The Accidental Finance Business Partner

If you find yourself in an (accidental) business partner role maybe you should consider taking our online course "Business Partnering Explained - Value Creation Unlocked" to get a better handle on the role. It's accredited for 5.5 CPD hours.

Early on in my career, I knew nothing about business partnering. In fact, I didn’t have a good idea about what kind of role would be ideal for me to land besides having a career in Finance. The movement I had experienced so far made sense though (from systems admin, through financial controller, to business controller).

All I knew from the beginning was that I wanted to get closer to the business because that was where I could have an impact on business results. Still, there was no overall direction besides the generic of wanting to climb the corporate ladder.

A few years into my career something emerged though that gave me a functional direction. It was during a module of a graduate program I was enrolled in that our CFO made an appearance and made the statement that… 

“…Finance should move from the back of the trunk where we’d been hiding for years to the front seat of the car and become a co-driver of the business” 

This made perfect sense to me and was already a movement that we had started in my role as a business controller. 

The business partner pyramid 

Not long after we received more guidance on the functional development goals for the finance function. We were shown the now-classic triangle having finance transactions at the bottom, analysis/analytics in the middle, and decision support/business partnering at the top.

However, simple it was it provided clear guidance for transformation work to start. As a business controller, I now became part of so-called asset teams where we grouped different drilling rigs together. I was supposed to act as their business partner from Finance.

While still in its infancy I believe we were able to provide a lot more insights to the business than ever before. Insights like the benchmark analysis I described in last week’s article.

I remember a particularly proud moment where the asset manager called me into his office and gave me some appreciative feedback. At the end of it he pulled out a small box from his drawer and handed it over to me and said, “thanks so much for your help so far – you’ve earned this”. In the box was a tie with drilling rigs on and if you strip it from emotions it was just some company merchandise. However, to me, it was a token of appreciation from a business stakeholder. He didn’t have to do this as I didn’t report to him and he in no way had any responsibilities for me as such. So to me, it was a big thing! 

When a new direction is introduced you run with it! 

As I said I never imagined myself to become a business partner. Heck, when I started in the company I was even scared to pick up the phone and call someone within Finance. Yet, when our CFO introduced this new direction for Finance in the company I ran with it. I tried to make the most of it and in some sense, I definitely managed to move towards the front of the car.

That’s the real learning from this story. Finance is in an always-on transformation and it can feel like the directions change fast and often. However, the best you can do is to run with whatever direction that’s currently prevailing and be the best at it. Ideally, that should land you the next level role that you desire.

That’s at least what happened to me. Two years into the role an opportunity opens up at our office in Houston, TX in the US. I throw my name in the hat and not long after I’m offered the role to become a Finance Manager at Maersk Drilling USA Inc. Now a true adventure was about to start in so many ways.

How do you make the most out of the direction your company is taking? Do you spend time complaining about how there’s something new you must relate to or do you simply pick up the slack and champion it?

This was the sixth article in the series "My Early Career Lessons From A Decade In Finance & Accounting". You can read the previous article(s) below.

My Early Career Lessons From A Decade In Finance & Accounting

The Purpose Defining Moment In My Finance Career

Are You Looking For A Finance Job Or A Finance Career?

Here's Why You Should Take Charge Of Your Career

The Intersection Between Finance And Business Is Where It Got Interesting

You can read a lot more articles about FP&A, Business Partnering, and Finance Transformation below. It all start's with “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” where you set the ambition for your transformation. You should join the Finance Business Partner Forum which is part of the Business Partnering Institute's online community where we will continue to discuss this topic and you can click here to follow me on Twitter.

Your Journey To Successful Business Partnering Explained

How To Create Value Through Business Partnering

Everyone Can Adopt A Business Partnering Mindset (part of a six-article series about FP&A Business Partnering)

From Business Partner To Working Within The Business (part of an article series where I interview finance professionals about their careers in FP&A and Business Partnering)

Is Your Product Optimized For Value Creation? (part of a toolbox series where we look at what tools FP&A professionals should leverage to drive value creation)

How Business Partners Turn Analysis To Insight (part of case study series where I interview business partners about how they drive value creation using real cases)

The Future Of FP&A: Two Ways To Take The Reins

What Is The Accounting Profession Paradox?

What Defines A Finance Master?

The New Career Path For Finance Professionals

How Finance People Can Be More Successful

The CFOs Roadmap To Transforming Finance

How To Become A Finance Business Partner

Financial Analyst vs. Finance Business Partner

Finance Business Partner Is A Bullshit Job

How Business Partners Keep A Plan On Track

Anders Liu-Lindberg is a Senior Finance Business Partner at Maersk supporting our largest product and I have more than 10 years of experience working with Finance at Maersk both in Denmark and abroad. I am also the co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with almost 8,000 members. My main goal at Maersk is to show how to be successful with business partnering and drive value creation as a trusted partner. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a long-time Finance Blogger with 39.000+ followers.