The Effective Finance Professional

Introduction

This GLOMACS Finance & Budgeting training course on The Effective Finance Professional will equip you with the practical knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of the changing landscape in the 21st century Finance function. This expert-led training course will focus on how, by streamlining key Finance processes and achieving operational excellence, time saved can be invested in advanced cost management, business analytics and enhanced planning, forecasting, and reporting techniques, techniques that can facilitate the development of Data-Driven Decision-Making (DDDM).

The 21st century had already seen massive disruption to business processes and business models facilitated by rapid and significant developments in digital technology and data management. In world-class organisations the Finance function is applying these developments to streamline traditional processes and invest the time saved in improving the business support the Finance team provides to its key decision-makers. The ultimate goal in this process is to transform the Finance professional from a business analyst into a Strategic Finance Business Partner.

This GLOMACS training course will highlight:

• How is the digital revolution disrupting business and the Finance function?
• Strategies to streamline and build operational excellence in Finance processes
• The impact of Business Intelligence and Business Analytics on decision-making
• Leveraging “Big Data” to build high impact dashboards and reports
• Building advanced skills in planning, forecasting, and reporting
• The Finance professional's role as a Strategic Business Partner

Objectives

By the end of this training course, the participants will be able to:

• Understand how businesses processes and business model are disrupted
• Improve and streamline key Finance processes to gain time savings
• Apply techniques to manage and reduce operating costs
• Use predictive data analytics to improve planning and forecasting
• Apply advances Excel techniques to build business dashboards
• Develop the skills of a Strategic Finance Business Partner

Training Methodology

This Finance & Budgeting training course on The Effective Finance Professional will be structured as a highly participative workshop with formal seminars and interactive practical examples. Relevant case studies and recent research findings will facilitate a thorough understanding of each of the key topics.

Organisational Impact

The organisation will gain tangible benefits from time savings and systems improvements through the streamlining of Finance processes. Further real benefits will accrue from improvements in advanced data-driven planning, forecasting, and reporting processes in the Finance function.

Specific organisational benefits will include the participants raised awareness of the potentially disruptive effect of digital developments on business models and the need for greater Finance function effectiveness, specifically in:

• Greater Finance function productivity through process excellence
• Improved data-driven business insights from enhanced analytics
• Support for strategic decision-making from improved cost analysis
• Greater support from high-quality financial reporting
• High-quality insights from data-driven tactical dashboards
• Development of Strategic Finance Business Partner skills

Personal Impact

The participants will benefit directly from the development and enhancement of their professional financial skills in several key areas: 

• Identifying areas of improvement for their finance processes
• Developments in Business Intelligence (BI)
• Using Excel for descriptive and predictive analytics
• Improved skills in planning, forecasting, and reporting
• Building the skills of a Strategic Finance Business Partner
• Practical steps in managing change in the finance function