Do you make decisions or do you influence them?
Anders Liu-Lindberg
Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on creating impact through business partnering | Interim | VP Finance | Business Finance
This is the newsletter "Here's the Future of FP&A and Business Partnering" which has more than 29,000 subscribers. You can subscribe as well to receive new articles straight in your inbox every Monday and the occasional Saturday.
To follow my entrepreneur journey you can over to my?Instagram account.
If you want shorter snippets of the future of finance and accounting then check out my?Twitter account.
Most decisions in business are not made by Finance. This isn't a lament, but rather a simple observation. And, indeed, this is as it should be: if all the day-to-day choices were falling to the Finance Function, it would be reasonable to assume that all was not well within the organization.
But despite this, Finance remains an enormously important nexus of information and insight generation and is a key cog in the machinery of decision-making.
So what does Finance do?
The role of the Finance Function is to support better decision-making. There are several ways in which this might manifest.
Traditionally, the support provided by Finance has been limited to data and reporting. And, of course, these are extremely important activities; stakeholders and decision-makers across every part of the business need to have the most accurate and up-to-date facts available to make the best possible decisions.
But as Finance professionals continue to transition towards business partnering roles, the way in which we participate in the decision-making process is growing and changing.
In the business partnering paradigm, our involvement is no longer limited to providing supporting information. Today, Finance professionals have an increasingly important role to play as influencers within (and beyond) our organizations. We have the opportunity to influence decisions that might previously have seemed outside our scope, whether they are to do with procurement, sales, or any other conceivable business process.
I've explored this shift in detail throughout other series here on LinkedIn. In particular, you might find value in the series on shifting mindsets in Finance, and the introduction to Finance Function 4.0.
It's not enough to be right
Throughout those series I've highlighted the waning importance of technical accounting abilities, and the strong new focus on "soft" skills amongst Finance professionals.
In our role as influencers (and, increasingly, as decision-makers) we don't just need a firm grasp of the numbers - we also need the interpersonal skills required in order to translate information into insight, helping stakeholders understand the decisions they are being asked to take and the potential outcomes of each course of action.
In this way, it's not enough to simply be 'right' in your assessment. Just as important is your ability to communicate your perspective, and to ensure that there is buy-in and understanding throughout your business.
Choose your language carefully
Language is a crucial element of these efforts. Finance professionals are traditionally quite bad at communicating with non-Finance people within their business, particularly when it comes to the nitty-gritty of technical accounting. But the ability to explain your point of view, and to present supporting information in a way that is comprehensible and accessible to non-Finance stakeholders, is absolutely vital in the modern business partnering paradigm.
In addition, relationship-building should be a major priority for every business partner and Finance professional. We should have a presence throughout our organizations, and our input should be visible in every process and activity. This requires us to be easy to deal with, amenable to questions, and unafraid of challenging established assumptions.
The scope of the Finance Function's responsibilities is going to continue to expand, and the "soft" skills that are so important for business partnering will come to define the careers of Finance professionals. Make sure you catch up on the previous series we've published to get a head start.
If you like what you read and would like to make a voluntary donation to support my continued content creation you can use one of the below options. All content continues to be provided for free!
For international donations please transfer via PayPal here:?PayPal.Me/liulindberg
For Danish donations please transfer via MobilePay on 876201
This was the second article in my new series "The ultimate guide to decision-making for Finance professionals". You can read the previous article(s) in the series below.
You can read all articles in my latest series "The Mindset For The Future of Finance" below.
领英推荐
If you want to learn more about one of the key roles of the future "finance business partner" you can check out my recent series "The personality of a business partner" below.
If you want to become a better business partner, 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.
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.
All Successful Business Partners Are "Leaders"?(the last article in the series about our new capability model)
Should We Keep Talking About Business Partnering??(part of a 17-article series where we deep-dive on the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of business partnering by putting it on a formula)
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)
Anders Liu-Lindberg?is the co-founder and a partner at the?Business Partnering Institute?and owner of the largest?group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering?on LinkedIn with more than 10,000 members. I have ten years of experience as a business partner at the global transport and logistics company?Maersk. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a?long-time Finance Blogger?on LinkedIn with 60.000+ followers and 140.000+ subscribers to my blog. Recently I became an advisory board member at?Born Capital?to help identify and grow the next big thing in #CFOTech.
Helping Finance Managers add value where it counts | Turnaround busy loss-makers | Improve profits of the already profitable | Proven step-by-step process | 90-day projects | Training & Coaching throughout |
3 年Interestingly, Simon Sinek suggests we should stop talking about 'soft skills' and start talking about 'human skills' I guess - whatever we call it - we should know what we mean by it. (I wonder when 'soft skills'/'human skills' will be introduced into professional accounting body examinations?) For anyone interested - I've included, below, a link to a <2 minute video in which Simon Sinek explains his logic/rationale in making the distinction. https://youtu.be/3T71qvIPCto
?? Chartered Accountant ? Finance Director ? Finance Professional ? Trusted Finance Business Partner ? FinTech Enthusiast ? FMCG ? Food & Beverage ? Restaurants ??
3 年Finance Function 4?? "FOUR-point.0" can influence business decisions by adopting a business oriented approach informed through: F = FACTS obtained through business reality O = OBSERVATION (look, see and listen) U = UNBIASEDNESS (replace Finance subjectivity, with objectivity) R = RELATING to people in the cross-functional teams #FourPointOh #accountingandaccountants #influencers