Finance Holds The Keys To A Trillion Dollar Opportunity

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A trillion dollars? That’s enough to make an accountant’s eyes water. It may feel like an impossible goal, but it’s more than achievable. Finance uses its unfair advantage to drive insights, leverage data, and facilitate effective decision-making for business success. If those decisions result in a steady 1% uplift in EBITDA in every company, that’s a trillion-dollar opportunity realized.?

Let’s do the sums

The S&P global annual EBITDA for just the 500 US companies on their index has climbed steadily from just under $3 trillion in 2018 to well over $4 trillion in the year to September 2021. This is without considering any of the corporations listed on the stock exchanges of Europe, Asia, or Africa, or taking into account the millions of smaller companies that are successful and profitable around the world. What would be a conservative estimate of global EBITDA? Fifteen trillion dollars? Twenty? Thirty? More?

A one percent uplift in every company where a finance professional has unlocked their true potential could add up to hundreds of billions by this time next year. In the blink of an eye, we are staring at a trillion dollars.

Business partnering unlocks opportunity

The ability of a finance professional to partner with peers and colleagues across all the functions of the business is the simple key to success. This is Business Partnering, developing our influencing capabilities and ensuring that decision-makers are confident and comfortable to buy into our data-driven, objective, and informed recommendations.

We also have great responsibility for the survival of the business. As the conduit to reporting, regulations, and compliance, we ensure that the company can grow and thrive without falling foul of ever-evolving conditions of trade. When our recommendations are trusted and welcomed, the company steps closer to unlocking its share of that trillion-dollar opportunity.

Successful businesses need high-performing finance professionals to take them to the next level. We have to present ourselves as an essential part of the team, on an equal footing with production, marketing, HR, research and development, sales, and IT. We must be ready to collaborate and cooperate effectively with all of our peers. Communication across all the functions of the business is at the root of fruitful business partnering. By building genuine and mutually beneficial relationships we build our influence and maximize our positive impact on the company’s success.

Start building your influence plan

Finance sits in a unique position at the heart of the business, and leveraging that privilege reveals unparalleled opportunities. Build your influence in the business and your position as a valuable part of a high-performing team by harnessing these finance superpowers.

• Finance professionals know how to make money. Use our holistic view of the business, combined with a unique depth of detail, to demonstrate how every decision impacts the cash flow and profitability of the business.
• Finance drives insights from analytics. Our potential impact on business success is limitless if we can communicate our insights effectively.
• Finance is like an all-seeing eye in the company. Changing our perspective to be cross-functional and customer-centric helps to create the best possible solutions to business challenges.
• Finance can leverage its unparalleled access to data. It allows us to wield influence in decision-making and to benefit everyone as we take the business to the next level.
• Finance knows how to use its seat at the table. We take responsibility for delivering the best possible options to the ultimate decision-maker.

What are you waiting for? It’s time to unlock the unfair advantage of finance and watch the trillions roll in.

This was the seventh and final article in my series "Unlocking the unfair advantage of Finance". You can read the previous article(s) below.

It's time to unlock the unfair advantage of Finance

Finance professionals know how to make money

How finance drives insights from analytics

Why Finance is the all-seeing eye of the company

How Finance can leverage its unparalleled access to data

How Finance should use its seat at the table

If you want to learn more about how finance professionals can influence decision-making then check out my latest article series "The Art of Decision-Making" below.

The ultimate guide to decision-making for finance professionals

Do you understand how you make decisions?

Do you make decisions or do you influence them?

From influence to impact - the hardest part of Finance

The art of improved decision-making explained

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.

The Mindset Change Checklist For Finance Professionals ?(the last article in a series about the mindset change that finance and accounting professionals should make to become business partners)

It's Time To Decide If You Want To Be A Business Partner ?(the last article in a series about the personality traits of business partners)

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)

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 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 65.000+ 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.