Stop the buzzword, give me real tasks!

In my previous articles, I have described what Business Partnering is, and what it is not. I have explained the differences between being a Finance Business Partner ("FBP"), working on Finance Planning and Analysis ("FP&A") or being in-charge of transactional activities at either a Shared Services Centre or an accounting and controlling office.

Albeit understanding all of these theoretical definitions is critical for the success of any Finance Transformation project, when roles will be redefined, with focus on Finance delivering their best, at full performance, there is inevitably that million dollar question going on in everyone's mind: "And so what?"

What could we, FBPs, do with all that time we have freed up? All the time we used to spend on transactional, planning, forecasting and other sorts of work, all the tasks we have now transferred to other professionals... and now we feel like holding an extremely light agenda. So... what should we start doing with all this free time? Here are some ideas.

Commercial decisions

Let's be honest with ourselves. Are we really into details behind commercial decisions taken by our partners? Or we simply talk about last month's performance, compared to budget, last quarter, last year, always asking for more sales? There are plenty of things we can do to help our Commercial teams to thrive!

All starts with relationships. No, I am not going to start another theoretical conversation herein. This is not the purpose of this article. But reality is, you'll never get into commercial discussions by looking at reports and challenging people! You will go nowhere, or will get only some things done whilst creating enemies everywhere across the business, if people don't trust you!

Now, assuming the relationship factor has been addressed, you should become part of critical discussions, your "five pences" will be asked when decisions need to be taken, you will start helping the business to think "how to move forward" rather than simply explaining "what has happened". And this is, per se, a huge, positive change!

Showing the business how to maximise the impact of negotiations to overall performance and achievement of targets, balancing risks and rewards and bringing partners to take the best decisions with information available, rather than simply raising "recommendations from finance", is the way forward.

This doesn't mean, however, that you will stop being Finance and will become part of the Sales organisation. You still have a P&L to deliver, with a certain shape, and following certain Governance rules. The thing is, you can help the business to move forward and, at the same time, put Finance lens on critical business decisions taken. And, whilst doing so, educate your partners on the Finance consequences of their choices. In plain English. No technical jargon.

Commercial deals, trade investment (please don't call it "spend"), temporary discounts, conditional and unconditional price reductions, portfolio management (including listing fees and delisted items), definition of pricing, media and shelf placement success models, cost-to-serve (in partnership with Supply Chain), the overall effectiveness of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP). The list of areas where FBP can add value to the business is virtually unlimited. The ceiling is, in the end, defined uniquely by yourself.

Supply Chain

It is not unusual to hear comments about FBPs being Subject Matter Experts ("SME") on the functions they partner with. In other words, there is a belief that Supply Chain Finance professionals are not equipped with knowledge and experience needed to become a Commercial Finance Business Partner, and vice-versa. This belief couldn't scarcely be more wrong.

I am not saying herein that managing manufacturing costs or determining a Procurement Strategy that best fits to your business reality is the same as developing, approving and rolling out a 360° Marketing Campaign. But let's be clear on this one thing: you are NOT a Manufacturing, Procurement or Marketing professional; YOU are a Finance Business Partner! You are not the one dealing with customers on that round table, and you are definitely not the one defining technical specifications for that new production line. So, in spite of all the substantial differences between business functions in need of a Finance Partner, partnering with those functions will always be based on the exact same soft skills, building relationships being at the centre of them all.

When it comes to different technicalities, those are crucial from day one if you are a traditional controller, the one in-charge of record-to-report or any other function where knowing processes in details is critical for the successful delivery when on duty. However, no matter how much knowledge you have accumulated throughout the years on one specific business process, without being capable of building relationships, be assured you'll go nowhere as a Finance Business Partner.

Now, assuming that you have it all, here are the things you could do to help Supply Chain to achieve their goals:

• Discuss ways to reach optimal balance between inventory levels, minimum order quantities, network occupancy, sales forecast accuracy, production capacity, service level, cost and cash.
• How to synchronise business objectives around procure-to-pay, including observance of approved payment terms, reduction of "Maverick Buying" (opportunistically buying from non-approved suppliers to attend to local, specific demands) and reduction of tail suppliers (those small suppliers adding complexity to accounts payable and other functions, not to mention potential lost cost opportunity by consolidation).
• How to identify and act on small volume, small margin products, driving a clear deletion strategy, fully aligned with Marketing, Sales and other stakeholders.
• What KPIs say about past performance, how they translate into numbers and what can be done to improve them going forward.
• How to identify and mitigate, whenever possible and financially viable, future risks on materials availability, currencies volatility, inflationary pressures etc.
• Help developing the capex and opex strategy, finding the best investment options, in terms of both strategy and return on investment.

These are a few examples only. I'm sure you are capable of thinking of any other areas where your partners would love to have your support, but you simply cannot offer any help as you spend more time dealing with Finance-related demands rather than partnering with the business. In doubt, just ask them what they need the most!

In my next article, I will talk about The Rock Project Berkshire. No, it is not something out of context. It is all about leading high performance teams and increasing employees' engagement. Because, definitely, disengaged finance professionals cannot business partner.

Andre L Braga is an international Finance Director, with large experience on FMCG. Currently designing the future of Finance as a Business Partnering function at Britvic.