THE QUEST FOR FINANICAL DIRECTION

The role of todays controller runs the gamut from the data gatherer to the big-picture observer. The corporate controller will still continue to drive reporting processes but now is also needed to help establish financial direction via hands-on intelligence that only that role can provide. However handson should not mean hands in the ERP system. There are now alternative solutions that can keep enterprises from diverting crucial finance personnel from strategic business opportunities.

From the vendor perspective, a valuable solution set will need to addresses core operations like accounting but also extend to address multiple types of financial reporting, internal controls, due diligence, audit support, tax process support and other specific financial services. Corefino offers this type of amplified finance support that will strengthen enterprise financial strategies.

Enterprises need to consider all options as the worldwide economic outlook, mid-2009, remains uncertain. Performing finance tasks as they were performed five years ago will not make sense for the future. New hybrid approaches that combine finance expertise, IT solutions and business process improvements are an attractive alternative to the past. This type of offering will only prove more valuable to companies as finance becomes even more complex and potentially disruptive but also integral to long-term enterprise fiscal health.

MEASURING SUCCESS

A successful finance transformation creates several benefits. These benefits include better utilization of corporate talent that is re-directed to address business management challenges and opportunities. Direct cost savings can be garnered through consolidation efforts of disparate financial functions and removal of redundant processes or IT solutions. Further cost savings can also come from areas such as:

* Migrating to one IT platform
* Moving finance departments to one business model
* Reductions in finance cost-to-revenue ratios
* More efficient business processes
* Savings realized through headcount reductions

These types of cost savings are the result of a successful finance transformation, resulting in finance roles, such as the Controller and the CFO, becoming high-performance players. Finance functions also become lower cost components of the enterprise overall. But, for most enterprises the problem in finance transformation is not a desire to achieve these savings, but where to start and how to begin.

Both CFOs and Controllers will also need to turn to trusted partners, for finance transformation support for important and recurring routine accounting functions as well as more strategic finance efforts. In the past, these partners have been mostly large enterprise software vendors and large business service providers or consultants. While these types of partners may understand the problems of finance, their costs and one-size-fits- all approach does not serve most enterprises well.

The need for consistent and reliable IT solutions and services is one critical aspect of any finance transformation project. An IT partner who offers access to finance applications for processes such as accounting, payroll and audit reports while also offering services that keep business process current and compliant with GAAP (or IFRS) practices, provides a large portion of necessary support for a successful finance transformation.

The new breed of IT provider, like Corefino, addresses the basic needs of finance that impact Controllers and CFOs alike. By looking at the need for finance efficiency and daily operations management, Corefino allows Controllers and the finance group overall to free itself from predictable transaction processing and establish financial directions for the enterprise. This solution removes non-value add processes from the enterprise scene and creates the framework for the strategic relationship between the Controller and CFO to deepen.

THE MISSING LINK: FINANCE TRANSFORMATION SUPPORT FOR ROUTINE ACCOUNTING

The need for consistent and reliable audit-ready financials is an established imperative, but whats not been defined well among organizations nor established, support-wise, by vendor partners is a finance transformation framework for Controllers. Controllers direct the preparation of financial reports, such as income statements, balance sheets, and analyses of future earnings or expenses, that summarize and forecast the organizations financial position. Controllers also are in charge of preparing special reports required by regulatory authorities. Often, controllers oversee the accounting, audit, and budget departments. So to achieve finance transformation for routine accounting, an enterprise will have to address three parts:

* Finance Support and Expertise
* Technology Solutions and Infrastructure
* Best Practices Framework for Improved Business Processes

These three parts are crucial to deliver different elements of support to the Controller, as shown in Figure 1. Finance staff is needed to deliver accounting expertise for everyday issues like expense and revenue accounting, cash management and tax preparations support. Technology solutions provide avenues (e.g., Software-as-a-Service, cloud computing configurations) for real-time access to data and financial information across business units. Finally, improved best practices and workflow frameworks support solid business process improvement for accounting, financial reporting and internal control, among other finance processes.

As important as this formula is to elevate the Controller and transform finance it is not easy to achieve. For many enterprises, these three elements that address people, IT and business processes are not best served via a traditional ERP approach. The buy-install-maintain software cycle is unfortunately still a large part of many job descriptions for Controllers and leading the integrations of new ERP systems can turn talented financial talent into second rate-IT personnel. To avoid this problem, enterprises need to look beyond traditional ways to help the controller achieve a big-picture view of finance. Therefore what is now needed for enterprises that cannot afford or dont want to allocate time and personnel to the black hole of standard ERP is a new approach and model.

What have emerged from this inefficient scenario are new IT solutions that are in turn creating new IT markets. Vendors, such as Corefino, have created unique offerings to not only address Controller issues but that resonate favorably with CFOs who are looking to achieve finance transformation.

By offering a hybrid IT solution-service approach to clients, Corefino directly speaks to Controllers and CFOs to remove problems from their overflowing plates of responsibility. This new type of finance model offers the professional expertise of business process outsourcing with the latest IT solutions for cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service, which addresses immediate controller needs but also broader financial goals. This type of support is crucial for a finance transformation that will create a more strategic position for finance as well as the individual roles of the Controller and the CFO.

Finance Transformation and Routine Accounting: Enabling the Corporate Controllers Role as a Strategic Contributor

Enabling the Corporate Controllers Role as a Strategic Contributor

Throughout the history of accounting, the first role of the Corporate Controller has been ensuring corporate financial controls and, as a very distant second, making strategic business contributions. That gap widened mightily near the end of the 20th century. The installation of on-premise ERP and accounting software corralled even the most business-minded controllers into the demanding role of financial software aficionado, or at the very least, caretaker.

Today, when controllers arent installing, adjusting, or adding to their software deployments, they are mentoring and monitoring their on-premise staffs to coax needed reports out of these systems. The goal, of course, is to facilitate operations to close the books, produce audit-ready reports and be ready to deliver whatever numbers their CFOs, CEOs or auditors want whenever they want them.

With so many responsibilities to address, finance transformation (the process of realigning and streamlining finance functions) for routine accounting would be logically a top priority for controllers. However, guidance and practical strategies to achieve finance transformation has been sorely lacking.

In fact, many finance stakeholders and related parties -- CFOs, accountants, auditors, service providers, consultants, and software vendors -- recognize the value in enterprise finance transformation, but the infrastructure/methodologies just havent been there in an economically viable way. Today there are now practical options coming from a new breed of vendor which enable finance transformation and, in the process, can help elevate the role of controller to strategic enterprise contributor.
WHAT FINANCE TRANSFORMATION ACCOMPLISHES AND HOW TO GET THERE

Efficient and cost-effective finance processes that are dependable, risk adverse and consistent are always necessary for an enterprise to truly thrive. But in todays economy, with mounting pressure for performance improvements, finance transformation is even more of an imperative for all businesses. The process of finance transformation is distinct for each enterprise. What will remain constant are the major elements that are a combination of redefined business processes, supplemental professional services, and IT solutions that support and define a transformed finance landscape. The perfect combination of elements in a successful finance transformation will accomplish three main goals:

* Optimize the financial business processes of an enterprise
* Create a framework to lower the total cost of finance processes
* Increase marketplace competitiveness of an enterprise

From a broader financial perspective, finance transformation addresses various issues, such as maintaining stability during non-routine business periods (e.g., mergers, divestitures, down economic cycles); addressing talent shortages; assuring internal stakeholders, such as the CEO and CFO, that regulatory and financial processes are defensible; and/or delivering more insightful data environment for financial decision making.

However, the one missing link in most finance transformation models is providing the Corporate Controller with a fresh approach to less time-intensive, people-heavy paradigms for delivering routine accounting information.
Addressing the Controllers Needs in Finance Transformation

To make a finance transformation project valuable to the Controller as well as other financial stakeholders (such as the CFO or accounting personnel) basic tactical requirements and problems must be addressed. Processes and solutions included in the finance transformation project must include those that impact the role of Controller such as:

* Monthly and annual financial reporting
* Financial regulatory and compliance issues
* Tax planning and annual audits
* Global tax compliance
* Financial planning and analysis (e.g., budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis)
* Internal controls and corporate governance

Many enterprises that have not undergone finance transformation still depend solely on basic ERP systems to supply the Controller with data and controls to address these issues. This is regardless of whether the ERP system can support budgeting, tax processes, internal controls or any of the crucial elements that falls under the controller responsibility umbrella.