Comparison of Six Sigma and Total Quality Management
Both Six Sigma and Total Quality Management are effective tools for quality management but a thin line of difference does exist between them. Although the methodologies and procedures involved in both the two appear quite similar but there are certain major differences. Six-Sigma is a relatively newer concept than Total Quality Management but not exactly […]
Continuous Improvement and Business Process Re-Engineering
Polar opposite to the concept of Business Process Re-Engineering is the concept of continuous improvement. It was developed by the Japanese after World War-2. Whilst BPR relies on radical change, lean management relies on small incremental change. It stems from Japanese term called “Kaizen” which means small improvement. The concept relies on successive small improvements […]
Importance of Critical Thinking in the Age of (Mis)-Information
Information Overload can Drown Us We are literally and metaphorically drowning in information. From the time we wake up and check WhatsApp messages to the time we login to Facebook and Twitter or Google News, we are bombarded with an excess of information and data from multiple sources that can leave us drained and confused […]
Advantages and Workings of DBMS
DBMS today enjoys one of the most important positions when whole IT Structure of an organization is kept into perspective. For us to know and understand how this position was achieved over the years, we need to look into the advantages this software provides to an organization. Redundancy Control: A data which is stored multiple […]
Project Control and Engineering Change Control in ERP
Project control module is used for organizing long term projects such as building a ship or power plant. The production environment resembles make to order situation where customer order driven purchasing, production, estimating, engineering, planning and control is done. This module also enables in setting up, analyzing and amending the budget for the project undertaken […]
For an organization to succeed in the global and competitive world, it needs to have a robust strategic plan in place. The strategic plan is made of several definite targets it aspires to achieve. Some of the targets are internal (Productivity improvement, sound finance discipline, etc.) as well as external (EPS, Stockholder value, etc.). Therefore, organizations strategic consist of long-term planning, organizational development, treasury management and value management.
Financial planning and forecasting are integral part of strategic finance. Organization needs to develop strategic finance tools, which can take into account scenario analysis as well as modeling capabilities. A strategic finance tool should help in quickly developing finance models and evaluate various financial scenarios. These financial scenarios can suggest sophisticated debt and capital structure management. Strategic finance tools should be connected to enterprise performance management tools as well as other databases. A strategic finance tool should provide a convincing finance solution which further can be used to set internal targets, perform financial analysis and provide data to perform informed decision making.
Organization requires a robust and flexible finance tool to analyze ever evolving financial and business market. The finance tool should be capable of doing what-if scenario modeling. It should also allow development of finance models, which can be used to carry our impact analysis based on dynamic variables and reach targets, which can be assigned to other departments.
At present, most of the finance modeling is done through spreadsheets. However, these spreadsheets are somewhat difficult to manage, lack data integrity and do not integrate with other aspects of finance modeling like strategic planning and treasury.
Strategic finance module helps the organization in the sensitivity analysis as well as what if analysis allowing to gain deeper understanding of various strategic scenarios and develop business intelligence. Since the strategic finance tool is integrated with other business modules all possible disconnect between strategic targets, and operational plans are analyzed.
Finance modeling provides insight into impact of strategic decisions on company’s bottom line, cash flow, balance sheet and shareholder value. Strategic finance module provides the bridge between finance modeling and financial analysis. Its gives flexibility in developing finance models and measure impact on financial statements. Strategic finance modules have an in-built finance model which saves time from designing and developing spreadsheet based models. Finance modeling tools' users need not be trained in writing complex logic statements. The finance tool provides users flexibility of adding as many complexities as required. The finance tool provides users to invest more time in doing analysis and developing alternate strategies rather spending time in validating data.
Any strategic finance decision has a direct impact on cash flow of the company. In turn cash flow impacts the balance sheet, hence financial performance within the company. The strategic finance tool connects finance decision-making process to working capital management to capital structure to taxation. This connection adds value to organization and reduces overall cost of capital.
A strategic finance tool also has a consolidation module which provides the total view to decision makers.
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Communication Systems and Groupware – Information System Concepts that Apply in All Functional Areas of Business
February 12, 2025
