Stuart Bilbrough says getting 'value' from Finance requires key skills across the whole team and he shows how it can be done

This is the last of three articles that discuss the changing role of the CFO and their Finance teams within New Zealand’s organisations.

Targeted towards smaller to medium sized organisations, the pervious article ended with the question, “CFO's are expected to be strategic and add value to the business they support. But what if the Finance team that supports them does not have a value adding skill set?”

In earlier articles the definition of value in a Finance function context was discussed.

Also the challenges of providing that value and support to the business when there are competing requirements of day to day transactional process and ever increasing compliance.

Getting the right balance therefore becomes critical through ensuring the right skills in the right place.

Outsource expert advice where a full time employee is not warranted. Supporting the business is a team effort and not just a few positions. This includes those in accounts receivable, accounts payable and payroll and not just core accounting and analysis positions.

This means when looking to close the skills gap with training everyone should be involved.

This time, I want to discuss the training I have used for my own team. This training was specially designed to lift the skill set of the team towards adding value. It was not specially designed for the industry Radius Care sits and easily transferrable to any industry or Finance team.

The training

There are four core sessions that build on each other and two I’ll refer to as ‘nice to do’s’. I’d stress now that these sessions get back to the basics and set the foundation for a value adding Finance function. I fill individual skills gaps with external training where necessary.

1. The core sessions start with “The Data”. This is validation and control. The session focuses on ensuring that the data that Finance looks after is materially accurate, that it is validated before being passed to those who need it and that the data comes from a strong control environment.

2. The second session is “The Client”. This is the stakeholders: how to identify them, understand their needs and prioritise. Finance needs to be relevant to the business it supports. They must ensure that the key decision-makers in an organisation have been identified and are getting what is relevant to them.

3. The third session is “The Product”. Rightly or wrongly, the professionalism of analysis is often judged by its appearance. This session provides tools and a great guideline on how to present both financial and non-financial analysis professionally and in a format that gets the relevant message across.

4. The fourth of the core sessions is “The Value”. It discusses the Strategic Plan and financial planning. The first three sessions generally involve historical data. Finance adds superior value when it is assisting with planning for the future. This is the reason for including the Strategic Plan as Finance needs to understand where the key decision-makers of an organisation see it going. Finance is in a perfect position to bridge the potential gaps between that strategic vision and financial reality.

The ‘nice to do’ sessions are Business Process Improvement and Risk Management.

5. The fifth session is about Business Process Improvement. The session is called “Challenging the Status Quo” and looks to introduce a culture that says, “How can I do this better?” It uses the principles of Six Sigma to assist in challenging processes, identifying improvements and freeing up time to spend on adding value and helping the business grow.

6. The sixth and last session is about Risk Management and is called “Rudimentary Risk – No Surprises Please”. It is included because it invariably sits within the Finance function in small to medium-sized organisations. That is, if it is done at all. In many cases risk management is ad hoc and uncoordinated, which is a risk in itself. This session provides a simple, even rudimentary, framework for coordinating risk management.

We’ll now discuss some of the pros and cons of training in-house verses external?

In-house versus external training

On the occasion I have sent team members on external training courses, I’ve not always seen the value they have bought back to the Finance team and organisation. Without wanting to be cynical about this training is does seem that objective of the course can quickly be forgotten as the team member refocuses on their busy roles rather than what they may have learnt.

I’m certainly not against external courses and use the likes of leadership management, negotiations skills and technical updates to fill in areas that an individual within the team may need as part of their own development. As mentioned, the sessions I ran internally and explained above are to provide the foundation for value and decision support.

What did we do at Radius Care? Each month the team went through one training session. Each was for the best part of a day. We used Radius-specific issues for exercises in each session and either addressed them direct in that session or set them up as opportunities to be completed in the following weeks and months.

The sessions were great – I hadn’t thought the team, and myself for that matter, would enjoy them so much.

It was also an opportunity for me to explain my expectations to the team in an informal and inclusive environment.  Chan Dullabh, my Payroll Manager, said after the first session that he enjoyed finding out about what the other team members did in Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable. It was a great opportunity for each of the team members to get to know what other team members did in their roles and to discuss their challenges and issues. 

Sound good? Like anything there are the pros and cons with in-house training. So as not to be put you off in-house training where there is a con, I have proposed a fix.

Remember to publicise

It is important to let senior management know what you are doing and give updates throughout the journey.

This will assist with managing expectations through the training period. Keeping it quiet and surprising those that will benefit from Finance support could in fact have an adverse reaction that perceives Finance as “Trying to tell me how to run my business!”

Start with a voice of client questionnaire that provides questions related to value and the current perception. When training is complete and the team is engaging more regularly with the key decision makers, do the questionnaire again.

Therefore:

1. Training is critical but what is as important is ensuring that it is interconnected and applicable to providing the stepping stones towards adding value.

2. Externally provided training opportunities are available but they are not always relevant or connected in a way that achieves the maximum desired outcome.

3. Internally provided sessions focus on skills gaps using the organisation’s own needs and issues as examples. Training is provided while fixing issues and improving value at the same time.

4. In-house training ensures the expectations of an organisation’s senior management and especially the CFO can be included. The CFO ultimately gets the support they need.

5. The objective of the training is to realise the vision for Finance of consistency, control and contributor. It takes the Finance team Beyond Financial Control.