In a world where businesses are feeling increasingly vulnerable about the commercial and financial risks they’re exposed to, the requirements of finance professionals are rapidly changing. Conventional finance roles used to focus on historical numbers and be reactive, but the industry now demands individuals who can look forward, provide strategic insights and drive performance.
With a more proactive input required, the finance “business partner” has become a buzzword and a sought-after role among finance professionals. What exactly does the position entail and what skills do you need to excel at it?
Simply put, business partners in finance are accountants who interact closely with other departments within an organisation. You may think this applies to a number of roles in the finance function and to a certain extent you’d be right. There often isn’t a single advertised “business partner” position, though many jobs will have business partnering elements.
Business partners provide real-time support and analysis, are a trusted advisor and add value when it comes to decision-making. The roles are varied and can include anything from improving cost management to identifying new revenue opportunities through trend analysis. Responsibilities typically include:
A combination of analytical, commercial and communication skills are at the heart of successful finance business partnering. The following skills go a long way:
A major part of your role will involve communicating with a non-finance audience, so you need to be able to do this in a concise, relevant and effective manner. Not everybody thinks numerically so it is important to be able to relay information in the broadest way possible so that audiences remain engaged.
Finance affects every business area, so you must forge strong relationships with everyone in the organisation. Your day-to-day role can include anything from presenting to key stakeholders or demonstrating how your financial data ties into business objectives to the CEO to working with the sales team on key accounts or helping the marketing department prioritise their advertising spend.
In an increasingly fast-paced and changing world, a good finance business partner embraces change and knows how to drive it, continuously looking at ways of improving business processes and productivity.
Implementing change can be difficult from an IT perspective to employee resistance, so the challenge necessitates determination.
As an integral part of the business, you will often juggle multiple projects simultaneously. From ad-hoc requests and projects to your usual business deliverables, an ability to prioritise is a must.
In recent years, advances in technology, the proliferation of big data, and underlying market conditions have elevated the finance function to become the strategic heartbeat of any business. The role of finance teams has grown, and as such, the skills sets of commercial accountants have widened significantly. They are now expected to have a key, active role in strategic, commercial decision-making that will have a genuine impact on an organisation.
The strategy element has brought a whole sub-set of business management and commercially focused skills required, to complement the core accounting and finance knowledge any commercial accountant should already have. Below, we look at some of the key areas where any candidate will need to excel if they have what it takes to become a top commercial accountant.
These soft skills will be underpinned by strength in a number of key areas where judgement and problem solving skills will also come into play. We are currently seeing demand in:
The commercial aspect of the role means that a broad knowledge of current market conditions, as well as the company’s sector and competitors’ performance are valuable. Analysing data and modelling solutions have limited value if they have no frame of reference to those outside of the finance team. Being able to add context to results positions the commercial accountant as a key player in the future of any organisation.
