Risk Management for CFOs - Part II of II
What does it take to create a strong governance and internal control environment?
What does it take to create a strong governance and internal control environment?
Have you ever read the story of Rumpelstiltskin? You know the one where under threat of death a young woman is forced to seek help to turn something fairly common like straw is into gold.
There are two types of accounting and finance professionals, those that ensure the appropriate controls and compliance are in place so that the numbers are accurate and consistent – let’s call this preserving value, and then there are those who are coming out from behind their desks, engaging with the business on meaningful problems, solving them, being a trusted sparring partner and financial mentor – let’s call this creating and capturing more value.So what’s stopping us from being both?
In today’s business environment, talent is the major differentiator. And developing and retaining that talent is one of the most significant drivers of employee engagement… which in turn is the key to critical business outcomes like revenue, profitability, innovation, productivity, customer loyalty, quality, and cycle time.
Consider these two scenarios:
Scenario A: A seller and buyer are really excited to move a sale along. Some information is shared, a letter of intent is signed, and then the buyer along with their lenders, lawyers and other advisors start asking for more detailed information – this is the confirmatory “due diligence” process.
As the seller starts pulling data together, they discover that a lot is actually outdated or even missing. Maybe some customer or supplier contracts have expired, quarterly tax filings have been missed, no one knows when the software was last upgraded, the employee handbook is outdated and so on.