1. KEY INITIATIVE Finance Function Management
Presenter's Name
KEY INITIATIVE Finance Function Management
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2. Overview: Finance function management
Top challenges and how Gartner can help
In a digital, matrixed environment, success requires the development of skills (e.g., digital dexterity) and structures (e.g., centers of excellence) that most finance teams have not yet mastered.
Capturing these opportunities will earn finance leaders reduced costs, increased clock speed and more financially sound decisions, and Gartner is here to help finance executives find solutions to the following questions:
How does my finance function compare with the best ones?
What finance work should I relocate, where?
How do I acquire rare digital and analytic skills in a competitive labor market?
The topics we cover include:
Finance strategy and org structure: Teach finance executives how to design the strategy and plan the org structure that will accelerate finance’s evolution to match the pace of business change.
Finance talent: Define the skills that finance leaders should target next, then enable them to develop these emerging skill sets through an employability- and experience-based (not ladder and training- based) framework.

3. Finance Strategy and Org Structure

4. Challenges with finance strategy and org structure1 2 3
Business support requests are up, but finance budgets are under pressure
Finance struggles with where and how to apply emerging technology
Matrixed decision making complicates business partnership objectives
Four in five finance leaders say that business partner requests for finance data and decision support have increased in recent years.
For years, finance department budgets have been flat or declining, leaving finance with the choice of reducing service levels or cutting costs through efficiency gains.
Nearly half of finance departments are actively using or testing robotics and other automation tools
However, accountability and oversight has not yet shifted for most away from IT and to the finance function
Machine learning is being tested in budgeting and forecasting processes, but leaders are struggling to separate hype from reality or to get the most from these systems given existing processes and the team’s skills.
Finance is just one source of analysis consulted by business decision makers, making it critical for finance to get the right data to the right people at the right time.
Over one-third of companies have implemented a center of excellence model somewhere at the corporate center, but many teams are struggling to decide who should own these CoEs and how business partners should access them.

5. Questions your peers are asking
Topics
Key client issues
Finance strategic planning
What should our strategic plan include and what should it look like when we’re done?
How do we run an efficient, yet comprehensive strategy setting process?
Finance organizational design
How can we centralize for efficiency without losing the pulse of the business?
Should we move to a CoE model for reporting and analysis?
Finance sub-function design
How does our corporate accounting team compare to other, similar companies?
How should we structure distributed decision support teams?
Location of work
Should important analyses like pricing and cost be done at the BU or corporate level?
How should we split responsibility for reporting tasks between accounting and FP&A?

6. Capabilities support each stage of your initiative
Diagnose current state
Compare finance cost, headcount and process efficiency to peer companies via these finance function benchmarks.
Assess the maturity of 37 key finance processes across all parts of the finance function using Gartner Finance Score.
Avoid duplicative work: Consult these scope of activities benchmarks and these span of control benchmarks.
Develop your plan
Learn about the expanding role of CoEs and how to incorporate CoE designs into your plans from this research report.
Understand key questions you need to address to optimize functional design from this finance org structure playbook.
Build an efficient, yet comprehensive strategy for finance using this Gartner Ignition Guide.
Execute and drive change
Mitigate impacts that major changes can have on productivity and engagement by following strategies in the change management playbook.
Redesign your finance org structure: Consult this collection of finance org structures.
Implement a CoE model where appropriate by leveraging the tools included in this Gartner Ignition Guide.

7. Gartner support organized against your timeline
Activity roadmap
Initiative
0-90 Days
Days
Finance strategy and org structure
Actionable Guidance: Understand key questions you need to address to optimize functional design from this finance org structure playbook.
Diagnostic: Assess the maturity of 37 key finance processes across all parts of the finance function using Gartner Finance Score.
Consultation: Review the diagnostic results with an executive advisor, identify opportunities for improvement and devise an action plan.
Online Toolkit: Build an efficient, yet comprehensive strategy for finance using this Gartner Ignition Guide.
Service Associate Support: Learn how peers adapt Gartner resources to fit unique business needs.
Consultation: Discuss where to establish a CoE with an executive advisor.
Online Toolkit: Implement a CoE model where appropriate by leveraging the tools included in this Gartner Ignition Guide.
Benchmark: Avoid duplicative work: Consult these scope of activities benchmarks and these span of control benchmarks.
Actionable Guidance: Manage impacts that major changes can have on productivity and engagement by following strategies in the change management playbook.
Research Discussion: Stay abreast of emerging issues/trends.

8. Comprehensive support for the finance leader
Finance Leader Effectiveness
Personal Effectiveness
Change Management
Finance Function Management
Finance Strategy and Org Structure
Finance Talent
Cost Optimization and Working Capital
Cost Structure
Working Capital
Indirect Spend Management
Indirect Strategic Sourcing
Indirect Category Management
Financial Data and Analytics
Financial Data Management
Finance Analytics
Metrics and Management Reporting
Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting
Budgeting and Planning
Forecasting
IT Finance
Internal Control and Technical Accounting
Internal Controls
Technical Accounting
Tax and Accounting Processes
Tax Operations
Record to Report
Real Estate Functional Management
Customer Relationship Management
Real Estate Strategy and Org Structure
Shared Services Functional Management
Shared Services Strategy and Structure
Shared Services Talent
Real Estate Optimization
Portfolio Strategy
Workplace Strategy
Shared Services Optimization
Shared Services Performance Management
Customer Relationship Management
Procurement Function Management
Strategy and Org Structure
Talent Management
Strategic Influence
Emerging Trends
Indirect Supplier Relationship Management
Indirect Supplier Performance Management
Indirect Supplier Innovation
Indirect Supplier Risk Management
Financial Strategy and Investor Relations
Capital Structure
Capital Allocation
Investor Relations
Finance Technology Optimization
Digital Technology in Finance
Finance Technology Strategy and Selection
Emerging Technologies and Trends
Cyber Security and Digital Risk Management
Procurement and Strategic Sourcing Applications
Procure-to-Pay Applications
Contract Lifecycle Management
Strategic Sourcing Applications
Driving Cost Optimization Across the Enterprise
Baseline Efficiency and Effectiveness
Cost Optimization Plan Development
Cost Optimization Plan Execution
Communication and Leading Change
Leading the Next Generation Workforce
Key Trends
Emerging Critical Skills
Key Talent Segments
Leadership Style and Structure
Driving Digital Business Transformation for Industry Leadership
Functional Digitization
Digital Business Transformation
Digital Business Strategy and Innovation