What Is Finance Business Partnering?

A Business Partner role in a financial organisation

Business departments want the support of finance professionals who understand the objectives of the business and can analyse real-time information to support their decision-making. Businesses need a culture of governance, accountability and scrutiny where strategic and tactical decisions are based on datand projected figures. If you are an accounting or finance professional who is interested in expanding their role within the business, read on to find out if the role of Finance Business Partner is right for you.

A company needs to understand the drivers of business performance and the effect of new initiatives on the development of the company in a volatile environment. Finance business partnering can help. The process is open to interpretation and can be changed by the company or department.

It could be a short, mid or long-term relationship or a decision needs to be made. The right blend of datand communication skills is needed for a business partnership role to work. Building skills and understanding of the overall vision of the business are the biggest advantages a business partner can possess.

The Future is Now: How Finance Partners with the Business

The future will be less predictable and more nuanced as the decision making speed increases. Effective use of enterprise data will be a key to creating and sustaining competitive advantage in a digital business environment. The finance function's data and technology landscape is often complex and fragmented.

The priorities should be: focusing on the enterprise activities that matter, identifying the most valuable data points, and using more effective technologies to drive better and faster decision making. 6. The finance function needs to sort the data so that it can access data that is relevant to the metrics and activities of the enterprise.

The data hierarchy and taxonomies are not keeping up with the changing environment. Finance leaders see a proliferation of metrics to report, and there is less understanding of the key performance indicators that are most important in helping to create value or improved business performance. The finance organisation must challenge the business and itself on metrics being analysed and reported in order to make the transition to more effective insight practices.

There is a natural evolution of finance partnering practices outside the areas controlled by the finance organisation once the business commits to the partnership and sees the benefits that can accrue. The culture of the organisation may affect the structure. For many, the optimal solution is to have finance business partners with dual responsibility to report to the leadership of the business unit concerned and the finance organisation.

The survey results suggest that the finance department needs to plan for a good workforce in order to have the right skills to lead the partnership. The problem of attaining the right blend of skills in the finance department while managing the impact that the economic cycle has on the expectations of finance was one of the significant challenges that many finance leaders cited in the roundtable discussions. The experience of many finance departments over the last 15 years has shown that the focus on controllership and growth support priorities is more important than the value placed on the finance capabilities at any given time.