This presentation focuses on how the finance function can leverage analytics, especially predictive ones, embedded in their financial reporting, planning, and decision making. Finance and accounting professional are typically considered to be very quantitative. They are by nature number-crunchers. But collecting, validating, and reporting data is not the same thing as analyzing the information that can be gleaned from data. Most organizations are drowning in data, but starving for information.
The CFO function is experiencing a shift from beyond financial reporting to dealing with and reporting non-financial information. Finance people are increasingly involved with creating and monitoring performance measurements. But do they know how to identify the appropriate measures? Their task should not be about what can be measured but what should be measured. And don’t stop there. This is not about just monitoring the dials of a scorecard or dashboard, but moving the dials. The decisions involved to improve performance require analytics of all flavors. Most companies are far from where they want and need to be when it comes to implementing analytics and are still relying on gut feeling, rather than hard data, when making decisions. Volatility and complexity are the new normal.
Publication Date: September 2015
Topics Covered
- Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
- Business Analytics
- BI and BA for the CFO function and EPM
- Finance function can leverage analytics
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the importance of financial accounting and how it deals with valuation
- Identify the focus strategy within the contemporary business environment
- Recognize how to improve performance if your company were applying an Enterprise Performance Management approach
- Evaluate proactive approaches to apply to engaged Business Analytics
- Describe the case study of Passport Canada where the company outsourced forecasting
- Identify which customers are most likely to be unprofitable when analyzing customer sales volume in relation to profits
- Recognize matched with non-recurring expenses when matching the budget method to its category in a budget
- Evaluate the intelligence hierarchy for the best company opportunity utilizing Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
- Identify which EPM essentially used
- Differentiate the characteristics of the best business leaders in the current economy
- Identify the characteristics of ideal customers
- Recognize the impact of timing on business decisions
- Identify questions addressed by strategy maps and balanced scorecards
- Apply EPM to utilize key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Recognize when to apply activity-based costing (ABC)
- Identify when to utilize the risk assessment grid to budget when using enterprise risk management (ERM)
- Recognize when to utilize rolling financial forecasts
Level
Overview
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Finance (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Gary Cokins
Gary Cokins is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, and author in advanced cost management and performance improvement systems. He is the founder of Analytics-Based Performance Management, an advisory firm located in Cary, North Carolina. Gary received a BS degree with honors in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research from Cornell University in 1971. He received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 1974.
Gary began his career as a strategic planner with FMC’s Link-Belt Division and then served as Financial Controller and Operations Manager. In 1981 Gary began his management consulting career first with Deloitte consulting, and then in 1988 with KPMG consulting. 1992 Gary headed the National Cost Management Consulting Services for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) now part of HP. From 1997 until 2012 Gary was in business development with SAS, a leading provider of enterprise performance management and business analytics and intelligence software.