- Publish Date: Posted over 9 years ago
- Author:by Laura Paterson
The Balancing Act of a UK Finance Director – the Fulcrum of a Successful Business
Business transformation and recession recovery have catapulted the finance director from ‘bean counter’ to strategic business leader. In this blog, we have spoken to a cross-section of finance directors to garner their thoughts on the daily challenges they face and understand what it is really like to be an FD in today’s market.Typical days are atypicalChris Filer, UK finance director at Kao Brands, explains that the typical day, is in fact, atypical. “Frequently your plan for the week disappears by 9.30am… there are no standard days.” The variability of what he can get involved in is one of the highlights of his role “you get to play in everyone else’s sandpits and either build them up or knock them down dependant on what is the right decision for the business.”The fact that there is no such thing as a typical day seems to be an overriding theme. Caroline Cookson, regional finance director at Brown Forman agreed that there is no standard daily routine in her role. “It will heavily depend on the current company strategy, how our brands are performing or even the time of year. In any typical day I could be doing anything from budgeting and forecasting, to developing my team, to chairing brand innovation meetings with senior marketing executives.”The balancing actAlthough the multifaceted and unpredictable nature of the finance director role means that it is exciting and rewarding, it also means there are many challenges to face. One common challenge expressed by the finance directors we spoke to was how to balance the pressures placed on them. Each business has its own agenda but with financials now at the forefront of strategy, the finance director is now the only person with all the answers.Ms Cookson highlighted her biggest challenge as keeping all internal stakeholders happy. “It is difficult to make an executive decision about what projects to keep, delay or drop whilst trying to keep both the senior management and brand teams happy”.Jey Jeyeratnam, international finance director at Orange Business Services agreed, stating in relation to cost control, one of the biggest challenges in his role was “getting business teams, who are focused on growth, to fully buy into the process of taking cost out”.The Finance Director acts as the fulcrumManaging their daily tasks and developing their finance teams whilst also managing key business decisions can prove difficult for today’s FD.Matthieu Plessis, CFO at Efront, identified the fast pace of the role as a key challenge, explaining that “keeping things moving fast whilst not losing control is difficult”.Paul Fowler, COO at Nicole Farhi, explains further “whilst you always have a priority list when certain things need doing, you never really know what is coming day to day. You can’t plan for accidents or emergencies, the finance director needs to be flexible and switch their time to where it’s most needed”.The finance director must intuitively know which tasks, projects or business initiatives should take president over others. With many projects having the same level of importance, this can be a tough balancing act. Much like a seesaw, the finance director acts as the fulcrum of the business, which by definition is a structure that acts as a hinge and support to allow movement to happen easily.If you have observed people on a seesaw, you may have noticed that the heavier person must sit closer to the fulcrum to allow things to happen. The finance director must intuitively position themselves closer to the more pressing issue to elevate a project’s importance whilst simultaneously lowering the priorities of others, in some cases removing them completely. To ensure an effective equilibrium is kept, the finance director must be flexible and able to adapt quickly and fundamentally make the right decisions to build and enforce a cohesive and successful strategy at the right time.Simple physics mean that a lot of pressure needs to be applied to the fulcrum in order for it to work, which makes difficult situations and tough decision making an integral part of the FD’s role.
Latest Blogs
View All Blogs
International Women's Day at Cedar
On International Women’s Day, it’s time to #Embraceequity Wednesday, 8th March, is International Women’s Day. This year, its emphasis is on equity, and specifically the need to understand the fund...
From goal-nets to goal-line technology… tackling the UK’s productivity puzzle
As we tiptoe into 2023, there is not a scintilla of doubt that the UK economy (and indeed that of much of the rest of the world) is not in a great place. The global pandemic, with its disastrous i...
Black History Month and the Art of Black Hair
“I joined Cedar in 2012, having previously worked for a much smaller company. At the time I joined, I was the only Afro-Caribbean person in the business, although in the decade I’ve been here ther...
“Show me the Money!!!”
As the UK teeters on the brink of the recession precipice, the most commonly used phrase Cedar’s recruitment consultants hear these days is, “What with everything that’s going on…”.A year ago, we w...
Britain's surprisingly diverse leadership battle
At Cedar, we're a diverse bunch, with diverse views, including our politics. But looking at the current Government, it seems we're at an inflection point for all parties.With the resignation of Bo...
London Pride
In June 1970, up to 20,000 people gathered for what was then called a Gay Liberation march in New York. Although the battle for gay rights in the USA can be traced back to the 1920s, this march was...
DE&I at Cedar – a work in progress
If you read our previous blog, ‘The Long March to Equality’, examining the rise of DE&I within recruitment, you may have been surprised, as we were, at how far the industry has come since the first...
The long march to equality
The oldest person who works at Cedar can remember when airlines advertised for male pilots and female air-hostesses. In Northern Ireland at that time, recruitment consultants used to draw up list...
Employers are getting very choosy… A review of the recently-qualified accountancy & finance jobs market
The recruitment market and the economy more generally have had a lot of exogenous shocks over the last few years is, I can say without fear of contradiction, an understatement. Yet, despite all th...
Square pegs, round holes…and the need for genuine tax expertise in your business
As you know, the government has an Office for Tax Simplification, set up by George Osborne after he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2010. Unfortunately, as a former tax director from Grant...
Recruitment as we move into Q4 – it’s a battlefield and a buyer’s market
Last year, as the full extent of the pandemic, became apparent, many economists said it would take a long time for the economy to recover. In April 2020, The Guardian reported that the EY Item Club...
What it takes to be a successful PE portfolio company CEO
Whilst there is not a one size fits all solution for what we see in successful PE portfolio company CEO’s we are able to see some clear trends when it comes this. Below we have attempted to answer...
How to Make Your CV Stand Out
Looking for your next finance role? The first step is getting your CV right. With such a small window in which to impress recruiters, it’s vital that you’re able to make your CV stand out from the ...
