It’s time we fix management reporting once and for all!
Anders Liu-Lindberg
Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on creating impact through business partnering | Interim | VP Finance | Business Finance
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Management reports are like resumés – 95% of them could use a makeover! There are plenty of reasons why we stick to the old formats. The end of the month comes around so quickly that plugging the new numbers into a familiar interface saves time.
It’s easier to delegate, showing junior staff the process, and the how without digging deeper into the what and the why of reporting. It’s what the Board is used to, after all. What would be gained by changing things around? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The problem with that approach is that we lose sight of why we do things in a particular way. What were the original conditions that created our familiar format? There’s an old story told by sales guru Zig Ziglar many years ago.
A family argument broke out at Christmas over how to cook a ham hock joint. “You should always cut the end off the ham hock,” said his wife, looking with disaaproval at the entire joint that their son-in-law had prepared. But why? His wife called her mother, who confirmed that you always cut the end off the ham hock. That was how her mother had taught her to do it. Then they called grandma. “Why do we always cut the end off the ham hock?” they asked. “Oh,” said the old lady, “it’s because my roasting pan was too small.”
Changing the narrative
Are you still running management reports that were designed to solve an old problem? Do they grab the reader and tell them what they need to know, or are they past their best?
When we lose sight of the reasons for presenting our information in a particular way, we start to lose our audience. Before we know it, the report isn’t fit for purpose. The Board gets bored reading the same report month after month, and the decision support
If your personal resumé isn’t refreshed and updated to reflect your current state, your relevance to the world around you, and the latest key features expected by recruiters, then it will not stand out or appeal to employers. If your management reporting isn’t refreshed, it won’t appeal to the business leaders you seek to support, and it will limit your influence on strategic decision-making
The management report is the resumé of FP&A. It’s time to give it a makeover fit for the rapidly changing business environment
Are you ready to take a long hard look at what you do, why you do it, and how it has to change? It’s time to transform management reporting completely and start communicating in new ways.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking at:
We want to establish a new way of delivering consistently fresh, valuable, decision-making data from month to month without falling back on the old way of doing things. Stop cutting the end off the ham hock - adapt to the current state of the world
Our ultimate goal? The slideless monthly management meeting. Do you dare to take the plunge? Join us on the journey to fix management reporting once and for all, and if you’ve already started the process of change, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments.
This was the first article in my new series "It's time to fix management reporting". Don't forget to check out my latest series "Building the FP&A team of the future". You can read all the articles below.
While you await future articles you can read my previous series "The ten commandments of planning and forecasting" below.
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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.
Can't help falling in love FP&A?(the last article in my series about charting the course for a successful FP&A career)
Can we trust the machine for financial planning and analysis??(the last article in my series "Planning (as we know it) is dead")
The secret sauce of FP&A transformation?(the last article in the series "FP&A Transformation Talks")
How Finance should use its seat at the table?(the last article in the series "The Unfair Advantage of Finance")
The ultimate guide to decision-making for finance professionals?(the last article in a series about the decision-making process and how Finance should impact it)
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 into 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 a 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?Business Partnering Institute?and the owner of the largest?group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering?on LinkedIn with more than 11,000 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 130,000+ followers and 215,000+ subscribers to my blog. I am also an advisory board member at?Born Capital?where I help identify and grow the next big thing in?#CFOTech.?Finally, I'm a member of the board of directors at?PACE - Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence?where I support the development of new analytics frameworks that can improve profitability in companies around the world.
APAC Portfolio Lead
2 年#justaskwhy
Fractional CFO | Finance Teams Transformation | M&A | Post-merger Integration | Global Team Leadership | Fund and Asset Management
2 年Very good prompt. Sometimes following old format/structure, makes us thinking less of the current business and how we can make the reports more relevant and helpful to decision makers.
Senior Finance Leader | CFO| Ex. Cornell Alumnus |Finance Strategist | Digital Transformation | Global Accounting| Shared Services | Process Improvement
2 年Anders very true. Some of the problems, I have encountered are some what similar as Angel. People tend to generate reports as part of legacy handovers. When, I took over as one of the Vertical Controllers, I was provided access to share point with almost 23 month end reports. On asking , what are these and purpose to understand better, First response, this is what, we have been generating for last 3 years. Business needs and focus , tend to change and evolve and unless, our insights don't include those, our journey towards Business partnership doesn't kick start. Additionally, today, I intend to practice also the views and usage of the reports created. This provides the utility of reports and anything below specific user or frequency, I recommend to stop. Another area, where I see, we require improvement is, tools those are redundant. Often, people / managers tend to find comfort in legacy tools and don't adapt or resist to adapt to new tools , which can meet business needs better and faster.
I Help FP&A Teams Supercharge The Way They Forecast
2 年Really important topic Anders! And great use of story to illustrate it!!
Helping Finance Managers of SMEs Add Real Value | Turnaround 'busy' loss-makers | Improve profits of the already profitable | A proven step-by-step process | 90-day projects | Training & Coaching throughout |
2 年Love the Zig Ziglar story. Makes the point perfectly