Where do I start? How to tell if your finance function measures up

So you want to build a high performance finance function. Where do you start?

Firstly, find out what the people who use and work in the finance function think. Ask managers across your business, senior and junior, in a mix of functions & roles, including finance itself and some friendly stakeholders outside the business, like investors and key customers or suppliers.This can be done with an online survey, an e-mail questionnaire or by finding someone independent to ask them face-to-face.

Here are 12 questions that could form the core of this research:

1) What do you think of the performance of this finance function?

2) How well do you think that they understand what makes this business tick

3) Do you think that the finance function provides ready access to the information that you need to do your job effectively?

4) How useful is the information that is provided?

5) How long does it take the finance function to produce regular monthly reports?

6) How often do you find mistakes in the information that is provided?

7) Are you given information that analyses profit by customer (B2B) or customer segment (B2C)?

8) How complicated is the information that the finance function requests or provides? (Rate from "too simple" through "about right" to "too complicated").

9) How often are key financial outcomes re-forecast?

10) How far ahead do these forecasts look?

11) How well regarded is innovation in the financial processes of the organisation?

12) How much time is taken each month to review and improve financial processes?

You will obviously need to tailor questions to match your audience and understand what roles and functions in the business the respondents to the survey work in. Many questions can be responded to on a simple 10-point scale. All questions should provide the opportunity for the respondent to give a further explanation of what they mean and suggestions for improvement.

If you would like to find out more about how to get your finance function working better please get in touch.