I spent much of my finance career chasing job titles. When I was a finance analyst I wanted to be a finance manager. Then a senior finance manager. Then I wanted to be a head of finance, and a finance controller. As soon as I was a financial controller I wanted to be...
When worked in finance, I thought it was all about the numbers. Show people the numbers, take them through the logic, and surely I'll be able to influence them. The thing is, sometimes the numbers worked for me. But other times they didn't. It wasn't until I moved...
You go for a job, and you don’t get it. The feedback is something like, we didn’t think you had enough experience running big projects. And you think, &£@“ I’ve had loads of experience doing that! It just didn’t come up in the interview so I didn’t get a chance to...
I started to work for a finance director who had a unique view of the role of finance. He had left finance and spent 5 years in general management. And then he came back into finance. He said it completely changed his perspective. He had unconventional view on almost...
Finance automation is a big deal now. Actually such a big deal that finance automation is the new big data. And big data is quite new. I believe the most important role of finance has always been, and will always be, one thing: To bridge the gap between the the...
One of the questions I am asked the most is what's the best finance team structure? I always say the same. The mindset of the people you have is way more important than the structure. If your finance team have a commercial mindset, then they will work well in any...
Your team are probably all very busy. But how do you know whether they are busy fools. Or focussed. Efficient. Making a genuine difference. Here's 3 things to look out for. 1. How much time do they spend at their desk? Business partnering doesn't happen in Excel or...
A few years ago the Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked by an analyst how important iMac sales were to Apple. He said that iMac sales were $22 billion. He could have left it there. Except he knows something that a lot of us don't. He knows never to leave a number hanging. He...
Data visualisation doesn't have to be difficult. You don't need a fancy new app or system. Simple text is my single favourite way to bring numbers to life. It is way better than presenting a table of numbers or a P&L account. You'll see it used a lot in the front...
Read the average job profile for a finance, HR, procurement or other business partner and the only thing missing is a cape and pair of pants to wear on the outside. In our rush to squeeze in as many capabilities as we can, are we missing the big picture? By the time...
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