Fractional CFO and FP&A Consulting Services
A quick note from Wm. F. Bryant :
My strongest skillsets are within analytics, modeling, and research. This is influenced by my background in mathematics, but it is strengthened because I have worked on the front lines of operations, from manufacturing lines for glass and metal finishing to running painting crews to managing retail, restaurant, and distribution brick and mortar locations.
In my opinion, your FP&A and financial management, is at a considerable disadvantage if your managers and analysts don't understand operations management. Critical points such as throughput, bottleneck, and processes drive capital investment and strategic planning. Further, if they have never worked a frontline position, and many have not, to what degree can they relate to equipment usage and labor activity.
When I discuss, plan, model, and analyze data I break it down to its financially derived operational activities based upon contribution margins. Direct costs, variable with output, and fixed costs not only enable better break even analysis , cost-volume-profit planning and forecasting, but they are critical to strategy and are at the heart of contribution margin analysis. This practice sets up a more robust framework for internal reporting and performance management.
As you page through my website and take a moment to look through my sample of case studies, know that I have taken years of time in operational and financial experiences and study to become adept at managing operations (both operational teams and financial management), accounting, forecasting, planning, budgeting, data presentation, and strategic development.
In my opinion, your FP&A and financial management, is at a considerable disadvantage if your managers and analysts don't understand operations management. Critical points such as throughput, bottleneck, and processes drive capital investment and strategic planning. Further, if they have never worked a frontline position, and many have not, to what degree can they relate to equipment usage and labor activity.
When I discuss, plan, model, and analyze data I break it down to its financially derived operational activities based upon contribution margins. Direct costs, variable with output, and fixed costs not only enable better break even analysis , cost-volume-profit planning and forecasting, but they are critical to strategy and are at the heart of contribution margin analysis. This practice sets up a more robust framework for internal reporting and performance management.
As you page through my website and take a moment to look through my sample of case studies, know that I have taken years of time in operational and financial experiences and study to become adept at managing operations (both operational teams and financial management), accounting, forecasting, planning, budgeting, data presentation, and strategic development.
The best route to a competitive organization is through a solid foundation of information integration bridging operational activity to finance through cost behaviors.
All process activities generate data naturally. What you choose to collect is up to its potential value and ease of collection. Some of this data collected ends up translated and aggregated onto your financial reporting statements, some will be used for internal metrics, but all of it paints a picture of costs throughout the value chain that are necessary to support day-to-day operations. Do you have a team that can drive deep analytics with beneficial insights?
Your most common CFO lacks many of the core competencies and the knowledge basis in the areas of economics, operations management and IT to drive strategic value from data. Too many companies end up with a second controller. Your models suffer. Your analysis suffers. Your decision driving insights suffer. When all data is expected to be processed and analyzed within the finance department, then you need a CFO that has capabilities beyond the standard cash cycle, recording, reporting, and period close activities.
Your most common CFO lacks many of the core competencies and the knowledge basis in the areas of economics, operations management and IT to drive strategic value from data. Too many companies end up with a second controller. Your models suffer. Your analysis suffers. Your decision driving insights suffer. When all data is expected to be processed and analyzed within the finance department, then you need a CFO that has capabilities beyond the standard cash cycle, recording, reporting, and period close activities.
In a data-driven organization, CFOs must take on a completely new role...part finance guru and part data scientist.
...The historical view of the CFO as fastidious accounting clerk detached from the nuances of operational divisions is as far removed from the reality of modern corporate finance as paper ledgers and mechanical calculators.
With the continued evolution of financial and accounting software, the nature of finance has shifted from transactional and historical to real time and analytical. CFOs are still responsible for traditional finance like FP&A, audit, compliance, and treasury management, but in the era of dig data, effective CFOs additionally must become masters of business intelligence.
--Glenn Hopper, Deep Finance: Corporate Finance in the Information Age.
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An organization wishing to become data-driven can create a differentiated company and core competency for competitive advantage through information technology, but it is more than simply collecting data. Attention to data must be given over the life-cycle from sourcing to managing and governance to reporting. Most importantly there must be a method , a purpose, to guide what data is collected and how it the data is to be analyzed.
Who is best positioned to determine these needs? The CFO and the finance team - the frontline. |
