CFO Insights: Achieving High Performance Through Finance Business Process Outsourcing - Hardcover

Clements, Stewart; Donnellan, Michael; Read, Cedric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470870869 ISBN 13: 9780470870860

Publisher: Wiley, 2004

Synopsis

Many CFOs have led their companies to invest in ERP and shared services in order to create leaner, more global organization structures. Today, they seek more radical transformation through business process outsourcing (BPO). CFO Insights is a practical, comprehensive guide to this exciting, fast-growing field. It features expert advice from the CFOs of major companies worldwide, including BP, Procter & Gamble, Dell, and Exel. Step by step, it takes you through the stages of a successful outsourcing solution - from evaluating providers and contracting, through transition planning and risk management.

“We have seen cost reductions every year for each of the 13 years of our outsourcing experience – now, finally, we are seeing the outsourcing market mature. The advancement of multi-client centers will create new value. As new low cost centers spring up around the world I want to have easy access to the opportunities.”
―Ala n Eilles, CFO Downstream, BP

“Outsourcing is not about sitting still. On the one hand, as CFO, you have to be in control, and have the right control mechanisms in place. On the other, this is an evolving relationship where both parties feel empowered and energized to make a real difference in the business.”
―John Coghlan, Group Finance Director of Exel

“My view of the CFO’s role is relatively simple: How do you add value? The CFO has to be in the forefront in understanding, at a strategic level, the relative economics of different parts of the business model – and vitally play a decisive role in deciding what should be insourced and what should be outsourced.”
―Clayton Daley, CFO, Procter & Gamble

About this title

About the Author

Stewart Clements is president of Accenture Finance Solutions (AFS), Accenture's finance and accounting outsourcing business. In this role he is responsible for the business strategy; development of Accenture's delivery centre network; finance- and outsourcing-focused assets and tools; and the management and development of organisational capabilities. He has more than 18 years experience in finance change programs and finance outsourcing. Mr. Clements is a Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Accountancy from Glasgow University. Based in London, he has been with Accenture for nearly 20 years.

Michael Donnellan is a lead partner in Accenture's outsourcing and consulting business. He has more than 20 years' experience in the professional services industry. Mr. Donnellan has also worked extensively on the research, development and deployment of innovative operating models. An engineer by background, he has spent the last decade focusing on the new role of finance in the modern corporate enterprise. In 1997, he co-authored CFO: Architect of the Corporation's Future, which resulted in the adoption of new finance and accounting organisational models by numerous corporations around the world.

Cedric Read led the PricewaterhouseCoopers Finance Consulting Practice, where he was a finance strategy consultant for 25 years. During this time he advised hundreds of global CFOs, providing strategic consultancy to a range of large multinational companies including Unilever, Microsoft, Shell and GlaxoSmithKline. Through his company, CCR Partners, Mr. Read continues to develop his vision of finance's future. He is the lead author of three previous books: CFO: Architect of the Corporation's Future; eCFO: Sustaining Value in the New Corporation; and CFO as Business Integrator.

From the Back Cover

Alan Eilles
CFO Downstream, BP
"We have seen cost reductions every year for each of the 13 years of our outsourcing experience - now, finally, we are seeing the outsourcing market mature. The advancement of multi-client centres will create new value. As new low cost centres spring up around the world I want to have easy access to the opportunities."

John Coghlan
Group Finance Director of Exel
"Outsourcing is not about sitting still. On the one hand, as CFO, you have to be in control, and have the right control mechanisms in place. On the other, this is an evolving relationship where both parties feel empowered and energized to make a real difference in the business."

Clayton Daley
CFO, Procter & Gamble
"My view of the CFO's role is relatively simple: How do you add value? The CFO has to be in the forefront in understanding at a strategic level the relative economics of different parts of the business model - and vitally play a decisive role in deciding what should be insourced and what should be outsourced."

Ian Ailles, Group CFO
Thomas Cook UK
"Our outsource contract started with a very wide scope and we have held to it; we only retain in finance our analytics and commercial advisory functions. We have the flexibility to change the services outsourced as our business changes direction and now have the ability to finance investment."

Many CFOs have led their companies to invest in ERP and shared services in order to create leaner, more global organization structures. Today, they seek more radical transformation through business process outsourcing (BPO). CFO Insights is a practical, comprehensive guide to this exciting, fast-growing field. It features expert advice from the CFOs of major companies worldwide, including BP, Procter & Gamble, Dell, and Exel. Step by step, it takes you through the stages of a successful outsourcing solution - from evaluating providers and contracting, through transition planning and risk management.

From the Inside Flap

Outsourcing is rapidly emerging as a new business imperative. The decision for most CFOs is no longer whether to outsource, but when - and how. This can be one of the most demanding challenges a company faces. How do leading corporations decide where to start and how far to go? How are major stakeholders likely to react? What should you look for in a service provider?

A timely strategic guide to the fast-growing field of business process outsourcing (BPO), this book maps the outsourcing landscape fully and objectively. It explores the exciting opportunities that BPO offers for achieving:

• greater operational efficiency and flexibility
• increased control and transparency
• more accurate data and forecasting
• integrated financial solutions
• improved customer service
• high performance

Today, many leading-edge companies are using BPO not only to cut costs and improve efficiency, but as a path to enterprise-wide transformation. CFO Insights offers practical advice and strategies you can use to quickly harness this powerful tool to enhance your company's performance. The book features frontline CFO advice, original research, in-depth case studies, and best-practice data and analysis.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470870869
• ISBN 13: 9780470870860
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320