Whilst some of us accountants and finance professionals may be quite robotic and machine-like when it comes to our jobs the majority of us still have been endowed with 5 senses, you know sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch. But when was the last time you used all of these to give better financial advice?…
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In relationships there’s an often clichéd break up phrase “It’s not you, it’s me” and this is partly true also in Finance when trying to influence decision makers for a couple reasons, otherwise we’ll end up with broken hearts. Firstly, we’re often trying to influence decision-makers in our own way and style, without trying to…
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A fellow finance professional asked me a couple weeks ago what are the key skills required to become a fantastic accountant, and rather focus on skills per se I suggested he focus on mastering 3 disciplines? So what are these three disciplines and how do they help you become a fantastic accountant and finance professional? Before jumping…
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In December 2017 I took a journey into the unknown as I’d launched the #SITN Strength in the Numbers Podcast to create more influential finance professionals who solve meaningful problems for their organisations and to have more fun & rewarding careers. A year later, having reached 115 episodes and 15k downloads/views a month, I have…
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Whilst there are still very few books out there on Finance Business Partnering and Finance Mentoring there are so many others available that detail the broader trends and business skills necessary to be a successful finance business partner. So where does an aspiring finance professionals begin their search for knowledge? Here are 5 books I…
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There are two types of accountant and finance professional, 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…
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In a survey from earlier this year 95% finance leaders said they experienced a skills-gap in the finance function, however telling finance professionals to change their behaviours alone is not going to address this gap. Think about it, how often are we hearing from leaders (and thinking in brackets): We need to be more commercial (Okay so what does…
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Often I see and hear finance professionals and finance leaders talking about ‘adding value’, but when they are asked to describe what that value is they find it difficult to articulate. They don’t have a simple way of looking at value and as a leader, some can’t help their teams think about genuine value as…
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The image is of Gougane Barra, a few miles from where I live in the southwest of Ireland, and it is also where many centuries ago monks went in secret to reflect on life. And similarly a listener of #SITN commented that I talk a lot about value creation on the guest mentor interviews and…
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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you’re well aware of the rate of change impacting many of our enterprises and industries. And, of the many jobs within these organisations one of them in particular has become much more demanding, the role of the CFO, who’s responsible for ensuring that the organisation they serve is…
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