Winning CFOs – Implementing and Applying Better Practices

Better practices that today's CFOs can employ to bring value and efficiency to the teams that report to them Helping corporate accountants from the CFOs to the management accountant implement better practices that will make a difference to their finance team's performance, Winning CFOs shows corporate accountants how to create permanent improvements in their organization's processes. Provides better practice solutions the author has learned from more than 4,000 finance teams worldwide A to Z guidance on how to be an effective CFO Includes templates, checklists and implementation programs for process improvement Abundance of tools to ensure implementation of better practices Tips on how to develop winning leadership traits Winning CFOs shows corporate accountants how to radically transform their contribution to their organization, enhance their job satisfaction and profile, and leave a legacy of efficiency and effectiveness in every organization for which they work.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part One Areas to Focus on in the Next Six Months. Chapter 1 Accounts Payable in the 21 st Century. Move to a Paperless Accounts Payable Function. Invest in an Electronic Ordering System (Procurement System). Introduce a Purchase Card. Cut-Off Accounts Payable on the Last Working Day. Closing Accruals a Day Before the Accounts Payable Ledger. Limit the Accruals. Mount the Last Check Signed in the CEO's Office. Frequent Direct Credit Payment Runs. Improve Budget Holders' Cooperation. Speed Up Budget Holder Turnaround on Approving Invoicing. Send a Welcome Letter to All New Budget Holders and Give Them Training. Introduce "Shame and Name" Lists to Focus The Budget Holders. Reward Good Budget Holder Behavior. Have a Closer Relationship with Your Main Suppliers. Use Self Generated Invoices (Buyer Created Invoices). Chapter 2 Timely Month-end Reporting: By Working Day Three or Less. Rating Scale for Month-End Reporting. Benefits to Management and the Finance Team of Quick Month-End Reporting. Impact of a Quick Month-End on the Finance Team Workload. Major Steps You Can Do Before Your Next Month-End. From 5pm Last Day to 5pm First Working Day. Major Quality Assurance Tasks After Day One. Major Steps You Can Do Within the Next Six Months. History of Quick Month-End Reporting. Research on Quick Month-Ends. Implementing Quick Month-End Reporting. Some Tips on Running a "Post-It" Re-engineering Session. Selling the Need for Quick Month-End Reporting. Key Month-End Activities on a Day Three Month-End. Note. Chapter 3 Make the Monthly Reports Worth Reading. Useful Rules on Reporting. Reporting a Business Unit's Performance. Reporting a Consolidated Profit & Loss Account. The One Page Summary to the CEO. Reporting the Balance Sheet. Reporting a Quarterly Rolling Accrual Forecast. Snapshot of All Projects Currently Started. Reporting Progress of the Top Ten Projects. Cash Flow Forecasting. CAPEX Reporting. The One Page Investment Proposal. Designing Graphs. Notes. Chapter 4 Limit the Time Invested in Board Reporting. Selling Change to the Board. Costing the Preparation of Board Papers. Scoping of the Information Requests. Avoiding Re-Writes of Board Reports. Tabling Board Papers Electronically. More Timely Board Meetings. Board Meeting Less Frequently than Once a Month. Continually Purging the Board Papers. Rating Scale for Timeliness of Board Meetings after Month-End. Reporting Key Result Indicators in a "Dashboard" to the Board. Key Result Indicators for a Board Dashboard Examples. Notes. Chapter 5 Timely Annual Planning Process: Ten Working Days or Less! Sell the Change through Emotional Drivers. Foundation Stones of an Annual Planning Process. Efficient Annual Planning Processes. Chapter 6 Managing the Most Important Resource: The Accounting Team. Hold an Off-Site Meeting for the Accounting Team at Least Twice a Year. Set-Up Monthly One-on-One Progress Meetings with Your Direct Reports. Become Known for Being One Who Gives Recognition Freely. Attracting the Best Staff to the Team. Adopt Better Recruitment Practices. Recognize Staff Performance. Team Balanced Scorecards. Better Practice Training. Outdoor Pursuit Adventure. Team Building Lessons from a World Class Coach. CFO and All Direct Reports Must Find a Mentor Immediately. Become a Serving Leader. Leadership Lessons from Ernest Shackleton. Valuing Results and People. Be a Serving Leader. Three Month Planner. Notes. Chapter 7 Quick Annual Reporting: Within 15 Working Days Post Year-End. Costs of a Slow Year-End. Cost the Annual Accounts Process. A Quick Year-End Is a Good Year-End. Help Get the Auditors Organized. Appoint an Audit Coordinator. Complete the Drafting of the Annual Report Before Year-End! Limit when Changes Can Be Made Negotiate and Plan for a Sign-Off by the Auditors within 15 Working Days! Have a Month 10 or 11 Hard Close. Effective Stock Takes. Estimating "Added Value" in Work in Progress and Finished Goods. Effective Fixed Assets Verification. Importance of the Internal Auditors. Extract More Value from the Management Letter. Derive More Value from the Interim Audit. Run a Workshop to "Post-It" Re-Engineer Year-End Reporting. Restrict Access of Confidential Information to the Audit Partner. Speeding up the Reporting Supply Chain. Moving Forward. Some Case Studies. Note. Chapter 8 Managing your Debtors. Operational Improvements to Accounts Receivable. Reporting on Your Accounts Receivable. Avoiding Accounts Receivable Month-End Processing Bottlenecks. Increasing the Use of Direct Debiting of Customers' Accounts. Debtors Collection Before Year-End. Chapter 9 Marketing the Accounting Team. Fitting into the Wider Team. Chapter 10 Client Management: Improving Relationships with Budget Holders. Perform an In-House Customer Satisfaction Survey. Chapter 11 More Emphasis on Daily and Weekly Reporting. Yesterday's Sales Report. Weekly Key Customer's Sales. Weekly Reporting on Late Projects and Late Reports. Chapter 12 Working Smarter not Harder. Reflecting at the End of the Day. Banning Morning Meetings for the Finance Team. Implementing "Action Meetings" Methods. Handling emails. Continuous Innovation in the Finance Team. Getting the Induction Process Right. Creating a Service Culture in the Finance Team. Having Fun in the Workplace. Part Two Areas to Focus on Once Core Gains Have Been Achieved. Chapter 13 Limit the P/L to 50 Accounts Codes. Project Accounting. Subsidiary Chart of Accounts. Note. Chapter 14 Throw out Annual Planning and the Associated Monthly Budget Cycle. Reporting without a Budget. Note. Chapter 15 Quarterly Rolling Planning: An Evolvement from Quarterly Rolling Forecasting. QRF Is the Most Important Management Tool of This Decade. The Ten Foundation Stones of a Rolling Forecasting Process. The Better Practices in a QRF. Barriers to Implementing Quarterly Rolling Forecast and How to Overcome Them. Implementing a Quarterly Rolling Forecasting and Planning Process. Post-It Re-engineering Procedures. Implementation Road Map. Chapter 16 Cost Apportionment: Do Not Do It Monthly! Chapter 17 Ban Excel from Core Monthly Routines. Note. Chapter 18 Identifying the Organization's Critical Success Factors. Benefits of Understanding Your Organization's Critical Success Factors. An Airline CSF. Chapter 19 Reporting Your Winning Key Performance Indicators. The 10/80/10 Rule. Performance and Result Indicators. Key Performance Indicators. Characteristics of a KPI. Importance of Daily CEO Follow-Up. Selling KPIs through the "Emotional Drivers". Reporting KPIs 24/7 or Daily to Management. Reporting Weekly KPIs and PIs to Management. Reporting Monthly PIs to Management. Reporting to Staff: The Team's Progress. Reporting to Staff: The Organization's Progress. The 12-Step Model for Implementing Performance Measures. How KPIs and Financial Reporting Fit Together. Notes. Chapter 20 Where to Invest in Your Accounting Systems for Maximum Benefit. Avoiding the Hard Sell. Better Systems to Invest in. Note. Chapter 21 Implementing a New Accounting System. Chapter 22 Better Use of the Intranet. Your Intranet Should Be a Spider's Web. The Intranet as a Business Tool. What the Finance Team Can Do. Chapter 23 Becoming a Servant Leader. Five Foundation Stones of a Servant Leader. Areas of Focus For a Serving Leader. Be a CFO That Is a Viking With a Mother's Heart. Notes. Part Three Areas Where Costly Mistakes Can Be Made. Chapter 24 Performance Bonuses: The Foundations Stones. The Foundation Stones. Avoid Having "Deferral Provisions. Note. Chapter 25 Avoiding a Rotten Take Over or Merger. Lessons Learned From Bad Mergers. Take Over or Merger Scorecard. Other Reasons Why a TOM is a High Risk Activity. Remember There Are Other Options to a TOM. Note. Chapter 26 Hidden Costs of Laying Off Staff. Chapter 27 A Re-Organization Too Many. Why Do We Appear to Have an Addiction to Reorganizations? Typical Reasons for a Re-Organization. There Are Some Alternatives to a Major Re-Organization. Before You Look at a Reorganization. Progress Checklist. Note. Chapter 28 Listing on the Stock Exchange. Gather Useful Experiences. Selecting the Advisers. Have a Well-Oiled Public Relations Machine. The Prospectus. Due Diligence Coordinator. Preparing the Forecast. Sources of Useful Information. Note. Chapter 29 Managing the Treasury. An Open and Honest Relationship with Your Banks Will Pay Off. Do Not Get into Deals, You Do Not Understand. You Can Never Guess the Future, So Be Half Right and Half Wrong. Foreign Exchange Trading Can Be a Zero Sum Game. Obtaining Credit Lines When You Do Not Need It. Staggering the Maturity of Loans. Sources of Useful Information. Appendix A Areas to Focus on in the Next Six Months Checklist. Appendix B Implementation Steps to Reduce Month-End Reporting Time Frames Checklist. Appendix C Month-End Bottlenecks and Techniques to Get Around Them. Appendix D Speeding-Up the Annual Audit Process Checklist. Appendix E Areas to Focus on once core gains have been achieved Checklist. Appendix F How a Quarterly Rolling Forecase can be Laid Out in a Planning Tool. Appendix G Implementing a Quarterly Rolling Forecast Checklist. Appendix H Performing a Quarterly Rolling Forecast Checklist. Appenidx I Streamlining an Annual Planning Process Checklist. Appendix J Useful Letters and Memos. Appendix K A Satisfaction Survey for an Accounting Function. Index.

About the Author :
DAVID PARMENTER is an international presenter who is known for his thought-provoking and lively sessions, which have led to substantial change in many organizations. He is a leading expert in the development of winning KPIs, replacing the annual planning process with quarterly rolling planning, management and leadership practices that will get you to the top, and corporate accounting best practice. David has delivered workshops to thousands of attendees in many cities around the world including Sydney, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Tehran, Johannesburg, Rome, Dublin, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Prague. David has worked for Ernst & Young, BP Oil Ltd, Arthur Andersen, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is a regular writer for professional and business journals. He is also the author of Key Performance Indicators: Developing, Implementing, and Using Winning KPIs, Pareto's 80/20 Rule for Corporate Accountants, and The Leading-Edge Manager's Guide to Success: Strategies and Better Practices, all published by Wiley. David Parmenter can be contacted via parmenter@waymark.co.nz or +64 4 499 0007. His website www.davidparmenter.com contains many white papers, articles, and freeware that will be useful to the reader.