Deloitte Finance Transformation Press Coverage

Opinion pieces by Deloitte Finance Transformation Experts

Business Reporter (Sunday Telegraph): See beyond the numbers, 18 November 2012

Malcolm Wilkinson, Partner, Finance Business Partnering Lead
There is untapped potential in many companies for finance business partnering. Chief financial officers (CFOs) and finance directors are being asked to add more value to the business. In an economy where profitable growth is hard to achieve, the key financial insights that can identify areas of value, and drive more profitable decisions, are in high demand. Many CFOs now recognise that finance business partners are in a unique position to help meet the challenge.
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Financial Director: Change the focus of finance by seeing beyond the numbers, 13 November 2012

Malcolm Wilkinson, Partner, Finance Business Partnering Lead
CFOs AND FDs are being asked to add more value and drive more profitable decisions. Many CFOs now recognise that finance business partners are in a unique position to help meet the challenge. However, a recent Deloitte survey of UK finance leaders "Changing the Focus of Finance: Finance Business Partnering", found that while some of the highest performing organisations already fully embrace a finance business partnering approach, 83% expect to increase these activities over the next three years, confirming there is still untapped potential in many organisations.
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CFO World UK What CFO’s should consider when overseeing change, 19 July 2012

Marcus Boyle, Partner & Finance Transformation UK & EMEA Leader
We have run over 100 CFO transition programmes for newly appointed CFOs to help them work out their corporate and personal priorities as they move into their new role. During these sessions we have discovered many CFOs who aspire to making their finance function better at the ‘catalyst’ function often have a department that is ill equipped to go beyond the numbers, and effectively drive organisation-wide change.
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InPublishing: Digital Back Office: the sting in digital’s tail, 7 July 2012

Rob Cullen, Partner, TMT Finance Transformation Leader
For most publishers, digital transformation has only penetrated skin deep. Core back office processes are still based on legacy systems and are creaking under the strain. Unless this issue is addressed, according to recent research from Deloitte, the resulting inferior business intelligence will start to weaken decision making and hamper business growth.
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Articles quoting Deloitte Finance Transformation Experts

Financial Times: Recruitment Diary, 8 November 2012

Sally Fisher, Partner, Finance Transformation Talent Leader
Sally is quoted and talks about a number of skills that are now seen as a premium in Finance and CFOs will need to take a structured approach to developing and sourcing their future talent requirements.
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Economia: CFOs turning to business partnering, 5 November 2012

Malcolm Wilkinson, Partner, Finance Business Partnering Lead
"Organisations need leaders, not only in the CEO but also the CFO, to navigate and steer the business through an often complex market," said Malcolm Wilkinson, finance business partnering lead at Deloitte. For finance to do this, gaining trust and buy-in from the business is critical. Within this context, CFOs and finance leaders must take action now to ensure that they and their teams are able to effectively step into the role of strategic finance business partner, and become a catalyst for change," he added.

CFO World UK: Finance Functions Prioritising business partnering, 5 November 2012

Malcolm Wilkinson, Partner, Finance Business Partnering Lead
In its latest survey published on Monday, the business advisory firm noted that some of the UK’s most high performing firms already fully embrace business partnering. A third (34 per cent) are investing more than 30 per cent of their time delivering these activities and a large majority, 83 percent, are expected to increase these activities over the next three years.
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CFO Insight: CFOs under pressure to drive change, 5 November 2012

Sally Fisher, Partner, Finance Transformation Talent Leader
UK CFOs are under an increasing amount of pressure to redefine their role and to advance business partnering within their companies. Most CFOs are willing to meet the challenge, a survey published this morning shows. But for most finance teams, major barriers must be overcome.
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Finance Director Europe: Talent Management in the Shared Services World 'Ineffective', 5 October 2012

Sally Fisher, Partner, Finance Transformation Talent Leader
"The survey findings confirm our own experience that implementing successful talent management consistently across a global finance function is hard to achieve, but is in demand from finance teams. There is significant business benefit from getting it right, for example reduced attrition, greater business knowledge and insight, finance driving and protecting value in the business in a more pro-active way, more effective partnering between shared services and retained finance.”
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Financial Director: The charge to repatriate production, 30 August 2012

Punit Bhatia, Director, Deloitte’s BPO advisory practice leader
“Everyone recognises that putting stuff offshore is still cheaper. It is true there is wage inflation overseas, but when you do a fact-based comparison, offshore is still much cheaper. But people are saying that their brand is worth it,”
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Accounting & Business Magazine: Is the price right? (p46-48), 29 August 2012

Allan Gasson, Partner, Deloitte Strategy Practice
Too many companies get caught in a vicious cycle of shrinking volume and falling margins, “ a decline in margins means the overhead cost increases”, “therefore if the price per unit stays the same, the overhead is not likely to be recovered and the business could start to make losses”.
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Public Finance Magazine: The changing role of finance in government, 26 April 2012

Gillian Russell, Partner, Public Sector & Government Finance Transformation Leader
Many finance functions across sectors have spent the past few years supporting cost reduction programmes and driving their own operational efficiencies with new finance models – and nowhere more so than in the public sector. There is now, however, a real opportunity for finance leaders to renew their focus on how they can add value to the organisation and become more effective strategic partners.
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