When is a management account not a management account? When they become a business partner.
A recent report by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) revealed the 'Finance Business Partner' as the new departmental must-have role. They argue that, in today's global market, the only real business differentiator is the decision-making function in organisations. Essentially, we all have the same access to resources and similar processes so the decision-making capabilities of an organisation are what will set it apart from its competitors.
Less bean counter, more trusted advisor
The report goes on to explain that a key aspect of the management accountant's role used to be producing financial reports and analysis for the Board and management meetings. It needed their financial skill to see the insight in the numbers. But now, with advancements in performance measurement systems, this is required to a lesser extent which, in turn, leads to the question 'what now for the management accountant?'
What has emerged is a financial sparring partner for the business who understands the management challenges the organisation faces and can combine that strategic understanding with their financial knowledge to help guide the business forward.
As this interesting article in The Finance Director explains, this isn’t just conjecture; this is already happening in many FTSE-100 companies such as Unilever, Shell and Vodafone. But whilst a few of these FTSE-100 organisations have created their own academies through which to develop business partners internally, many businesses don't have that luxury. This means it's up to the management accountants themselves to identify the opportunity and the benefit they could bring as a business partner and then upskill themselves accordingly.
But there's huge potential benefits to grasping the opportunity. As Sri Srikanthan from the Cranfield School of Management says in the article, "A competent, commercially aware accountant is a huge asset to a corporation and their rise to the board is often meteoric. In 20 years, having communications and business skills will be table stakes for accountants and those who don’t have this will be out of the game. Right now, having these skills is a real differentiator and a massive plus."
Our new The Finance Business Partner course is now available to buy.
You need to sign in or register before you can add a contribution.