The Changing Role Of Finance Function: Creating A Vision Statement ( Part 4)

EXAMPLE of a Finance Vision Statement for Business Partnering

In Part 3 of this series of articles, I have also advocated the importance of having a vision for the finance role. 

Example of a Finance vision might include statement like: 

•  Be a business partner to other business unit operating managers by offering strategic financial advice
• Build on a world-class finance processes and activities
• Overcome organization barriers by building trust, establishing accountability and keeping our promises
• Deliver the best possible basis for decision-making to business units

During the process of designing a Vision statement for the finance role, the following should be considered:

PEOPLE perspective:-

• maximize the capability and competency of the finance staff
• proactive and creative
• willingness to take risks, challenging line management
• communication and people management skills
• strong knowledge of the organization and a network of relationships
  

PROCESSES:   

• accurate, timely financial information with minimal manual intervention
• streamlined, standardized core processes across the company
• automated interfaces from feeder to core systems
• inconspicuous control systems targeted at key risk areas
• easy access to external data

SYSTEMS:    

•  easy-to-access information
• financial information available electronically to end users worldwide
• user-friendly, state-of-art decision support tools
• flexible information delivery systems to respond to changing needs
   

ORGANIZATION:

• highly responsive, lean and flexible
• alignment around processes and customers
• decision-making delegated to where expertise and knowledge reside
  
• flexibility to form multi-skilled teams to deal with ad hoc issues

When designing, it’s important to be realistic that you cannot move forward if your own finance team is not ready whether in terms of the required manpower or skill set. Similarly this also applies with improper system or infrastructure or processes and top management not buying in or lack the proper endorsement level.