The World without Bankruptcy Laws
Bankruptcy is one of the natural states which a company may find itself in. Entrepreneurship is primarily about taking risks. When companies take risks, some of them succeed, whereas others fail. Hence failure is a natural part of the business. However, many critics of bankruptcy laws believe that there isn’t a need for an elaborate […]
The Wirecard and Infosys Scandals are a Lesson on How NOT to Treat Whistleblowers
What is the Wirecard Scandal all about and Why it is a Wakeup Call for Whistleblowers Anyone who has been following financial and business news over the last couple of years would have heard about Wirecard, the embattled German payments firm that had to file for bankruptcy after serious and humungous frauds were uncovered leading […]
Why the Digital Age Demands Decision Makers to be Like Elite Marines and Zen Monks
How Modern Decision Makers Have to Confront Present Shock and Information Overload We live in times when Information Overload is getting the better of cognitive abilities to absorb and process the needed data and information to make informed decisions. In addition, the Digital Age has also engendered the Present Shock of Virality and Instant Gratification […]
Why Indian Firms Must Strive for Strategic Autonomy in Their Geoeconomic Strategies
Geopolitics, Economics, and Geoeconomics In the evolving global trading and economic system, firms and corporates are impacted as much by the economic policies of nations as they are by the geopolitical and foreign policies. In other words, any global firm wishing to do business in the international sphere has to be cognizant of both the […]
Why Government Should Not Invest Public Money in Sports Stadiums Used by Professional Franchises
In the previous article, we have already come across some of the reasons why the government should not encourage funding of stadiums that are to be used by private franchises. We have already seen that the entire mechanism of government funding ends up being a regressive tax on the citizens of a particular city who […]
In the modern global and competitive business world, it is very important to the companies to enjoy financial success. This financial success can be achieved through financial discipline, goal setting and periodic reviews. Companies which have enjoyed financial success are likely to see that trust among employees have increased; profit has improved, and employee turnover has decreased. These three factors contribute a lot to stability in company which in turn is the cradle for growth.
Finance intelligence is a combination of art as well as science. Finance intelligence talks about empowering employees with basic finance knowledge so that they can make a sound business decision. Finance intelligence is a skill set which every senior executive needs to have. Finance intelligence help employees’ right question for a business decision.
Finance intelligence is skill set comprising of the following four competencies; understanding the foundation, understanding the art, understanding the analysis and understanding the big picture. All the four competencies need to be put into practice and implemented for whole hearted success of finance intelligence. Finance is the business language recognized and used across all organizations. It is common denominator on which all the organizations are measured.
Organization needs to build on strong foundation for its non-finance manager to understand the concept of finance. The foundation requires basic understanding of income statement, cash flow and balance sheet. Non-finance managers should not be baffled when presented with an array of numbers. The purpose of finance intelligence is to ensure that when non-finance managers are presented numbers, they should be competent enough to make business sense out of them.
Finance as well as accounting is considered science and art. Both the discipline tries to quantify what cannot always be represented as numbers. This quantification of concept is based upon rules, assumption and principles. Non-finance managers should be able to apply this art/science to scenarios and make financial sense out of them. By doing this, they are prepared for any challenging scenarios.
Once the basic idea of finance and its utility is formulated, the application part comes from the picture. Numbers presented to non-finance managers can be better understood, right questions can be asked, and further analysis can be done around that. Finance intelligence equips managers to make sense of various ratio analyses, return on investment, etc. The new understanding helps them make informed and calculated decisions.
It has been observed that the financial numbers alone do not tell the complete story about what is happening within the organization. A financial result or analysis needs to be understood from top level or broader perspective. A financial result should be analyzed considering the macro environment under which the company is operating. The macro factors which influence financial results are competitive environment, government regulations, changing demographics, evolving technologies, etc.
Understanding the finance concepts and finance intelligence competency are first steps in gaining broader financial knowledge. It should prepare managers to look beyond the finance numbers with an analytic eye and make informed decisions.
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