Role Of A “Business/Financial Controller”

business partneringIn earlier articles in the category of Finance Role KPA/KPI,we have been reiterating that many accounting personnel whether they are accounts exective,accountant,finance manager or financial controller should focus on more critical mass like “business”partnering with the other operating managers so as to maximize their contribution to the entity.  Many a times even during job interview,accountants/financial controllers have often been asked of what sort of business partnering service they have done and what financial results/impact arise from them.

Whenever we read any advertisement for accounting personnel,often we see  advertisers putting up advertisement on specific terms or wording like ”BUSINESS/Financial Controller”. For those who still are not familiar with the term “business partnering”the below job specification might help to open one’s mindset:

The job:Act as co-pilot to Country Business Manager to drive the direction of the business via insightful financial analysis and control

  • Proactively facililate strategy formulation and communication;
  • Drive an integrated planning/forecasting process to improve accuracy;
  • Manage resource allocation process efficientl through appropriate financial measures and monitor Working Capital;
  • Support management of business performance through the use of KPIs and comparative benchmarking;
  • Implement cost control measurement (including structural cost)
  • Ensure that the execution of pricing policy/margins are aligned to the strategies;
  • Support new business initiatives such as financial modelling for new products;
  • Advise trading partners/functional departments on finance related business issues by providing insightful analysis and
  • Champion the Group/business view versus the local/market view.

Does it sound very complicated –does it sound like accountant trying to do business work? Nope,it merely requires  a professional accountant to use his accounting and finance knowledge/expertise/experience plus insider knowledge of the company to view the business from the commercial angle so as to advise all level of management re:CEO or low or middle level business unit managers.

So be beware that at any job interview,a small portion of the interviewer’s time should be to understand academically what you have achieved but a larger part should be about how the candidate have fared used your accounting knowledge and experience to help(advise)  his/her existing business unit managers so as to contribute to the growth of the company- what we called enhancing shareholder value! Don’t be alarmed that certain interviewers might indirectly insinuate like “in that case,we might as well recruit a bookkeeper/accounts executive to keep books &maintain the transaction processing”

April 9th,2010 | Tags:business,controller,finance,FINANCE ROLE,partnering,shaeholder value | Category:Finance Role/KPA/KPI | Leave a comment

China Moving Towards Internationalization Of Its Renminbi ‘s CurrencyChina Moving Towards Internationalization Of Its Renminbi ‘s Currency

FX:Renminbi Vs USD

FX:Renminbi Vs USD

Very often,we have been hearing that the Chinese Government is resisting to increase it foreign exchange rate re:renmibi versus US dollars.

Actually,China is in a very difficult position as it is the single largest holder of US debt with its US treasury bonds totaling over $800 billion. It is caught in the “ dollar” trap wherein the falling value of the dollar will downgrade the value of China’s vast dollar-denomination assets. Any major move by China to sell or branch out from its dependency on US dollar will equally destroy their FX-renminbi value. 

To-date,China has systematically move toward softer approach to try to “free” itself from US dollar grip:

  1. Enabling restricted areas for Renmimbi(RMB) settlement. On 1st July 2009,the  People’s Bank of China launched a pilot programme allowing selected companies to invoice and settle trade transactions in RMB so as to allow its currency to be more internationalized. The pilot scheme is currently running in five(5) cities in mainland China namely Shanghai,Guzngzhou,Zhuhai,Shenzhen and Dongguan
  2. On 28 th September 2009,the Chinese government launched the sale of RMB6billion of RMB-denominated bond outside the China mainland namely in Hong Kong. China planned to make Hong Kong its main offshore centre for RMB trading. After this first launch,it intends to have more launches.
April 7th,2010 | Tags:foreign exchange value,FX,globalization,renmimbi,treasury bonds,US dollar | Category:Forex Management | Leave a comment

How To Select The Correct Accounting Software(Part 2of2)How To Select The Correct Business Accounting Software(Part 2of2)

How to choose/select accounting software

How to choose/select accounting software

In earlier part 1,we learn the importance of choosing the correct business accounting software.

This part 2 deals with the importance of planning ahead when buying the correct business accounting software as this will later save us time and money in the future.

Plan ahead by making sure that your chosen business accounting software are able to be:

Modular/ Scalability:

The company business will inevitably expand hence whichever selected business accounting software should also change accordingly. Example are the increase in products and services offered and the number of employees.

Always try to choose an business accounting package by visualizing the business in 3 or 5 years time and how different it will be. Use this information to guide the purchase decision. Ironically,it might be wise to pay a little more now for the accounting software knowing that it can be easily upgraded when needed with minimum disruption and cost to our business

The Importance of Interfacing with the Accountant

Ensure that the accountant is involved. Sometimes,we might see that a company’s MIS might take a more important role in selecting the t business accounting software. There is the need to ensure what business accounting software are accounts used to working with and what do they prefer? Can data and reports from our business accounting package be easily available without the need for any extra work

Support:

It is important that any software has great support for when something goes wrong (and it always does).

Secondly,we should ensure that the support should be local or as close as possible to us. Imagine that things need done with the software by someone trying to help you over the phone.

Wherever possible,make some enquiries with other businesses about the package they use and who helps them.

Best Value For Money

Once we have selected the right package for your business the most logical step is to shop for the best value for money.

Shop around as the price can vary greatly and the product is exactly the same unless the price differential is with good support or installation assistance.

Major Brands

Wherever possible,we should choose the most popular and major brand to avoid the hussle of dealing with some unknown accounting software house.

Furthermore by choosing a major brand we can get regular updates and also know that the company will be around as long as your business needs them.

Ease Of Use

Always remember to get the person who will be the main user to test the software as well. Next,consider how well the package can interact with other software we are using. Nowadays,the modern accounting software should come with the import and export data function where the import and export of data to spreadsheet or vice versa are easily done. With these capabilities,just in case,there can more detailed analysis be able to be done. ( For example,SunSystem Accounting System using its user friendly “Vision” which can very easily manipulate data exported to Excel Worksheet)

Features Needed

Most accounting software packages come in several different versions.

If we don’t need certain features now and can’t see a need for them in the future then we need not buy them.

The major differences are usually – number of users allowed,number of reports available and others..

January 31st,2010 | Tags:Accounting Software,business,business accounting software,How to,select | Category:Accounting Software | Leave a comment

How To Select The Correct Accounting Software Or Package for your business(Part1of2)How To Select The Correct Business Accounting Software Or Package for your business(Part1of2)

How to choose/select an accounting software

How to choose/select an accounting software

It is important to understand that there is no such thing as a standard business accounting software which can be applicable to all different industries. Businesses like restaurant/food business,manufacturing business,merchandise business and others need dedicated accounting software to resolve their day-to-day accounting and management information needs. Even in the same industry,they may have similar but different needs. Therefore choosing the right accounting software that suits your business can be a very difficult decision.

So before one can select the correct business accounting software,he or she should:

  1. Understand what’s the business’s actual requirement to make sure that the requirements can be met by the accounting software;
  2. What’s management reports are requirement by the management whether for planning,financial or analysis purposes
  3. Preliminary study evaluation between the user and the software consultant must be performed. It is pretty dangerous to buy the accounting software “from the shelf”
  4. The modules in the accounting software should be thoroughly tested by the user
  5. Know what type of budget,management has allocated for the accounting software as the prices of accounting software can range from a couple of hundreds to a few millions.

[ see part 2 on how to select the correct business accounting software/package for your business]

January 31st,2010 | Tags:Accounting Software,business,How to,package,select | Category:Accounting Software | Leave a comment

China could overtake US by 2020:PWC

Leading top business consultancy firm,PriceWaterhouseCoopers(PWC) in its recent report stated that:

  • China could overtake the United States to become the world’s largest economy as early as 2020,
  • By 2030 the top 10 world economies could be China,followed by the United States,India,Japan,Brazil,Russia,Germany,Mexico,France and Britain.{The current 10 largest economies,according to 2008 data from the International Monetary Fund,are the United States,Japan,China,Germany,France,Britain,Italy,Russia,Spain and Brazil.}
  • India could grow even faster than China after 2020,mainly due to its younger and faster growing population as opposed to China
  • The PWC report also pointed to an increasing share of global GDP taken up by China and India,compared to the United States and the European Union.
  • The proportion in 2010 will be 20 percent for the US,21 percent for the EU,13 percent for China and five percent for India but by 2030 that will have changed to 16 percent for the US,15 percent for the EU,19 percent for China and nine percent for India

For further consensus,earlier Jim O’Neill,chief global economist for US investment bank Goldman Sachs,forecast in  November last year said that China will overtake the United States by 2027 —14 years earlier than a previous Goldman Sachs forecast of 2041 made in 2003.O’Neill coined the term “BRICs”to refer to the four emerging market powerhouses Brazil,Russia,India and China,which have since formed an informal grouping to discuss global issues and economic policies.Incidentally,the Group of 20 (G20) developed and emerging economies last year took over from the traditional Group of Seven (G7) —Britain,Canada,France,Germany,Italy,Japan and the United States —as the main forum for economic talks.

January 21st,2010 | Category:ASIA PACIFIC REGION | Leave a comment
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