News & Views

July 27, 2009 from CFO and sponsored by Deloitte – “No surprise, cost-cutting initiatives are more crucial than ever for executives: “Where will I get the most impact without negatively affecting our ability to serve customers?” “Where can I reduce costs without endangering our ability to rebound quickly when the economy improves?” “Are opportunities the same from one industry to the next?”

Measuring internal strengths and weaknesses — and comparing them against “best-in-class” performance — can help executives in their efforts to identify and mitigate gaps that have the potential to impair the performance of both the finance function and the entire business.

To quantify various improvement opportunities, Deloitte’s Global Benchmarking Center has conducted diagnostic studies of core finance activities:

• Transaction processing
• General accounting and external reporting
• Controls
• Tax and treasury
• Performance management…”

180 View – Unfortunately the metrics are based on a survey of global companies with an average of $2.3 Billion in revenues. The other problem with the report is that many of the suggested “effective practice attributes” (or best practices) sound like motherhood such as “Tools are fully automated, standardized and consistently developed” or “Management information system is fully integrated and automated, thereby allowing for centralized management and operating reporting.” As the report is an executive summary, perhaps there is more useful information in the detailed findings. In any event, Deloitte does provide a useful approach for improving business process.