Standard Chartered regional CFO for Africa and South Africa Jo-Ann Pohl
speaks during the Financial Shared Services forum organised by the
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in collaboration
with Standard Chartered Bank, Deloitte and PwC at the Kempinski Hotel in
Nairobi on March 30, 2015. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Chief finance officers are spending much of their time doing routine work instead of strategy.
According
to Deloitte partner John Kiarie, high-volume transactions that consume
much of their time can be detrimental to a company’s growth as little or
no time is left for officers to help in decision-making and to
strategise on the future growth of their employers.
“What
ought to be done is to invert that pyramid. CFOs ought to spend a lot
more time shaping decisions, strategy and the way value is delivered by
businesses in aspects such as growth or consolidation,” Mr Kiarie said
on Monday during an industry meeting on shared services in Nairobi.
The
Financial Shared Services forum, which brought together chief finance
officers, was organised by the Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants (ACCA) in collaboration with Standard Chartered Bank,
Deloitte and PwC.
Shared services is a cost-effective
way of consolidating business operations by multiple units of the same
organisation with the aim of eliminating redundancies.
Finance
experts say this concept has a positive impact on countries’ economies
as it supports export promotion of services that drive foreign exchange
inflows and encouraging competitiveness of firms in a unified world.
“As
businesses operate regionally and as they become conglomerates and
operate in more sectors of the economy, you cannot afford to leave the
strategy of shared services as a CFO,” Mr Kiarie noted.
According
to ACCA’s country head Anthony Kariuki, cities the world over are
increasingly becoming hubs for shared services with an emphasis on their
comparative advantages.
No comments :
Post a Comment