Winning CFOs: Implementing and Applying Better Practices, with Website

Part II: Areas to Focus on Once Core Gains Have Been Achieved

The better practices in Part One, if implemented, will free up time so Part Two initiatives can be attempted successfully.

The main goals worth achieving in this part are:

Goal	Reason
1. Commence the selling process to throw out your annual planning and associated monthly budget cycle.	This is an important sale—ensure you use public relations advice to maximize the sale. Remember, you need to use emotional drivers rather than logic and reason.
2. Commence the process to purchase a planning and forecasting tool and begin quarterly rolling forecasting.	This project has a six-month time frame and thus you need to start now.
3. Plan to cease using monthly budgets from the annual planning cycle; instead use the forecast from the most recent quarterly rolling forecast.	This assumes goal 1 has been scored and goal 2 is on its way.
4. Commence the investigation into your organization’s critical success factors (CSFs).	Again, this is a big sale; once the senior management team is on board, this project will have a profound impact on the organization.
5. Implement winning key performance indicators (KPIs) throughout the organization.	KPIs are the only thing that links day- to-day activities to the organization’s strategic objectives. Enough said!
6. Place a ban on Excel spreadsheets in all daily, weekly, and monthly routines within the finance function.	This will improve the reliability of these routines.
7. Maximize the use of the general ledger ...