From Data to Decisions

How Financial Controllers Can Lead with Business Intelligence.

Financial Controllers are increasingly stepping out of the back office and into the boardroom. Gone are the days when their primary role was to manage the financial complexity and provide data. Now, they’re expected to provide strategic insights, guide operational decisions, and ensure the long-term financial health of the dealership. But to do this effectively, Financial Controllers need more than just spreadsheets and basic accounting systems. They need powerful Business Intelligence (BI) to turn raw data into actionable insights.

In this article, we’ll explore how Financial Controllers can leverage DBM to lead dealership operations, focusing on how these tools can help turn vast amounts of data into decisions that drive profitability.

The Changing Role of the Financial Controller

Traditionally, the role of Financial Controllers has been rooted in financial reporting, ensuring compliance with regulations, and managing budgets. But the automotive industry’s rapidly evolving landscape has pushed the role to be far more dynamic. Financial Controllers are now expected to contribute to strategic decision-making, influence departmental performance, and ultimately drive the dealership’s success.

To thrive in this expanded role, Financial Controllers need to move beyond manual processes and retrospective reports. They need tools that allow them to monitor real-time performance, analyse trends, and provide proactive guidance to Dealer Principals and department heads.

The Power of Business Intelligence (BI) in Dealerships

Business Intelligence (BI) tools like Op2ma’s DBM have revolutionised how dealerships collect, manage, and interpret their data. By integrating data from multiple departments—sales, service, parts, and F&I—into a single platform, DBM provides Financial Controllers with a comprehensive view of the dealership’s financial and operational health and saves them many hours.

Here’s how DBM empowers Financial Controllers to turn data into decisions:

Instant Insights and Analysis

Gone are the days of waiting till mid-month for last month’s financial reports. With DBM, Financial Controllers can access this data instantly each month with complete insights and analysis for each department in the dealership, from vehicle sales and service to parts inventory and F&I performance.

This data gives Financial Controllers the ability to:

Monitor Key Metrics Continuously: Whether it’s gross profit margins, inventory turnover, or service department efficiency, DBM allows Financial Controllers to track the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter against their own targets for each brand and location and compare to the industry benchmarks.

Identify Problems Instantly: Key insights enable Financial Controllers to identify underperforming KPIs and trends—such as declining sales, rising expenses, or low gross profits in many categories such as Gross Profit per Technician or F&I Sales consultant — before they become major issues, allowing for quick corrective action.

Automated Reporting Manual reporting is time-consuming, error-prone, and, by the time it’s completed, often outdated. Add in the complexity that when the responsible person for the super spreadsheet is on leave, it makes this scenario outdated.? DBM automates the reporting process, consolidating financial and operational data into customizable reports that are easily kept up to date.

With automated reporting, Financial Controllers can:

Save Time and Reduce Errors: By automating data collection and report generation, DBM frees up time for Financial Controllers to focus on analysis and strategy, rather than manual data entry and graph creation.

Deliver Consistent Insights: DBM generates consistent reports, comparisons and analysis across all dealership locations and brands, ensuring that Financial Controllers and Dealer Principals are working from the same data, regardless of where they are in the dealership group.

Customise Reports: Whether they need a high-level executive summary or a detailed analysis of service department performance, Financial Controllers can customise BI reports to meet the specific needs of different stakeholders.

Brand and Location Visibility One of the biggest challenges for Financial Controllers is managing the financial performance of multiple locations and multiple brands. DBM provides cross-departmental, cross brand visibility, allowing Financial Controllers to see how each location and the individual brands are performing and identify areas for improvement and make strategic decisions.

Brand and location insights help Financial Controllers:

Brand & Location Specific KPIs: DBM allows Financial Controllers to monitor KPIs specific to each brand, such as gross profits, total value chains, net profit per brand F&I penetration rates. This assists in strategic decisions on brand performance and investment viability.

Identify Underperforming Areas: With brands & location visibility, Financial Controllers can quickly spot underperforming areas, such as inventory management, growth, employee effectiveness and work with department managers to implement corrective measures.

Optimise Resource Allocation: By seeing which location or brands are driving profitability and which are struggling, Financial Controllers can help Dealer Principals allocate resources—such as marketing spend, staffing, or inventory—more effectively.

Data-Driven Decision-Making The ability to make informed decisions is at the core of every successful dealership. DBM empowers Financial Controllers to provide data-driven insights that guide strategic decision-making.

With DBM, Financial Controllers can:

Offer proactive guidance: They can advise Dealer Principals and department managers on areas such as employee effectiveness, departmental performance, or effective use inventory levels for overall financial performance.

Support Long-Term Planning: DBM allows Financial Controllers to analyse historical data and trends, helping dealerships plan for the future by forecasting sales, service demand, and cash flow needs.

Measure the Impact of Decisions: DBM enables Financial Controllers to track the results of strategic decisions, such as introducing new services or a pricing change, providing valuable feedback for future decision-making.

Turning Data into Actionable Insights

Data is only as valuable as the insights it provides. DBM doesn’t just collect and organise data—they turn raw data into actionable insights that Financial Controllers can use to lead dealership operations effectively. Let’s explore a few examples of how DBM can transform data into decisions:

Inventory Management Inventory is one of the most significant costs for dealerships, and managing inventory efficiently is critical to profitability. DBM helps Financial Controllers track inventory turnover, monitor days in inventory, and ensure that the right mix of vehicles is available to meet customer demand.

Service Department Efficiency The service department is often one of the most profitable areas of a dealership, but it also comes with significant overhead costs, including labour and parts. DBM helps Financial Controllers monitor service absorption rates, technician efficiency, and the parts-to-labour ratio, ensuring that the service department operates efficiently.

For example, if service gross profit is low, DBM can provide insights into whether the issue is because of technician efficiencies, parts to labour ratios, effective labour rates, or underutilization of the technician workforce. Armed with this information, the Financial Controller can work with the service manager to optimise scheduling or bookings and internal processes to improve efficiency.

Gross Profit Margins Gross profit margins are a critical indicator of a dealership’s financial health, but tracking margins across multiple departments—sales, service, parts, and F&I—can be challenging. DBM provides real-time insights into gross profit margins by departments, locations and brands, helping Financial Controllers identify which areas are driving profitability and which need improvement.

For example, if gross profit margins in the used car department are lower than expected, the BI tool can provide insights into whether the issue is related to pricing, vehicle acquisition costs, or sales volume. The Financial Controller can then work with the sales team to adjust pricing strategies or improve the Cost of sales.

Leading Dealership Operations with DBM

As dealerships continue to evolve, the role of the Financial Controller will only grow in importance. By leveraging the power of DBM, Financial Controllers can move beyond traditional financial reporting and take on a leadership role in dealership operations. Here’s how they can do it:

Collaborate with Department Managers DBM provides the insights Financial Controllers need to work closely with department managers—whether it’s the general manager, sales manager, service manager, or parts manager—to ensure that every department is contributing to the dealership’s overall profitability.

For example, a BI tool can help the Financial Controller work with the service manager to optimise labour usage and reduce unsold labour, or collaborate with the sales manager to adjust used vehicle pricing to improve gross profit margins.

Provide Strategic Insights to Dealer Principals

Financial Controllers are uniquely positioned to provide Dealer Principals with the financial insights needed to make strategic decisions. With DBM, Financial Controllers can provide data-driven recommendations on everything from inventory to service department expansion, brand value that will assist Dealer Principals to make informed decisions that drive long-term success.

For example, a BI tool can help the Financial Controller identify brand values and be profitable. They can then advise the Dealer Principal on where to invest in expanding sales operations or future investments.

Ensure Long-Term Financial Health One of the most critical roles of a Financial Controller is ensuring the dealership’s long-term financial health. DBM provides the data needed to forecast cash flow, plan for capital expenditures, and ensure that the dealership is on track to meet its long-term financial goals.

By using DBM to monitor financial performance in real-time, Financial Controllers can identify potential financial risks—such as declining sales or rising expenses—before they become major issues, ensuring that the dealership remains financially healthy and profitable.

Conclusion: Leading with Business Intelligence

In today’s data-driven world, Financial Controllers have the tools they need to become leaders in dealership operations. By leveraging Business Intelligence (BI) tools like DBM, Financial Controllers can turn raw data into actionable insights that drive profitability, improve efficiency, and guide strategic decision-making.

Whether it’s optimising inventory, improving service department efficiency, or tracking gross profit margins, DBM empowers Financial Controllers to provide the leadership and insights that dealerships need to succeed in an increasingly competitive market.

Want to learn how you can leverage Business Intelligence (BI) tools to turn data into decisions that drive dealership success? Reach out and book a no-obligation demo to see how Op2ma’s DBM can help you optimise operations, improve profitability, and lead your dealership to success.