‘Corporations tend to be organised by function, but in reality everything flows as a process. It starts and ends somewhere, but cuts across different functions,’ says Anders Fohlin, chief finance officer of spend management software company Medius. ‘If you don’t know what happens before your part of the process or after it, you can’t do the best job for your customers.’
As a finance professional himself, he makes sure not to silo himself away from other functions in the organisation so he can get a broad commercial picture of what’s going on.
The same goes for all employees at Medius – the company is open and transparent about what its goals are, breaking those goals down into a series of components and explaining the different business drivers behind them.
‘By doing that, someone should be able to see at least one business driver they can directly influence through their job. So you might be a software engineer but you still need to know about [customer satisfaction measure] Net Promoter Score, because if the customers are happy it means you’re doing a good job,’ he says.
Simon Massey, a tax partner at accountancy firm Menzies LLP, describes this rounded approach as a ‘virtuous circle’ – an understanding of other commercial functions in the business means professionals can really add value. ‘Good people give good advice that is billed and gets paid, allowing us to reinvest in more good people,’ he says.
Knowing how other functions feed into that value is crucial: ‘IT is an enabler to this process, helping us to deliver basic services more efficiently so we can take a more value-added role. To be a good partner, sales must be part of your DNA, but in today’s competitive professional services marketplace, this can’t be achieved without empathy and a culture built on client understanding.’
This applies not just to knowledge of your own organisation, but to that of your clients, he adds. ‘A lot of firms claim to invest time in getting to know a client’s business, but are they really doing this in practice? We aim to ensure that each member of our team gains exposure to clients throughout their career to enrich their learning. We also encourage them to cross-fertilise ideas by applying solutions that might have worked well in one sector to another.’
While face-to-face meetings will have reduced or disappeared during the pandemic, the best way to gain this insight is still through conversation, asking questions about clients’ business goals and how they intend to achieve them. And these can still happen over virtual platforms such as Zoom.
Building trust
Working in this way also helps to build trust, according to Natasha Frangos, head of creative, media and technology at haysmacintyre. ‘Clients view accountants as trusted advisors – they want to be able to pick up the phone and talk through challenges and opportunities in their business, and to understand any potential related accounting and tax implications ahead of making a decision.’ At her firm, senior teams are structured across sectors so they acquire specific knowledge of those industries. ‘By broadening our commercial knowledge, we are able to ask the right questions to build that transparent, communicative relationship with clients,’ she adds.
This has been essential during the pandemic, with clients seeking reassurance about their business decisions in unprecedented times. ‘Clients have turned to us in wanting to understand the government initiatives and what applies to them, and they have been keen to hear our view and experience in how their relevant sector has responded and been impacted. Being present in times of need is as, if not more, important than being there when times are good,’ says Frangos.
So how can organisations ensure employees acquire exposure to other parts of the business to gain this rounded knowledge? It can begin right at the start of the employment cycle. At Menzies, new starters go through a training programme called ‘What makes us tick?’ before they settle into their new role. ‘This helps them to understand that how they spend their time makes a difference to the performance of the business. Chargeable time is work we can bill clients for, which translates into wages and profits for the firm,’ explains Massey. ‘At the highest level, we also have go-to people who have excellent sector knowledge and a strong profile within those industries in their own right. Combined with our staff development programmes, this talent is enriching our organisation from the top-down and the bottom-up.’
Career progression
It also plays a key role in career progression, particularly in organisations where there is a partnership structure. A recent survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) found that, when it came to being promoted to partner in a firm, 70% of accountants thought luck had a large part to play. But creating a framework where luck is less of a factor can support career progression. As well as formal programmes that introduce accounting and finance professionals to the mechanics and goals of a firm – as Menzies has done – it pays to create an environment where that exposure can happen informally too. Frangos adds: ‘The way for accountants to gain their exposure is by reading, writing, stepping outside of our comfort zone and attending relevant events. Perhaps that means walking into a room where we don’t know anyone and starting up a conversation – meeting, listening and speaking with a range of people.’
Dean Shepherd, CTA and lead technology product manager at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, found that joining a national network of entrepreneurs helped to expand his understanding of how businesses work. ‘The format was local meetings once a month, national events three times a year and a lot of information disseminated in between,’ he explains. ‘Immersing myself with business owners across the spectrum gave me a real insight into what was important to them and, to my horror, it wasn’t all about the numbers!’ He says he initially felt ‘like a wolf in sheep’s clothing’, but discovered that the people he met all shared a curiosity and willingness to learn. He adds: ‘They were as keen to learn about my world as I was about theirs. It allowed me to think beyond the KPIs and really understand the impact those KPIs had on people’s lives. It enabled me to have more valuable conversations and build deeper relationships. It also allowed me to gain a better understanding of my own organisation and the contribution of the finance function within it.’
Susy Roberts, an executive coach and founder of people development consultancy Hunter Roberts, argues that – from a career development point of view – finance professionals should gain insight into the impact of their decisions on the operational side of the business. ‘It’s important for finance professionals to see first-hand how the morale of teams at the cutting edge is affected by finance decisions,’ she says. ‘One finance director I worked with, who went on to become VP of a global organisation after taking a sideways move into a commercial role, described it as ‘coming out of the financial ivory tower’. While he was incredibly focused and driven, he admits that if he had stayed in finance he’d have had a very successful career as a finance director but never amassed the skills he needed to run a global corporation.’
Once at director and board level, furthermore, the finance role is now far more strategic, she adds. ‘They are real key players in the executive team and much more involved in the commercial running of the business. They need to be more aware of the wider picture and what’s going on in the marketplace, looking at trends and what’s happening in other sectors. Finance professionals at any level should bear this in mind, but for those with leadership ambitions it’s essential.’ Building this exposure into the day-to-day operations of the organisation can help, embedding networking, coaching and secondment into development policies. ‘Senior management teams and boards should recognise the value in this; developing a commercial acumen and stakeholder management skills will not only expand the skillset of the finance professional, but it will help those who don’t come from a finance background to understand why certain decisions need to be made,’ says Roberts. ‘And financial teams should have input into project and scenario planning from the beginning, rather than be seen as separate entities who simply crunch the numbers.’
With a recession looming and difficult decisions ahead, this will be particularly important. ‘Cost reductions are often essential, particularly in the current climate. But a successful financial leader will have insight into how each area operates and what the risks of some of those financial decisions may be,’ Roberts concludes. ‘Finance leaders need to be able to genuinely support the development of the organisation rather than simply impose financial restrictions. Helping people to understand why decisions need to be made is a skill every successful leader needs. The ability to make finance meaningful to those without a financial background is where finance professionals are already one step ahead.’
How can finance professionals gain commercial insight?
About the author
Jo Faragher is an award-winning business journalist and editor who writes for Personnel Today, People Management and national newspaper business supplements.
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