The Skills Of A Finance Business Partner
Anders Liu-Lindberg
Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on creating impact through business partnering | Interim | VP Finance | Business Finance
Are you dying to add value to the business you are in, but find that you are having trouble breaking down the barrier between Finance and the business? If so you are not alone as many finance professionals are struggling with this despite the fact that finance functions in most major companies have created new positions as Finance Business Partners in order to do just that. The problem is however as I have previously written about (Why We Need Business Partnering Transformation) that there is no good definition for what a Finance Business Partner should be doing. Therefore it becomes a free for all and Finance Business Partners find themselves doing everything from reporting and other transactional tasks to linking strategy and execution and driving strategic initiatives.
It is, therefore, clear that better-defined job descriptions are needed for Finance Business Partners to create some alignment and unlock the full potential of Finance Business Partnering. According to Deloitte leading Finance Business Partners are associated with the following tasks and characteristics:
- Strategic tasks that help achieve top business priorities
- Clearly, measure and articulate the value they bring
- Effectively deliver against aligned finance and business agendas
- Use intelligent tools to analyze financial and operational information
- Are seen as top talent in the organization
None of the above are very clear in their definition so further fine tuning is certainly needed however the key message here is that Finance Business Partners add value to the bottom-line of their company. Therefore a key result measure should be this tangible value added. They need second to none communication skills in order to speak finance to non-finance professionals as well as the ability to foster collaboration between departments. Finance is not running the business nor should it try to, but it should act as a facilitator on strategic and tactical initiatives. The Finance Business Partner needs to be “running the floor” and be seen as an embedded part of the business critical functions. The days of sitting in the corner doing analysis no one understands are over.
I encourage you to take a tour of my old posts on finance transformation and finance business partnering and not least “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” which is really that starting point for the transformation. Last but not least, you should join my Finance Business Partner Forum where we will continue to discuss this topic.
How To Become Great At Business Finance
I’m A Finance Business Partner, To Whom?
Financial Analyst vs. Finance Business Partner
You’re A Finance Business Partner, Now What?
Case Study: Becoming A Finance Business Partner
How Finance Business Partners Improve Company Performance
There Is A New Kind Of CFO Needed In Town
Anders Liu-Lindberg is the Senior Finance Business Partner for Maersk Line North Europe and is working with the transformation of Finance and business on a daily basis. Anders has participated in several transformation processes amongst others helping Maersk Drilling to go Beyond Budgeting and transformed a finance team from Bean-counters to Business Partners. I would love the chance to collaborate with you on your own transformation processes to help you stay out of disruption. If you are looking for more advice on how to get the most of LinkedIn I also have a few tips to share. Don’t be shy! Let’s get in touch and start helping each other.
M&A | PE Firm | Investment Banks | Reporting | Strategy
7yAnders - I like your article and agree with Maria as she said that your reading are "informative and insightful? I would like to add that finance professional should also proactively focus on the top line not just the bottom line. When the top line improves all other aspects of business also improves. I used to attend all sales and marketing retreat and industry conferences to actively participate in how to grow the revenue and results were always positive.
CFO | Corporate Controller | Director, Finance ► Expertise: Accounting | Financial Analysis | Project Management
8yI find your readings extremely informative and insightful and I thank you for sharing them with us Anders. You present numerous obvious yet "hidden" concepts in an enlightening way and your philosophies are right on the money with the reality of the business environment we operate in at present worldwide.
Director, ESG Specialization-Wharton, CA
10yVery good post Anders really useful and I agree with it. Thank you so much for sharing
CFO
10yI agree with Mr. Van Den Broeck that a border perspective on the Company and its position in the market/real world is invaluable and with Mr. Nayarana that implementing pertinent data collection and presenting in a cohesive manner is a huge step forward. However, I believe that Anders' point above is that the most commonly over looked need in a FBP is the ability to actually communicate with Company Partners in a language that relates to them. We have all been guilty of "finance-speak," but without a clearly translated dialog with decision makers, any perspective, analysis or forecast falls far short of being an added value to our respective Companies. I believe that this is THE key concept that differentiates an accounting employee from a key contributor in the success of any organization.
I agree communication is key. The Finance business partner has to have a deep understanding of the business and the industry in which the business operates. The next key thing is to enable the business in using data to drive decisions and impove performance - this means that the Finance person has to be really tech savvy and be able to deliver the technology tools for data analyses - be it planning/forecasting tools, cash modeling tools, BI discovery tools, predictive analytics tools. The IT organization in most companies cannot deliver these tools to the organization, they can help with the implementation but the Finance will have the key role in setting the business requirements, developing the business use cases to financially justify the tools, selecting the appropriate tools and managing the implementation so that the tools provide the envisioned value to the organization.