How To Define Finance Business Partnering 2.0?

Finance Business Partnering as a concept has been around for ages with some saying 50 years. However, it wasn’t until the financial crisis that the concept really started to gain steam in particular in the Nordics and UK. In the US, however, the concept hasn’t gotten much attention and most would argue that it’s just FP&A done right as a discussion to my post "Financial Analyst vs. Finance Business Partner" brought forward. Nevertheless, the case for business partnering is clear as the business is craving for more business support from the CFO and the finance function. 

Where’s the clear definition? 

Unfortunately, many companies are lacking a clear definition of what finance business partnering is in particular for their company. The theory and the generics are fairly clear but when it comes to designing the specific role way too often tasks like reporting, data-crunching and other back-office tasks creeps into the job description. Spending time on these tasks means time away from supporting the business and a risk of continued stereotyping of finance people as those that sit in the corner and fiddle with their numbers. This naturally leads an underperforming finance business partner team that doesn’t deliver the value you expected. So the BIG question is how do we fix this? 

Finance Business Partnering 2.0 

This is not to simplify the answer but we need to revamp the concept introduce Finance Business Partnering 2.0. Throw out your old job description and start fresh. I took the first stab at it in an article first published by the Association of Finance Professionals and later republished by Danish consulting firm Basico. However, while this may be a good starting point it needs to be tested by peers, tested by live application and tested in multiple geographies. At Maersk Line, we’ve started this journey as part of an overall finance transformation program and we’re now going live with Finance Business Partnering 2.0. To seek further input I have today started a group called Finance Business Partner Forum where I invite all finance business partners to join in the discussion to further test the 2.0 concept. 

Who wants to take finance to yet another next level? 

Consultants and scholars will tell you many things about finance business partnering and none of it is wrong necessarily, however, the broad scale application of the concept is still fairly new and it takes a practical application to develop the concept. We need active finance business partners to take part in this discussion by sharing how they partner with the business in their company. I want YOU to be part of that discussion and hope that you will join the group where we will start as an online community but ideally, also meet to discuss the concept of Finance Business Partnering 2.0. I will be sharing all my previous posts on the topic below but certainly also encourage you to share what you find to be relevant to the discussion. I will soon be extending invites to the group and I hope you will accept!

Previous posts about finance business partnering 

The Skills Of A Finance Business Partner

What Finance Business Partnering Really Is

You’re A Finance Business Partner, Now What?

Case Study: Becoming A Finance Business Partner

Why We Need Business Partnering Transformation 

Anders Liu-Lindberg is the Senior Finance Business Partner for Maersk Line North Europe and is working with the transformation of Finance and business on a daily basis. Anders has participated in several transformation processes amongst others helping Maersk Drilling to go Beyond Budgeting and transformed a finance team from Bean-counters to Business Partners. He would love the chance to collaborate with you on your own transformation processes to help you stay out of disruption. If you are looking for more advice on how to get the most of LinkedIn Anders also has a few tips to share as well as if you want help in your job search. Don’t be shy! Let’s get in touch and start helping each other.