FinanceBusinessPartnering
Perfect partners
Finance business partnering is one of the most effective ways of improving performance. But establishing a credible and effective FBP function takes time and effort, reports Christian Doherty
What is finance business partnering?
Andi Lonnen, founder and chief executive of the FBP Academy, says: “It’s bringing your finance specialism so that you can partner – that is, work collaboratively – with the business. You really need to have a deep understanding of the business, the organisation and its strategic and commercial priorities.
“For the recipients of the information you create, you want to help drive improved performance. You want to help them run their department better and to help them make smarter, more informed decisions.”
What does an effective finance business partnering function look like?
Christian Frantz Hansen, senior partner at the Business Partnering Institute, says: “We have a big equation on our wall that we use, that says ‘Insights x influence = impact’. We believe that an effective function focuses first of all on creating insights, so that means extracting the relevant stuff out of the data, doing the right analysis, the right root cause, the right problem-solving, to figure out what the key insights are. Insight is not just a piece of data, it’s something that is new and changes your perspective.
“Sometimes I like to say that people need to be like Indiana Jones. You need to explore first as an archaeologist but you also need to be the professor and explain. That’s where the second part of the equation comes in: the influence piece. You need to be able to extract the insight but you also need to be able to influence somebody in the business to actually act on that insight, otherwise nothing really happens. To influence people you need to communicate, which means being able to establish good relationships as a trusted partner.”
A good finance business partner will be able to win people over by listening to them; it’s not about having your own agenda.
Dionne Walker
Images: Getty
How do you establish your credibility as an effective finance business partner?
Dionne Walker, senior finance manager at Leeds University, and an experienced finance business partner, says: “I’ve had to reinforce my role and to be firm. Sometimes people will try and question finance’s input, but I try to be quite firm about what I’m saying. There will be some things that I won’t bend on because of the framework we’re working to: ultimately, there are some things you can’t do but I’ll say, ‘Maybe we can do this’.
“I think it’s about getting the right people on your side. Crucially, if you listen and don’t just launch straight into something, as long as it’s a well-thought-out comment, people listen. The more you do that, the more people think, ‘Actually, they’ve got quite a valid opinion to bring to this. It’s worth bringing them on board’.
“A good finance business partner will be able to win people over by listening to them; it’s not about having your own agenda and insisting that your financial responsibilities are this. You always have your financial responsibilities and you will always have your rules and regulations – you always have to make sure that everything’s auditable – but you have to listen to what’s going on and look to see how you can stay within that and support people. What I tend to do now is I’ll let people speak first and then I will then discuss what I want.”
What do people misunderstand about building a finance business partner function?
Hansen says: “That it’s just about developing data. The other side of the capability model is related to being able to influence stakeholders and that’s very much based on understanding personality types, being able to build trusted partnerships, being able to communicate effectively, [and] also a little bit of self-leadership and team leadership and being able to lead on change.
“All of these capabilities are actually very non-finance in a sense, but [they are] people skills that you need to build on top of your finance acumen to actually become able to convince somebody and influence business decision-making. We tend to have to work more on the capabilities related to influencing and people skills and not so much on the data-crunching part.”
Christian Hansen
Doesn’t finance speak a different language to the rest of the business?
Hansen says: “All professions have their own jargon, and that goes for finance as well. A finance person isn’t convincing anybody by talking about interest rates, net present value or internal rate of return. If they are talking to a VP in sales, then they had better talk sales and understand the language being used there in order to translate their insights into something that is understandable for the audience.
“I think a big part of this, and something we train people on a lot, is the ability to use insights and target different audiences. You have got to convey the message in a way that makes sense to different audiences. If you are talking to somebody on the production floor, he’s interested in operations, production. But if you are talking to somebody in sales, they are focused on the top line, so that’s a different language. Being aware of those differences and not trying to force your own finance lingo on them is a really good starting point and a key part of effective communication.”
Andi Lonnen
What about the rest of the business?
Lonnen says: “We do a lot of work with non-finance professionals to help them understand why FBPs are good for them. But the two words that come up the most over the years when describing working with finance are ‘intimidating’ and ‘scary’.
“We explore why they might be intimidated and scared, and what comes up is that not everyone loves numbers and maths as much as we accountants do. We speak a strange language, so it’s a continual work in progress that involves asking, ‘What else can we do? How else can we learn? How else can we add value in the business?’
“It is not just about saving cost. How can we increase revenue? How can we improve efficiency? How can we improve profit? How can we improve relationships?”
Hearts and minds
What if those outside finance remain unconvinced of the need for finance business partners?
Walker says: “Recently, at the start of a project I was asked, ‘How often should we meet?’ I said, ‘You need to invite us to everything’. The trouble is that some people, if they are not specifically discussing finance, think we don’t need to be involved. But we can still contribute and point out things that they might not have thought of from a finance perspective. For us to understand the organisation and their specific issue, we just need to be involved in everything. I think that’s the key.
“Sometimes people almost wait and then wheel out the finance and at the very end they say, ‘Right, now we’re using finance more’. It doesn’t work like that. You have got to be involved and immersed and be seen as one of the team right from the start.”
What is the most satisfying part of the finance business partner role?
Walker adds: “I enjoy working with non-finance people. I like finance colleagues, of course, but I don't think I would ever want to go back into a role where I was just in a central finance function. I like supporting the organisation and achieving something, to see something come out of my work and think, ‘I’ve supported on that and we’ve delivered’.”
Hold effective meetings
Visit the Lifelong Learning Portal
Find out more about how you can use your time in meetings efficiently and effectively with AAT's Bitesize CPD modules.
Perfect partners
Finance business partnering is one of the most effective ways of improving performance. But establishing a credible and effective FBP function takes time and effort, reports Christian Doherty
Perfect partners
Finance business partnering is one of the most effective ways of improving performance. But establishing a credible and effective FBP function takes time and effort, reports Christian Doherty
A good finance business partner will be able to win people over by listening to them; it’s not about having your own agenda.
Dionne Walker