subject: 8 Attributes Of Successful Fds How Many Do You Have? [print this page] As the UK returns to recession, FDs are looking to maximise the value of the information they hold across their business and drive down costs by constantly hunting out inefficiencies and automating wherever possible.
Yet despite the difficult economic environment, some British businesses have been able to maintain operations and even flourish in recent years.
There are a number of practical and proactive ways that successful FDs can take to step back from constant fire-fighting and take a more strategic approach to reviewing performance:
1.Dont waste time sifting through data
The spreadsheet is a powerful tool but only if it can be integrated into a real-time financial infrastructure. Tracking performance against business objectives often means adopting a finger in the air approach.
Dont waste time sifting and sorting data. Unify information and integrate spreadsheets into your business management software, so they can be linked to real-time financial data and automatically and accurately track your KPIs.
2.Focus on the quality, not quantity, of management information
If management information is not delivered in a timely, relevant way companies will fail to capitalise on new opportunities, fail to respond quickly to business change or become victims of the UKs late payment culture.
Successful FDs demand easy access to real-time information that supports decision making across the organisation, from board to budget holder. Your business systems should equip you with the information required to determine whether an expansion strategy is sustainable or whether it would put too great a pressure on your cash flow and resources.
3.Root out time-consuming processes
Train your staff on how to make best use of technology to eliminate unnecessary manual processes and avoid making multiple entries of the same information.
This automated approach can be extended to create accurate month-end management accounts and statutory reports with greater confidence. Not only does it free your teams from mundane, time consuming tasks but gives them time to focus on more critical activities.
4.Shave costs and ensure consistency
Avoid bottlenecks and ensure work flows smoothly through your organisation by using automated alerts to notify the relevant people of delays and exceptions.
A system with fully integrated alert functionality not only removes manual interventions but also streamlines processes, such as credit control, expenditure control and purchase order authorisation, freeing up your time to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as reducing debtor days.
5.Cut the cost and effort of being an excellent communicator
Automate the production and distribution of essential documentation such as purchase orders, invoices and statements to help you build close, profitable relationships with your customers and suppliers.
In addition to reducing overheads and removing unnecessary time taken for manual intervention, automation enables improved customer service and credit control, as your team can simultaneously fax or email copy invoices to customers while chasing payments over the phone.
6.Stay tuned to changing conditions
Let your business management software do all the work of monitoring your key thresholds, so you are kept fully up to speed at all times.
Set up exception reports to inform key personnel of potential problems based on pre-defined thresholds, such as if a budget is exceeded or if there is a sudden drop in margin. By removing the leg work, you can quickly take action to head off any problems before they escalate and damage the business.
7.See at a glance what matters most
Dashboards linked to every-day business applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, will let you view the big business picture and instantly display the key performance indicators that are vital to your business.
With a dashboard, youll have an at-a-glance view of vital information such as top customers, sales performance, stock levels, cash flow and problem debtors, whilst still having the ability to drill-down to the underlying data. The monitoring of such indicators ensures swift action can be taken to remedy a problem and prevent it escalating.
8.Take a proactive approach to reporting
Pushing out reports to staff, according to pre-defined criteria, helps to create a highly efficient environment where key players have the information they need to take prompt action at an early stage.
Setting up proactive alerts to be sent automatically, even if youre on the road, will keep key staff continually updated on developments. Reports can also be scheduled to be sent to key partners including top customers and suppliers, keeping everyone informed with minimum effort and enabling them to take prompt action at an early stage.
