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Finance Business Partnering

The ability of Finance to provide the insight needed for better decision-making is rapidly becoming a comparative advantage. This is especially the case for the many companies trying to achieve profitable growth in difficult markets. However, in many organisations Finance does not deliver the insight required to drive better performance.

Less than the sum of the parts

This Finance Insight report investigates the challenges and opportunities faced by CFOs in relation to Decision Support and Business Partnering. It has analysed the responses of 75 senior Finance executives from UK headquartered organisations.

Key findings include:

  • In over half of organisations, insight produced by Business Partners is not consistently used in decision-making
  • Requests from the business are typically prioritised based on the need to meet/exceed their expectations
  • Demand for Business Partnering activities increased between 2012 and 2014
  • On average a quarter of Finance’s total capacity is spent delivering Business Partnering activities
  • Forty-two per cent of Finance functions provide data in significant detail but with limited context
  • Only five per cent of respondents have clearly defined, applied and communicated Business Partner roles

Finance Business Partnering - Less than the sum of the parts

Changing the focus

Deloitte asked senior Finance executives to complete an online survey on the subject of Finance Business Partnering. This information, collected in August 2012, has been analysed in aggregate and forms the basis of this report.

Finance Business Partnering - Changing the focus

In over half of organisations, insight produced by Business Partners is not consistently used in decision-making.
Source: Deloitte research, 2014

Only five per cent of respondents have clearly defined, applied and communicated Business Partner roles.
 

Source: Deloitte research, 2014

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