Finance: Partner in the Business…or Bean Counter?

(This is the fourth in a series of articles addressing best practices towards improving the finance function.)

EPM Channel recently completed a 360 degree survey of the Finance function in both large- and mid-sized companies, with 40% of the respondents coming from marketing, operations, and other non-finance fields. This 360 degree view enabled analysts who worked on the survey to compare the responses of both finance and non-finance professionals in order to gain unique perspectives.

There are many ways to assess the performance of a Finance function – such as the number of days it takes to close the books each month, or how effectively Finance manages DSO. But we wanted to look at performance on a more fundamental basis, and had a higher order of assessment in mind. The Finance 360° Insight™ survey assessed performance along four lines:

1. How often is Finance called upon to provide support when executives are facing important business decisions?

2. What gap exists between the potential for Finance to deliver decision support compared to what is actually being delivered today?

3. What is the perceived competency of the Finance organization today?

4. How do people characterize Finance… as Partner in the Business… or Bean Counter?

None of those dimensions, taken individually, tell the whole story. But combined, the four perspectives bring an assessment into stark relief.

Let’s conclude this section with question 4.

4. Finance — Partner in the Business… or Bean Counter?

We asked survey participants to characterize the Finance organization where they work.Of course, this part of the survey was highly subjective, but we all know labels matter.

Would you want to go to work where Finance is known as “Bean Counters” or where they are known as “Partners in the Business?” As subjective as those answers are, they speak volumes about how the Finance function is perceived in an organization.

The proportion of “good to bad” characterizations is about the same between Finance and Non-Finance respondents (roughly 60%/40%)

Later on, when we examine what separates the best performing Finance organizations from the worst, we’ll see how reinforcing negative stereotypes can be (for the 40%), and how those negative perceptions can keep Finance organizations “stuck” on an under-performing treadmill.

For more information, or to download the complete white paper of survey results, please click here.

To take the survey for yourself, please visit here.