How can you ensure your program's financial management is resilient to changing conditions?

1 Align financial objectives with program strategy

The first step to ensure your program's financial management is resilient to changing conditions is to align your financial objectives with your program strategy. This means that you should define and communicate clearly what your program aims to achieve, how it will measure its success, and how it will allocate and use its resources. By aligning your financial objectives with your program strategy, you will ensure that your program has a clear direction, a realistic scope, and a coherent logic model that links inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts.

2 Establish financial governance and accountability

The second step to ensure your program's financial management is resilient to changing conditions is to establish financial governance and accountability. This means that you should set up and follow a set of policies, procedures, and standards that define how your program will plan, execute, control, and report its financial activities. You should also assign roles and responsibilities to your program team, your project managers, your sponsors, and your stakeholders, and ensure that they have the authority, skills, and tools to perform their tasks. By establishing financial governance and accountability, you will ensure that your program has a transparent, consistent, and ethical financial management system that complies with legal and contractual obligations.

3 Conduct financial planning and analysis

The third step to ensure your program's financial management is resilient to changing conditions is to conduct financial planning and analysis. This means that you should estimate and forecast your program's costs, revenues, cash flows, and profitability, based on your program strategy, scope, schedule, and risks. You should also compare your actual financial performance with your planned or expected performance, and identify and explain any variances, gaps, or issues. By conducting financial planning and analysis, you will ensure that your program has a sound and realistic financial plan that supports its decision-making and problem-solving.

5 Monitor and control financial performance

The fifth step to ensure your program's financial management is resilient to changing conditions is to monitor and control financial performance. This means that you should collect, record, verify, and report your program's financial data, such as costs, revenues, expenditures, invoices, receipts, and payments. You should also track, measure, and evaluate your program's financial performance indicators, such as cost variance, revenue variance, return on investment, or net present value. By monitoring and controlling financial performance, you will ensure that your program has accurate and timely financial information that enables you to review and adjust your financial plan and actions.

6 Communicate and report financial results

The sixth and final step to ensure your program's financial management is resilient to changing conditions is to communicate and report financial results. This means that you should communicate and report your program's financial performance, achievements, challenges, and lessons learned to your program team, your project managers, your sponsors, and your stakeholders, using appropriate formats, channels, and frequencies. You should also solicit and incorporate feedback, suggestions, and recommendations from your financial audiences, and use them to improve your financial management practices. By communicating and reporting financial results, you will ensure that your program has a clear and consistent financial story that demonstrates its value and impact.