This Simplicient Controlling blog will focus on the merger of the financial and operational KPI performance measurement. More exactly, on the pro’s and con’s of mixing the financial and non-financial indicators. In most companies’ practice, the various KPIs are often disconnected: whilst the Profit and Loss KPIs are firmly grounded in the financial department, the operational KPIs are often left […]
Category: Simplicient Controlling – advanced financial management
Simplicient Controlling 8 – Number-Cruncher or Sparring Partner?
Controllers are number crunchers – aren‘t they? A controller is the person who comes to you with a long table, filled with numbers, and uses a red pen to highlight differences. Unfortunately, not anymore. Business or sparring partner (a term used often in recruiting finance managers) means more than that. To be brutally honest, C-level managers rarely care how much […]
Simplicient Controlling 7 – The CFO Profile to Fall in Love With
Back in September 2014, doitinvest.com published a researched white paper on the perfect profile of a Chief Financial Officer (in Central & Eastern Europe). It was quite well received, so I decided to revisit the topic today in this blog post, with more general notes. After browsing several articles (see bottom for sources) on the CFO job profiles, I found […]
Simplicient Controlling 6 – Financial Performance Clearly Presented
How to clearly present your company’s financial performance? I am pretty sure that this question creates a lot of frustrations and discussions for various controllers, thus this short blog will offer a quick guidance on the practicalities. One of the typical controller’s tasks is to present to management the organization’s performance (financial and business wise). How does the finance manager […]
Simplicient Controlling 5 – Why Is Sales Analysis so Difficult?
Systemic sales analysis requires many skills: financial extrapolation know-how, business sector knowledge etc. A controller without time series regression analysis is regarded nowadays by CFOs with a bit of an eye brow raised – even if the CFOs themselves are not very comfortable with the topic. A recent sales analyst job description lists several eliminating requirements: – advanced MS Excel […]
Simplicient Controlling 4 – Advancing Your Education – MBA or Professional Qualification?
For sure, if a CFO wakes you up in the middle of the night and whispers som thing about further education, he talks about a top 100 MBA, right? After the last 5 years of turmoil, I am not so certain anymore. Yes, a top notch MBA opens the path to the corner office. Yes, you are exposed to hundreds […]
Simplicient Controlling 3 – Tech Skills for a Controller Still Relevant?
In its’ 2018 executive survey, AESC BlueSteps ranked the top 5 qualities that help global executives be successful (survey based). After “vision”, on a surprising place 2 came “technological mindset” – something that probably would not have made even the top 5 15-20 years ago. You (the finance controller / manager / CFO) might ask yourself: “What does this have […]