingly expect more value add from the finance function, CFOs are turning their attention toward finance business partnering, according to an online survey of 134 UK finance leaders. 

According to the survey report, Changing the Focus of Finance: Finance Business Partnering, not only are external pressures creating the need for leaner and more responsive back-office functions, but there is now a greater demand from the organisations for finance to drive performance.  

Finance leaders appear ready for the challenge. For example, in the UK, 83% of the respondents indicated that their finance organisations want to increase the time spent on finance business partnering over the next three years. Similar Deloitte surveys conducted among finance chiefs in Australia, Belgium and Ireland have confirmed the same; 94% in Australia, 80% in Belgium and 91% in Ireland.

Delivering greater value

The expectation for finance to add greater value to the business is growing and the opportunity for finance teams to support business success has never been stronger. Given the economic environment, in which the path to profitable growth is unlikely to be straightforward, today's finance organisations are in a unique position to help steer the business. The quantity of data available and the tools to turn that data into insight are enabling an unprecedented level of analytical and commercial input into decision-making.

"There is an opportunity to redefine what we call finance business partnering as a number of new factors are coming into play," says Malcolm Wilkinson, a partner at Deloitte, who leads the Finance Business Partnering practice. Mr. Wilkinson cites the explosion in the quantity and variety of data available, the commercial demands of new business models and the opportunities presented by digital transformation.

While many organisations have already begun to invest in and develop finance business partnering capabilities, the undertaking is complex. CFOs must embrace the challenge of translating this capability into tangible benefits for the organisation. Making the transition from back office to front office is not always an easy endeavour, and in those finance organisations that have made the transition, in many cases, there is room for improvement.

Starting Out

Given this complexity, CFOs and finance leaders must take action now to ensure that they and their teams are able to effectively step into the role as a strategic finance business partner, and become a catalyst for change. To partner effectively requires continuous improvement and learning. Nonetheless, a handful of practical actions can set the right course for this journey:

  • Be very clear on where finance can add value. By understanding where partnering efforts will add the most value to the business, activities can be prioritised and finance can work with the business from the start, gaining agreement on the partnering role and buy-in to the approach. Set an agenda for the finance business partnering role and activities to enable the business strategy, address obvious areas to add value and consider other opportunities where finance can support the business strategy.
  • Remove the barriers to adding value and demonstrate the results – step by step, area by area. Business partnering requires leadership, and good leaders make progress despite the challenges they face. Addressing each value area in turn—and doing whatever is necessary to obtain the insight and influence to deliver the value—can create a virtuous cycle of belief in finance's ability to be a business partner, both within the function and also within the wider business.
  • Sustain the improvement by addressing the fundamental enablers of financial capability: Insight tools, data quality, skills development and career progression opportunities, all of which are necessary to maintain the motivation of effective finance business partners. While immediate progress can—and should—be made regardless of the challenges, it is important to sustain it.

A final point emphasises the concept of value. "Finance business partners are a costly and potent finance resource that often spend significant time on data manipulation, reconciliations and reports that can be of no direct value to the business," says Marcus Boyle, Deloitte's EMEA Finance Transformation leader. "Often, this stems from poor systems and processes. However, it also derives from a widespread lack of understanding about which activities will drive value in the business, as well as uncertainty within the business about finance becoming a front-office function," Mr. Boyle observes.

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