How to meet top management reporting expectations?
[Pages:8]How to meet top management reporting expectations?
March 2016
Second line optional lorem ipsum B Subhead lorem ipsum, date quatueriure
Preface
Top management reporting is expected to drive decision making and strategy execution through providing transparency and early warning.
Results from our European survey show that expectations with regards to management reporting are changing.
Today's top managers are no longer satisfied with pure figures, they are also looking for insights which enable them to drive performance. They expect Finance to play a key role in the delivery of these insights and become a true business partner that is able to provide transparency and early warning, so as to better contribute to decision making and strategy execution.
In order to assess changing expectations, identify challenges and forecast trends in this domain, Deloitte performed a survey among more than 160 companies covering 8 industries & 15 countries with a clear focus on Belgium, Denmark, Germany & the Netherlands. Besides clearly showing the changing expectations towards top management reporting, the survey also highlighted the main challenges that will need to be met in order for the organization to deliver on these expectations.
This point of view aims at presenting the conclusions that we drew from the results of this survey and at providing you with food for thought on how to meet the identified challenges by presenting best practices in terms of reporting content, governance and systems.
UK 5%
Netherlands 17%
Denmark 34%
Belgium 15%
Other 7%
Germany 22%
2
10%
14% 15%
36% 25%
Financial Services Manufacturing Consumer Business & Transp. Life Sciences & Healthcare Other*
* Other include: Energy & Resources, Public Sector, TMT, Real Estate
Thirst for insight
The value of reporting is its relevance and support for the decision making process. A good insight will help to take the right decisions and to take them fast.
The survey highlights that top management expects the role of the finance function to evolve from providing pure financial information towards providing real insight based on an appropriate gathering and analysis of credible internal & external, finance & business information.
Need for more business information The survey reveals that today's reporting is very much focused on financial information, with about 45% of the reported information being related to the company's financials and financial ratios. However, top management expects its reports to go more and more beyond the pure financial information by significantly increasing the share of business related information over the next 3 years. This shift in content enables top managers to be better aware of the context and the main business drivers behind the financial results which is essential to steer decisions.
Need for more external information Besides the internal information that should be reported, top management also expects its reports to contain additional relevant information on the external environment which impacts the company's performance (e.g. related to customers or regions) in order to provide them with a comprehensive view of the business.
Share of information areas covered in Top Management Reporting
To be within 3 years time
Relative change 3 years time vs. current status
3% 7% 9% 10% 12%
27% 18%
Innovation Market Insights Strategic Initiatives Work force & talent Running projects / initiatives Financial ratios Others Company Financials
- 3% - 7% - 36%
87% 63% 55% 38% 6%
14%
Company Financials Financial ratios Market insight Strategic initiatives
Running projects / initiatives Work force & talent Innovation Others
Use of analysis views
To be within 3 years time
... functions / departments
71%
... legal entities
57%
... products
56%
... markets
46%
... customers
39%
... strategic initiatives
30%
... processes / value chain 20%
... others 6%
Relative change 3 years time vs. current status
Markets Customers Other Strategic initiatives Products Functional / departments Legal entities Processes / Value chain
115% 115% 112% 18% 1% - 6% - 41% - 68%
Strategic initiatives Surprisingly, the survey respondents did not identify reporting on strategic initiatives as one of their priorities for the next 3 years. However, all will agree that strategic initiatives are key for a company to achieve its objectives.
How to meet top management reporting expectations? 3
Delivering insight
To be relevant, reports need to be delivered at the right time with the appropriate information.
The survey reveals that only 24% of time is spent on analysis of reports and taking the necessary actions. The reason for this is that companies today still need to spend too much time on low value added activities, like creating reports.
The lack of time available for report analysis is a hurdle for Finance to provide real insight to the business.
Hence, it is crucial to increase time spent on analysis in order to meet top management expectations. The only way to do so without increasing the cost of reporting is to improve efficiency by reducing the time spent on report creation and quality assurance.
Based on the survey results, we were able to identify 3 levers that should help companies address this challenge.
1. Content flexibility Finance functions will need to find the right balance between standardized reports, that will be published at well defined moments of time and certified by finance reporting responsible, and non-standardized reports that will provide a detailed insight upon request of top management.
Flexibility will also enable the reporting to be more reactive to changing business environments, which about half of the respondents acknowledged to be struggling with.
Time spent on activities for management reporting
100% 50%
24% 20% 17%
39% 0%
Analyzing figures an acting upon them Creating ad-hoc reports Quality assurance Creating standard reports
Reporting reacts to a changing business environment
100%
35%
13% 50%
52% 0%
(Strongly) disagree Neutral (Strongly) agree
4
2. Effective governance Besides the issues related to the speed of delivery of the management reports and to their quality, over half of the respondents have delivery departments that need to deliver the same set of data several times. Hence, defining an appropriate governance model is crucial in order to optimize the time spent on report creation and to increase the quality of the reports produced.
An effective governance model should define clear roles and responsibilities in the production and analysis of the reports and find the right balance between centralized governance, which fosters the unity, harmonization, standardization, speed of delivery and quality of the reporting, and decentralized governance, which is favoring the flexibility described here above.
3. Systems The survey revealed that about half of the respondents still compile most of their reports manually, whereas automating the creation of the reports would benefit both the speed of delivery and the quality of the reported information. Indeed, manual report compilation increases the risk of errors linked to the human factor and fosters the emergence of various interpretations and definition of a given concept.
The implementation of a state of the art reporting system starts with the definition of a reporting data model, in which reporting dimensions and views will be clearly defined. Next, an assessment of the new data warehouse and available relevant reporting tools will be required. An appropriate tool will also enable you to leverage on transactional data to offer insightful & BI oriented information.
These recommendations are in line with the perception of the respondents on their main improvement areas. We can also observe that these improvement areas are mainly focused on the basics, namely delivering insightful information, regardless of the format, presentation quality and delivery date, which are likely to become the main improvement areas once the basics will have been implemented.
51% of the delivery departments have to deliver the same set of data several times
PercPeenrctaegnetaogfepoefoppeleopwlehowwhoerwe eurnesuatnisfiateidsfied withwtithhetshpeeespdeoefddoeflidverliyvearnydatnhdetqhueaqliutyaloitfy of theitrhTeoirpTMopanMaagneamgeenmteRnetpRoertpinogrti(nTgM(RT)M: R): SpeSepdeoefddoeflivdeerlyivery50%50%
QuaQlituyality54%54%
OuOruTrMTMR aRrearaeuatuotmoamtiactaicllayllgyegneenraetreadteadnadnndontot cocmopmilpeidlemd amnaunaullaylly
(St(rSotrnognlyg)lyd)isdaisgargeeree
484%8%
NeNueturatlral 202%0%
(St(rSotrnognlyg)lya)gargeeree 323%2%
Most frequently seen improvement areas:
Reporting processes (incl. governance)
Reporting content
72% 69%
Reporting systems
60%
Presentation quality
58%
Information quality
56%
Delivery date
41%
How to meet top management reporting expectations? 5
Find the right balance to maximize insights for your Top Management
What
Who
Finance
vs
Business
Perspec2ve
Do
your
stakeholders
require
business
perspec2ves
next
to
financial
details?
How
much
business
perspec:ve?
Internal
vs
External
Informa2on
Does
adding
external
informa2on
in
reports
trigger
new
insights
and
steer
decisions?
Centralized
vs
Decentralized
Governance
(Push
vs
Pull)
Would
centraliza:on
(e.g.
a
Repor:ng
Center
of
Excellence)
bring
a
lot
of
value
to
your
business?
Report
Standardiza2on
vs
Non-- standardized
reports
To
what
extent
do
reports
need
to
be
adjustable
to
a
changing
business
environment?
Transac2onal
Data
vs
Business
Intelligence
Driven
Can
insight
be
generated
from
transac2onal
data
or
should
BI
func2onali2es
be
used?
How
The Deloitte Reporting Framework
By activating the 3 levers previously discussed, namely content flexibility, governance & systems, the Deloitte reporting framework enables an organization to maximize insights from both its transactional & BI data. While the integration of a Center of Excellence (CoE) will offer the required centralization & uniformization through the organization, Finance Business Partners will analyze the reports and confront them with the reality of the business & the industry. Ideally, this will be coupled with Push & Pull capabilities, in order to tailor reports to Top Management needs & thirst for insights, and will be made available through various means (e.g.: mobile functionalities, dashboards).
6
Top Management
Mngt reports
Share standard reports
Insights & analysis
Finance Business Partners / CFO
Mngt reports
Request detailed reports
Standard reports
Decision Support CoE
Management Reporting,
Analytics, etc.
BI Data WH Data Mart
Transactional data
Shared Service Centre
General Ledger, AP/AR, etc.
ERP Others
Push info Pull info
How Deloitte can help
Deloitte can support organizations facing reporting challenges and assist defining these reporting balances, by offering tailor-made approaches, methodologies & tools. Related Deloitte offerings
Definition of the reporting strategy & implementation roadmap Design & implementation of a state-of-the-art Integrated Performance Management platform Optimization of the reporting processes, within a lean environment Definition of the reporting governance Design of the data model & information management Establishment of an industry benchmark
How to meet top management reporting expectations? 7
Contacts & contributors
Key contacts
Eric Callewaert Strategy & Operations Partner ercallewaert@ + 32 495 59 49 41
Key contributors
Melinda Str?bely Finance Transformation Senior consultant
Gauthier Moens Finance Transformation Consultant
Nicolas Van Houtryve Finance Transformation Partner nvanhoutryve@ +32 473 94 02 40
Arnaud Leplat Finance Transformation Consultant
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. Please see about for a more detailed description of DTTL and its member firms.
Deloitte provides audit, tax and legal, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and high-quality service to clients, delivering the insights they need to address their most complex business challenges. Deloitte has in the region of 200,000 professionals, all committed to becoming the standard of excellence.
This publication contains general information only, and none of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, its member firms, or their related entities (collectively, the "Deloitte Network") is, by means of this publication, rendering professional advice or services. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your finances or your business, you should consult a qualified professional adviser. No entity in the Deloitte Network shall be responsible for any loss whatsoever sustained by any person who relies on this publication.
? March 2016 Deloitte Belgium Designed and produced by the Creative Studio at Deloitte, Belgium.
3809
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
Related searches
- how to meet men without online dating
- how to improve time management skills
- how to meet someone without online dating
- how to meet customer needs
- how to remove remote management from ipad
- how to bypass remote management iphone
- how to unhide top toolbar
- how to remove top taskbar
- how to get into management consulting
- how to delete top sites
- how to be a management consultant
- how to clear top sites