10 Lessons

From High-Value
Finance Teams
Finance Must Deliver on a Dual Mandate:
Governance and Guidance

Governance Guidance
Policy Enforcer Service Provider Operations Decision Enterprise Decision
Support Partners Support Partners
■■ Accounting ■■ Management Reporting
■■ Auditing ■■ Budgeting ■■ Capital Budgeting ■■ Business Development
■■ Statutory Reporting ■■ Forecasting ■■ Risk Management ■■ Competitor Analysis
■■ Cash Management ■■ Enterprise Planning ■■ P&L Analysis ■■ M&A Support
■■ Policy Formulation ■■ Customer Profitability ■■ Pricing Strategy
and Documentation Analysis Planning ■■ Product Development

Finance Function Maturity

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2020 Will Bring Greater Demands for
Governance and Guidance Support
Trends Impacting Requirements on Finance in 2020
Illustrative
Governance Requirements

Guidance Requirements

Regulatory Shifts Budget Expectations

89% of executives today are worried
about corporate regulation in light of
regulatory shifts.
Base Erosion and Profit Shifting
Legal entity ledger consolidation
will be required by a number of
jurisdictions.
Greater Data Volumes
According to estimates,
New Analysis and New the volume of business
Customers data worldwide doubles
83% of finance executives every 1.2 years.
Pressure for Low-Cost Growth expect the scope of finance
Flat revenue and continued margin analytics to significantly
compression will place a burden on increase by 2020 given the
finance functions to better manage growth in corporate matrices
costs and direct capital to the right and international operations.
growth opportunities.

Flat Budget Expectations

Finance executives expect absolute
budgets to grow at only 2.4%.

2000 2005 2010 2015

Source: Gartner

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For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.
High-Value Finance Teams Excel at Both Governance and Guidance

Our Finance Performance Benchmarks define

a high-value finance team as one that:

About Finance Performance

Benchmarks
■■  argeted benchmarks across 825+ peer companies
T
for 18 distinct finance activities and processes
Actively advises Supports major
■■  ata on spend, head count, structure and
D
key decision makers investment-related
performance that you can trust
in the business decisions
■■  ctionable reports support functional strategy,
A
resource planning and efficiency gains

Is trusted and respected  oasts few finance-related

B
by business partners compliance errors and
internal control deficiencies

© 2018 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.
10 Lessons From High-Value Finance Teams

1.
You don’t need to spend more to be a high-value finance
team. Instead, carefully allocate resources across the
department, and find opportunities to consolidate, streamline
and automate processes.
6.
Work with the business to design management reports
that align with key decision needs and contain more insight
about business drivers.

7.
2. Scope analysis upfront with business partners to avoid
Allocate more resources to forecasting, analytics and rework and drive higher satisfaction with the business.
internal reporting, and less on activities like budgeting,
planning and accounts payable/receivable.
8.
3. Reduce analytical errors to improve reporting and decision
making.
 ake a regional approach to tailor support and avoid
T
“overstretching” shared services.
9.
4. Engage staff with compelling careers to retain more
knowledge and process rigor.
Use centers of excellence to drive better analysis and free up
resources.
10.
5. Improve financial acumen of business partners to lessen
customized reporting and rework.
 ut metrics, not reports. Focus less on the number of reports
C
generated and more on KPI selection.

© 2018 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.
Rewards Reaped by High-Value Finance Teams

1. 6.
Cost 7% less than their peers (averaging .92% of revenue). Produce half as many management reports that are deemed
“not useful” by business partners.

2.
Spend significantly more on forecasting, analytics and internal 7.
reporting, and significantly less on transactional activities. Complete half as much rework on reporting and analysis
provided to the business.

3.
 se more shared-service centers than their peers but perform
U 8.
fewer activities within shared services.  enerate 2.6x fewer technical and 1.5x fewer judgment-based
G
errors in their reporting and analysis.

4.
Conduct 1.6x more analysis through a COE (Center of Excellence). 9.
Retain 19% more of their staff and still have healthy turnover.

5.
 rovide 1.7x more reports to the business each quarter but report
P 10.
on 2.7x fewer metrics in the average report. Support business partners that have 4x higher financial acumen.

© 2018 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.
We Can Help You Grow Into a High-Value Finance Team

Participate in our Finance Performance Benchmarks to break Take the Management Reporting Effectiveness Diagnostic
down your finance spend and head count by activity and spot to rationalize report metrics by screening for relevance and
areas of over- and under-investment. actionability.

Attend a live or virtual event to stay ahead of new, emerging Leverage our finance talent best practices and insights
growth opportunities and learn winning growth investment to define or reposition the employee value proposition.
strategies.

 elect and secure value from your finance technology

S
 se our open-source learning portal Finance Knowledge Hub
U investments with our expert advice and insight in finance
to develop finance employees’ analytical skills and business technology, now including Gartner Magic Quadrants, Critical
partners’ financial acumen. Capabilities, Market Guides and Hype Cycles.

 eploy the Business Alignment Tool to capture insightful

D
business partner feedback.

© 2018 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.
 About Gartner
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading
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of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with
indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve
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Our unmatched combination of expert-led,
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steers clients toward the right decisions on the
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and an objective resource for more than 15,000
organizations in more than 100 countries — across all
major functions, in every industry and enterprise size.
To learn more about how we help decision makers
fuel the future of business, visit gartner.com.

Contact us to learn more:

1 800 213 4848
gartner.com/go/finance
financeleaders@gartner.com

© 2018 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.