Finance departments spend a lot of time creating an annual budget. Often the budget then lack a dynamic approach and become obsolete after a quarter or two. We believe the use of BI tools and experienced consultants can improve the situation.
This creates a need for a change from the annual planning model to quarterly. The quarterly planning is better aligned with a changing environment. However, the more frequent budget planning is, the more internal resources and time the finance department needs to spend. All of this puts an extra strain on staff.
If the finance department can speed up past-looking operations, they can free up time to focus more on analysis and business-related tasks. In fact, many CFOs highlight the importance of finding a balance between accurate reporting and delivering predictive, insightful forecast.
A focus on delivering historical financial statements will satisfy government bodies and investors. However, these statements would be of little value for executives from private companies, which need real-time decisions to improve performance.
What are possbile solution to to solve this?
The first option is to increase the number of internal staff in the finance department. Alternatively, the company could use temporary workers to augment full-time workers during peak work periods.
There are companies that do that and it works for them. However, this approach requires extra spending due to a payroll increase.
The second option is the recruitment of skilled third-party consultants. By doing so, the company can bring high-level finance expertise and technological innovations to improve existing processes.
Upon the completion of a consulting contract, the company will keep all the working tools and expertise. This means they would be used in the future without extra cost. The use of external consultants will require spending the money once rather than hiring extra staff every time there is a workload increase.
We believe out of these two options, inviting highly-skilled consultants is more effective long-term strategy. The consultants can bring your company’s performance to the next level by embracing latest developments in the industry.
How can we help?
If your company is looking to speed up budgeting processes and improve reporting, feel free to get in touch with us at info@centida.com. Within the first week, our consultants will analyze your company’s challenges and propose a solution that would cater to your specific needs.
Centida is one of a very few specialized niche firms that follow the principle of “from finance practitioners to finance practitioners.” Our advisory services focus on the improvement of operational, day-to-day activities in finance and controlling departments. Centida consultants are not simply IT-specialists, but successfully combine the science of BI with the art of finance.