Aligning your finance function objectives to the business

When you first take over a new finance function, you are likely to feel bombarded with a range of recurring tasks.  These typically include:

1. Meeting the month-end closing deadlines;
2. Delivering ongoing compliance; and
3. Reporting financial information and performance data to the wider business.

These activities cover some of the basic requirements of a finance function and you will need to deliver many additional objectives to add value to the wider business.

During this video extract from a GrowCFO workshop, experienced CFO Baz Bedrossian shares insights regarding how you can align your finance function objectives to the business:

Baz recommends allocating sufficient time towards holding discussions with your internal and external stakeholders to understand how your finance function can support them.

It is important to perform a thorough review of your business plan to gain a full understanding of each strategic objective.

You should then map each of these strategic objectives into your finance function activities to ensure that you are properly supporting them.

Whilst doing this, you may wish to spend time with your team to brainstorm what else you could do to deliver each strategic objective.

Following this, identify a good opportunity to present your finance function plan to the wider business.  This will help you to showcase your roadmap, obtain their feedback and create alignment throughout the company.