The Ledger
Curated content foranalytical business leaders
Reducing the Risk of Low Profitability
June 6, 2018
Because the success of all businesses depends upon delivering sustainable profitability, low-profitability has become an enterprise-wide concern. In many industries, profits are hard to come by and even harder to maintain, creating reason for focus and concern for both corporate leaders and their stakeholders. Some of this can be attributed to digital disruption that made old business models obsolete. For other industries, such as coal, oil and gas, have been affected by low energy prices, shifting consumer preferences and macro factors including environmental impacts. Regardless of the industry, business leaders need to take action to reduce the risk of low profitability.
Read More at Forbes Magazine >
Value Creating With “Blue-Line” KPI Management
June 5, 2018
Organizations of all types rely extensively on key performance indicators (KPIs) to define and evaluate success. KPIs are best used as instruments for organizational learning by identifying knowledge gaps that allow the company and its people to cope more effectively with a constantly changing competitive and technological landscape. A practice that is recently being disputed is “red line management,” where managers are driven to pursue inappropriate targets because they are tangible and they are incentivized on KPIs that while they are connected to value, do not drive it. A new concept that is being introduced to the finance world is “blue-line management,” an approach in which all decisions of consequence are made with one aim in mind: to create value for the organization. This approach stands in stark contrast to the more common practice of “red-line management”
Read More at Strategic Finance Magazine >
Valuable FP&A Requires the Right Tool
June 4, 2018
CFOs often worry about how much value their analytics are actually providing their company. AI and digitalization completely changed the way that finance leaders operate. Too many of them still rely on planning tools that aggregate budgets but provide little in terms of anything else, and many are still devoted to spreadsheets. These past-generation tools assist in one regard immensely: looking back and reflecting. However, these tools are no longer sufficient to completely base important business decisions on them. Finance needs to be able to act in the moment and not provide value after the fact, which is why a dynamic FP&A tool is necessary.
Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >
Analytics Leaders In Finance Have Higher Profitability
May 31, 2018
Analytical leaders don’t leave data and analytics to departments – they hold it centrally or impose uniform standards for how it is gathered, stored and used. Top ranked finance analytics leaders all have four characteristics in common: They support a strategic capability, their approach was enterprise-wide, the senior management team was committed, and the company made a significant strategic bet on analytics-based competition. Firms that get their analytics programs right see significant profits.
Read More at Forbes Magazine >
