In addition to providing training for administrators in the setup of applications, the CFO Group provides custom training for end users. Rather than repeating what is available in the on-line help and user manuals, we provide application specific guidance to end users to get the very best from your planning and reporting application.
Budgeting and forecasting taking too much time and effort?
We work with the CFO and the office of finance to automate planning and reporting processes to save time, effort and costs and, at the same time, help manage and improve enterprise performance. I have personally been doing that for more than 40 years with excellent software solutions on timesharing, mainframes, minicomputers, client/server platforms, and now the cloud. Yes, full circle back to timesharing! I would have thought by now just about all organisations would have robust solutions for their planning, budgeting, forecasting, management reporting and statutory compliance processes. But that is not what we see. We often find that companies today are creating budgeting and forecasting templates in Excel, issuing them via email, correcting them when mistakes are found, sending them out again, collecting them manually and consolidating in a tool that is not designed for the job. Too much time, effort and cost and hardly any time for analysis or considering multiple options. If this sounds familiar, please take a look at this short video of one of our customers taking about the before and after situation…
You can reach me on geoff@cfogrp.com of you want to chat more about this. Geoff Noble, Managing Director, CFO Group.
Saving time, effort and costs in group financial reporting and tax compliance
We have just completed a very interesting mini-project with one of our customers with some substantial benefits for the group financial reporting team, the tax team and the accountants in each of the entities. There is a large overlap in the data required to support the consolidation and statutory reporting process performed by the group financial reporting team with the data required to support the tax computations and compliance work by the tax team. Both teams were using state-of-the-art solutions for their specific jobs, but they were duplicating the data acquisition effort to get trail balance and key transactional data from the entities. Our solution was simple. Collect the data once and use it twice. If you have best-of-breed solutions for consolidation and for tax, but would like to achieve further benefits from data acquisition automation, drop me a line to geoff@cfogrp.com. Of course, if you don’t currently have state-of-the-art solutions for either statutory reporting or tax compliance, then please make contact and we can point you in the right direction. Geoff Noble, Managing Director, CFO Group.
ESG
We know that CCH Tagetik is a great solution for Integrated Reporting as it has the ability to support both financial and non-financial data in a single performance management platform and beautifully produce the final outputs. Please see earlier blog for more details. Now CCH Tagetik has released a pre-packaged application for ESG to help meet compliance requirements and drive strategic, sustainable growth. If you want to know more, drop me a line to geoff@cfogrp.com and I will send you a data sheet.
Powered EPM for Utilities
KPMG and the CFO Group are proud to announce the launch of their latest collaboration ‘Powered EPM for Utilities’. This offering includes leading practice Integrated Business Planning capabilities for asset-intensive businesses, specifically utility organisations with a network of assets to develop and maintain.
Powered EPM for Utilities integrates the CFO Group’s GPM for Utilities starter application (on the CCH Tagetik platform) with in-built better practices such as the alignment of strategic, functional and financial plans; adoption of a proposal-based approach to budget setting for assets, projects or outcomes and automated budget reporting.
Its adoption can significantly accelerate organisational planning activities and budgetary decision making through its use of standardised budgeting templates; the ability to interface directly to source data; inbuilt workflows to expedite review and approvals and by providing senior decision makers with a holistic view of business unit requirements.
The application also provides additional embedded functionality enabling periodic performance monitoring, disclosure management etc. through integrated visualisations and dashboards - enabling clients to progressively enhance their EPM capabilities over time as required.
For more information and to arrange a demonstration please contact Paul Howkins from KPMG or Geoff Noble from the CFO Group at phowkins1@kpmg.com.au or geoff@cfogrp.com
Pre-packaged EPM applications
Modern EPM software platforms are extremely powerful and provide a great deal of flexibility.
This power and flexibility can be a double-edged sword.
The CFO Group has for a long time had a methodology to help design and implement EPM solutions that meet the explicit needs and aspirations of our customers within their constrains of time, effort and budget.
Where there is a need that is consistent across multiple customers, EPM applications can be pre-configured and pre-packaged to further speed up implementation, reduce costs and above all remove risk from the project.
The CFO Group has taken this approach for governments with the GPM pre-packaged starter application on CCH Tagetik. There is a common requirement across most national, state and local governments around the world to formulate multi-year budgets based on the careful selection and funding of a multitude of budget proposals that best contribute to the stated outcomes for the people. Rather than try to specify and design a system for government performance management from scratch each time, GPM provides a solid starting point without losing any of the flexibility to adapt and tailor to specific customer needs.
While working with KPMG, we have identified that the information-rich proposal-based approach to planning used in GPM is also applicable to asset-intensive businesses, including utility organisations with a network of assets to develop and maintain. More about this and an exciting new initiative soon.
CCH Tagetik has also taken this pre-packaged approach for repeatable applications such as Account Reconciliation and Lease Accounting for IFRS16 compliance.
So when you come to the CFO Group for your EPM solution, you get to work with experts that apply a proven methodology to uncover your real needs and then design and deliver a solution to meet those needs with you in the most expedient way, including using pre-packaged applications where applicable, to slash implementation times and costs, provide better practices, and eliminate risk.
For more information, please contact Geoff Noble at geoff@cfogrp.com.
Integrated Reporting
Integrated Reporting enhances reporting and enables companies to link strategic, management and external financial reporting.
Under Integrated Reporting, companies provide more information on the broader health of the organisation and the challenges and opportunities it faces in the future, rather than focusing on analysing past financial results. This includes more focus on active governance, resource use and exposure, strategic performance, and management of material risk to create and preserve value.
In traditional reports, the reader is often not given sufficient information to fully assess a company’s ability to execute its strategy in the future, and so whether past earnings are likely to be sustainable in the medium to long term.
It is not surprising there has been groundswell in the adoption of Integrated Reporting in Australia and New Zealand, it’s basically better business reporting.
We are speaking together with KPMG in a CCH Tagetik webinar on 2nd October 2019 where you can hear how to make Integrated Reporting a reality, including:
What Integrated Reporting is and why it matters
The technology that is required to support Integrated Reporting
Integrated Reporting in action
The roadmap for quick and successful implementation
To register for the webinar, please go to:
The Digital Transformation of Finance
The CFO Group is running a series of webinars on the digital transformation of finance.
Here is a link to the recording of our first one together with KPMG and hosted by CCH Tagetik.
https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/7418217337257495810
Daniel Bruce from KPMG gives an excellent view of the finance operation of the future and the webinar continues on to discuss tips on using EPM as the finance transformation platform to get there.
Setting the right Vision and Goals for EPM
Often EPM projects are justified based on the cost savings that come from the compression of planning and reporting cycle times and the corresponding reduction in effort that is required from Finance in its coordination role and across the enterprise in terms of data entry and reporting effort by the business.
Cost reductions and efficiency gains are very real outcomes from implementing a new comprehensive enterprise planning and reporting system, but there are bigger benefits on offer.
To not miss out on these, it is important to keep a focussed eye on the improvements in enterprise performance that will come from better alignment of budgets to strategic plans, more accurate forecasts, agile decision making and action based on better information, and more time for advice from Finance as business partners.
To help achieve this, it is good practice to create a Vision statement for the new EPM system that encompasses both. Then to set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely Goals for the cost and time savings arising from the streamlined planning and reporting processes and the enterprise performance improvements.
What do you think?
Comments are most welcome, including any examples of vision statements and goals that have made a big difference.
Hear about the role of EPM in digitising the office of finance
Next month, the CFO Group and KPMG are speaking about how leading Australian and New Zealand organisations are digitising the office of finance.
You will get an opportunity to hear from us on how enterprise performance management (EPM) underpins the digital transformation of the office of finance. Planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes are key for managing the performance of the enterprise and placing the right information into the right hands at the right time.
In just 30 minutes, you will hear from Daniel Bruce of KPMG and Geoff Noble of the CFO Group on how you can achieve the digital transformation of the office of finance, including:
What the finance operation of the future looks like
The technology is required to support the digital transformation
The roadmap to success
The key benefits and payback
Speakers:
Daniel Bruce, Partner, Finance Strategy and Performance, KPMG
Daniel Bruce is a partner at KPMG in the Sydney Finance Strategy and Performance practice and the country-wide subject matter lead for Enterprise Performance Management. Daniel is hands-on in helping CFOs modernise their finance organisations through digital transformation.
Geoff Noble, Partner, CFO Group
Geoff Noble is a partner at the CFO Group, a firm specialising in helping CFOs digitise the enterprise performance management processes of planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting. Geoff has over 40 years of experience in helping finance become the very best business partners to help optimise enterprise financial and operational performance.
To register please visit:
Introducing the CFO Group blog
This blog is all about how to implement the very best enterprise performance management (EPM) systems for large and complex organisations.
EPM systems, on the one hand, are a critical ingredient to manage the planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes, and on the other hand, difficult to get right.
This blog is all about helping consultants, CFOs and the office of finance get EPM right.
Some of the discussions in this blog stem from the CFO Group Solution Delivery Methodology for EPM.
EPM consultants and users alike are encouraged to contribute through comments to posts on this blog to help with continuous improvement to EPM practices for us all.
Should you wish to have a private conversation about EPM, please contact Geoff Noble, Managing Director, CFO Group, on geoff@cfogrp.com.