Cfo Insights

CFO Insights: Delivering High Performance explores the implications of Accenture’s high performance finance research and interprets the link between high performance business and the role of the CFO in delivering this. Written from the perspective of the Chief Financial Officer, the book provides real-world, relevant examples, including flagship interviews with CFOs of high performing businesses. The book also includes industry analyses prepared by the Accenture Strategy and Business Architecture Practice, case studies, and chapters dedicated to the CFO and financial practices of Japan, China, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.

"The benefits Carrefour achieved have been substantially in excess of predictions. The Shared Service accounting centers enabled streamlined processes, lowered costs, and introduced standard processes, a standard system, and standard data for a global company. The new infrastructure can support rapid expansion and can add new stores with the flip of a switch. From a systems point of view, Carrefour now has a 'factory' in place to deliver high-efficiency systems, tools, processes, and training." --From Chapter 9, Implementation and Operational Imperatives for ERP "The benefits of efficient information delivery are demonstrated by the results of one of the world's largest mySAP.com implementations. Siemens achieved a twenty-five percent cost reduction through streamlined information delivery and improved access to financial information. It also enhanced its reporting capabilities from seventy percent to nearly 100 percent through increased intranet availability." --From Chapter 3, Financial and Management Reporting Research shows that high-performance businesses and governments use finance technology as one of the capabilities to help executives make better decisions for resource allocation, while at the same time increasing productivity. CFO Insights: Enabling High Performance through Leading Practices for Finance ERP includes a number of case studies and lessons learned from Accenture clients across a variety of industries that have implemented, upgraded, and operated Oracle/PeopleSoft and SAP. Each case study highlights vital thoughts, benefits, and considerations and provides relevant guidance as one proceeds with an ERP on the journey toward high performance.

Many CFOs have led their companies to invest in ERP and shared services in order to create leaner, more global organization structures. Today, they seek more radical transformation through business process outsourcing (BPO). CFO Insights is a practical, comprehensive guide to this exciting, fast-growing field. It features expert advice from the CFOs of major companies worldwide, including BP, Procter & Gamble, Dell, and Exel. Step by step, it takes you through the stages of a successful outsourcing solution - from evaluating providers and contracting, through transition planning and risk management. “We have seen cost reductions every year for each of the 13 years of our outsourcing experience – now, finally, we are seeing the outsourcing market mature. The advancement of multi-client centers will create new value. As new low cost centers spring up around the world I want to have easy access to the opportunities.” —Ala n Eilles, CFO Downstream, BP “Outsourcing is not about sitting still. On the one hand, as CFO, you have to be in control, and have the right control mechanisms in place. On the other, this is an evolving relationship where both parties feel empowered and energized to make a real difference in the business.” —John Coghlan, Group Finance Director of Exel “My view of the CFO’s role is relatively simple: How do you add value? The CFO has to be in the forefront in understanding, at a strategic level, the relative economics of different parts of the business model – and vitally play a decisive role in deciding what should be insourced and what should be outsourced.” —Clayton Daley, CFO, Procter & Gamble

This book is about championing a move away from simply evaluating physical assets to understanding and evaluating the intangible value of an entity. It means moving beyond economic theory to reprioritise and change the organisation so that further value can be created via processes, systems, measures, skills, knowledge and strategy. It is also about mapping the intangible value chain. The book looks at value networks and, using real-life projects asks questions such as: What do company value networks look like How are they used to create value How can one ‘value’ the value chain What lessons can be learnt from companies with high value networks as opposed to companies with low value networks What is the impact on finance disciplines, processes, measures, systems and skills. These answers to these questions as provided by the case studies and interviews with CFOs from the companies involved will help to improve focus, improve shareholder value, improve transparency – both internally and externally – cut waste in the current decision support structure and prevent inadequate decision making and lost opportunity.

The digital revolution is changing our world and the fundamentals of business faster than anyone expected, and the responsibility for leading key aspects of enterprise-wide business transformation often falls to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). This book provides motivation and guidance for current and future finance leaders to navigate an increasingly unpredictable, dynamic, complex and connected world. As businesses are forced to change fundamentally or accept the reality of being left behind, the CFO has a particularly important part to play in preparing for this change - not only for their own function but for the business as a whole. So what is the role of CFOs in delivering digital business transformation? What can they do to manage business resources and performance more dynamically? How can CFOs contribute to the creation and management of new business models, such as digital business platforms and ecosystems? And what can finance leaders do to enable sustainable growth and long-term multi-stakeholder value creation? These and many more key questions are tackled in The Contemporary CFO, which draws on practical experience of transforming leading global businesses and on extensive, original research, including in-depth interviews with a wide range of corporate leaders. CFOs are used to managing change but delivering a complex business transformation on top of an already demanding role can be challenging. This essential guide includes the latest thinking, trends and perspectives to help finance leaders navigate the demands of the connected world successfully.

Discover the power of the CFO's role in delivering shareholder value During the past decade, the CFO role has expanded dramatically in its breadth, complexity, and criticality. Filled with proven strategies, best practices, and keen insights, The Essential CFO describes how today's CFOs are responding to their expanded roles within both public and private companies. With straightforward and pragmatic guidance, author Bruce Nolop shows how CFOs are partnering with CEOs to deliver shareholder value by articulating a strategic plan, determining capital allocations, managing the capital structure, driving financial performance, and implementing strategic transactions. Covers how CFOs are establishing robust accounting and risk management processes and effectively communicating with both external and internal constituencies Looks at the role of the CFO in transforming financial organizations to drive effectiveness and efficiencies Examines how CFOs can develop talent with the experience, expertise, and leadership skills to meet the challenges of the future Written from a balanced, top-down perspective of the modern CFO, The Essential CFO provides you with practical prescriptions for executing impactful corporate finance strategies.

Tear down the obstacles to creative innovation in your organization Unlocking Creativity is an exploration of the creative process and how organizations can clear the way for innovation. In many organizations, creative individuals face stubborn resistance to new ideas. Managers and executives oftentimes reject innovation and unconventional approaches due to misplaced allegiance to the status quo. Questioning established practices or challenging prevailing sentiments is frequently met with stiff resistance. In this climate of stifled creativity and inflexible adherence to conventional wisdom, potentially game-changing ideas are dismissed outright. Senior leaders claim to value creativity, yet often lack the knowledge to provide a creative framework. Unlocking Creativity offers effective methods and real-world examples of how the most successful organizations create cultures of innovation and experimentation. Best-selling author and scholar Michael Roberto presents a thorough investigation of organizational obstacles to creative thought. Highly relevant to the growth crises many enterprises face in today’s economic landscape, this book examines how to break barriers to spark creativity and foster new ideas. This insightful and informative work allows business executives, senior managers, and organization leaders to: Recognize the six organizational mindsets that impede creativity and innovation Learn how to tear down the barriers that obstruct the creative process Create an environment that allows talented people to thrive Encourage creative collaboration in teams throughout an organization Leaders do not have to conceive innovative ideas, but rather open the path for curious and creative employees within their organization. Unlocking Creativity: How to Solve Any Problem and Make the Best Decisions aids organizations in removing obstacles to the creative process and helps to form an atmosphere of imagination and innovation.

"This book is about changing corporate power structures. We examine the evolving ways in which power at the apex of complex organizations is structured through roles and relationships in anticipation of and in response to diverse contingencies and interests. Our focus is the changing C-suite, a term denoting the most important senior executives in an organization, characterized by the proliferation of and variation in new Chief X Officer (CXO) roles, where 'X' stands for a specific domain, such as sustainability, communication, digital, human resources, finance, etc. By exploring the emergence and evolution of these CXO roles, we seek to understand these elites' new command posts, sources of expertise and identity, competition and collaboration, and ways of getting things done-what we call their 'style'-thereby extending the political perspective of organizations, which has largely overlooked the changing structure and dynamics underlying executive power and actions. It is in moments of structural transformation, such as the ongoing incorporation of a plethora of new CXO roles on executive committees, that the political model of organizations is better revealed and assessed. The book develops a theoretical account, combined with a rich empirical illustration, of the C-suite's transformation over the last two decades: its magnitude and meaning, its co-construction by different interests, and its potential significance for corporate control. As C-suite incumbents have more leeway to construct their roles than managers at any other organizational layer, special attention is placed on their social and political action styles"--