Blogging with The Captains Of Finance
Financial Monthly Closing Issues
The headaches: Typical pains that come with monthly closing
We don’t need to go into great detail here. For finance professionals, the toil of the monthly closing is all too real.
But ask any bookkeeper or financial controller what they hate most about closing, and you’re sure to get some mixture of the following:
- Monotonous, manual data entry
- Endless simple errors that cost everyone time
- Missing receipts and other necessary documents
- Unidentifiable payments (that really need to be identified)
- Duplicated line items that could even be fraudulent
- Predictable, basic questions from what feels like every member of staff.
These challenges affect the whole finance team, but especially those on the frontlines. And no matter how well-prepared you are, they seem to occur every single month.
But why?
The culprits: Key issues with the classic close process
The answer can’t simply be because closing just sucks. It often does, but this is usually the symptom of some serious flaws along the way.
Company executives blame slower financial closing times on a variety of factors. 40 percent of executives say it’s because of internal levels of review; 35 percent say it’s a growing need to identify and consolidate more detail for financial statements; and, 20 percent say it’s because more time is needed to check for errors.”
The good news: It’s never too late to change
If you’re intimately involved in the financial close process, all of the above will be painfully familiar. Most finance professionals have settled into the idea that this is just how it is.
You work hard to make small improvements, train your teammates as best you can, and take the small wins where you can get them.
But while it’s true that a bad carpenter blames their tools, a good jockey needs a great horse. World-class chefs need the best ingredients. Indiana Jones needs his hat.
So if you need some help? Why not share the closing experience with one of our motivated academists!
(source:blogspendjournal)
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Positieve Cashdrains
Simon - Academist Captains Of Finance
Simon Van Campen, Finance Officer bij Captains Of Finance heeft in zijn masterproef getest of CSR het kredietrisico van een Europees bedrijf beïnvloedt.
Om de CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) te meten van bedrijven krijgen bedrijven een ESG-score die wordt opgesteld aan de hand van deelscores die de performantie van het bedrijf meet op milieu- (Enivronmental-E), sociaal- (SocialS) en bestuur (Governance-G).
Om de relatie tussen ESG-scores en kredietrisico’s te testen werden multivariate modellen gebruikt en uiteindelijk zes modellen geschat.
Uit de resultaten blijkt dat zowel een hoge ESGcontroverses score als ESG-combined score het kredietrisico van Europese bedrijven vermindert.
Dit betekent dus dat het investeren in duurzaam ondernemen leidt tot een vermindering in het kredietrisico van Europese bedrijven.
Crisis invloed op aanbodzijde
Financiële crisissen, meer in het algemeen, recessies en economisch herstel, hebben in alle tijden en landen veel gemeen.
Recessies hebben voornamelijk invloed op de vraagzijde, terwijl de invloed op de aanbodzijde beperkter is.
Ditmaal is de crisis helemaal anders. De door een pandemie veroorzaakte recessie zal een langdurigere invloed hebben op de toewijzing van de budgetten van huishoudens, en zeker op het niveau van de uitgaven. Meer dan een normale recessie, heeft deze crisis grote gevolgen voor de aanbodzijde, door veranderingen in wereldwijde waardeketens, thuiswerken of de verstoring van de economie van bedrijven die geconfronteerd worden met een gedwongen capaciteitsvermindering als gevolg van social distancing.
We zien dus voor het eerst een globale wijziging in de vraag en het aanbod van nagenoeg alle markten zoals Joyce zeer terecht opmerkt.
Mutual Funds & Netflix
Meet Sofie, Captains of Finance Officer! Zij deed haar thesis rond Mutual funds meer specifiek rond de naamkeuze (woordcombinaties) en het verband met risk & return van Mutual funds. Sofie is gepassioneerd door de beurs. Ze haalt in dit filmpje het voorbeeld van Netflix aan waarbij die hun aantal abonnees met maar liefst 15,8 miljoen abonnees zagen stijgen tijdens Q1. 's Werelds grootste online betaaltelevisienetwerk profiteert ten volle van de coronapandemie en de lockdowns in tal van landen. Velen die thuiszitten, geven zich urenlang over aan series als 'Tiger King' of 'Love is Blind'.
Maar topman Reed Hastings waarschuwde tijdens een call met beleggers dat de sterke groei niet zal blijven duren. Netflix verwacht dat de opstoot in het eerste kwartaal tijdens de volgende maanden wat groei kan kosten. 'We denken dat het aantal nieuwe abonnees lager zal uitvallen' in het derde en vierde kwartaal, zei Hastings. Het aandeel Netflix, dat dit jaar al 34 procent was gestegen, verliest 2,55 procent.
Bron: De Tijd
Academy Traject
Het unieke van de Captains of Finance Academy
Al eens gedacht aan een gemotiveerde master met een financieel-economische opleiding …
… welke bovendien nog intensief gecoacht en opgeleid wordt door een team van financiële experten en people managers ?
Dan is The Captains’s Academy precies wat u zoekt.
Ons Academy traject biedt bedrijven de mogelijkheid om gedurende een voldoende lange periode samen te werken met een schoolverlater. Onze Academisten hebben een Masterdiploma in een financieel - economische richting en hebben aangegeven dat ze een carrière willen uitbouwen binnen finance. Op deze manier kan u uw organisatie tijdelijk versterken met hoogopgeleide en gemotiveerde consultants.
Captain’s Academisten zijn inzetbaar voor ondersteuning en uitbouw van uw finance afdeling.
Onze collega Koen is klaar voor zijn eerste opdracht.
Kredietverlening in tijden van crisis
Naarmate het langer duurt voordat de economie zich herstelt uit de coronacrisis, nemen de gevolgen voor banken toe, blijkt uit een pandemiestresstest. Het goede nieuws is dat de relatief hoge kapitaalratio’s banken in staat stellen dergelijke verliezen op te vangen zonder noemenswaardige gevolgen voor de kredietverlening.
Maar er zitten wel grenzen aan wat banken kunnen absorberen. Het zou daarom interessant zijn om de het onderzoek van Gaetan te herhalen om te bekijken op welke wijze de verschillende banken met deze uitzonderlijke situatie omgaan.
Toelichting
De economische crisis als gevolg van de coronapandemie raakt ook de financiële sector. Risico’s voor de financiële stabiliteit nemen toe naarmate de crisis langer duurt. Belangrijk verschil met de kredietcrisis van 2008/2009 is dat de oorzaak nu buiten de financiële sector ligt en dat de buffers bij banken aanzienlijk hoger zijn dan toen. Hierdoor zijn banken beter in staat de kredietverlening aan bedrijven en huishoudens op peil te houden.
We constateren dat de onzekerheid over de economische gevolgen van de pandemie nog ongekend groot is.
Financiële markten hebben zich hersteld na de eerste scherpe marktcorrectie, maar financieringscondities zijn nog steeds minder gunstig dan begin dit jaar. Het marktsentiment keerde na ingrijpen door overheden en centrale banken. Toch blijven markten onrustig. Ondanks het huidige optimisme zijn hernieuwde koersdalingen niet uitgesloten.
Banken worden geraakt, maar zijn door hogere buffers beter in staat de kredietverlening aan gezonde bedrijven op peil te houden. De winstgevendheid van banken – al onder druk door de lage rente – wordt wel verder aangetast door toenemende kredietverliezen, hogere financieringskosten en dalende inkomsten.
Ook verzekeraars en pensioenfondsen worden geraakt door de ontwikkelingen op financiële markten.
Bekijk de video
7 Tips Recruiters Look For In Your CV
Most business decisions are based on hard cold facts, and hiring decisions are no different. If an organisation is going to invest time and money into employing you; they will need to see evidence that you can perform.
By now we all know that clichés and buzzwords do nothing to impress recruiters, but many candidates still do not fully understand which facts are sought in a CV. When writing your role descriptions in particular; you should put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes and think about the evidence you would require to make an informed hiring decision. Including the following details in your CV’s role descriptions will provide clarity to recruiters and support the case for interviewing and eventually hiring you.
7 Tips right here
1. Your position in the hierarchy
If a hiring manager is going to bring you on board, then it’s crucial for them to understand where they can place you within their team. Whether you are sitting at the top of the pile and overseeing largescale operations; leading a small team or working independently with nobody under your management; you need to make your position clear. Be sure to describe who you report to, whether you manage anybody and which people are dependent on you.
2. Who you interact with
Human interaction plays a vital role in the running of any organisation, so hiring managers will need to be satisfied that you are comfortable dealing with people. Most jobs will require you to interact with a wide range of individuals, so your CV should demonstrate you are capable of this. Show exactly who you interact with from customers and suppliers to management and external regulators; to prove your business-social abilities. Evidence that you can build strong working relationships, and use them to create beneficial outcomes for your employers.
3. Technology expertise
Technology is used in every line of work; from computer based tools like programming languages and accountancy software, through to hardware such as production machinery and vehicles. Most roles will require some working knowledge of one or more tools, so employers will be keen to understand your ability to use their core systems and hardware. So whether you’re an expert coder or a sports car technician, it’s essential to detail the tools you are able to use and how you apply them within your roles.
4. Work Produced
The work that you produce will vary greatly depending on your industry. It could be anything from Excel reports or website pages, to physical products like mobile phones or even buildings. Whatever tangible work you produce within your own roles, include it within your CV and be clear on the volumes you have produced, quality of the work, and how valuable they are to your customers or internal dependents.
5. What your employer actually does
This may seem obvious, but a surprisingly few candidates include a sufficient explanation of their employers. Before you delve into the specifics of your roles, it’s important that the recruiter understands who you work for and what they do. Without building context around your role, it will be difficult for readers to fully understand your work. However the level of detail you need to include will vary depending on the organisation.
If you work for relatively small business, it’s less likely that recruiters will have heard of them; so you will need to provide a full explanation of the services they offer and markets they operate in. However if you work for a household brand then you will need to place more focus on describing the department you work in, and how it’s function contributes to the success of the wider business.
6. The objective of your roles
The most important aspect that recruiters will want to know about your previous jobs, is what were you hired to do? It’s all well and good writing a detailed list of your daily activities, meetings and presentations; but without outlining the high level purpose of your role, nobody will understand what all your hard work was for. Every role should start with a clear objective statement so that readers can comprehend the bigger picture of your duties.
7. Numbers
Recruiters will look for numbers in your CV as a means of quantifying your value to an employer. Figures can provide strong evidence of the return on investment that an employer can expect after hiring you. For example, if you can provide some statistics around revenue that you’ve generated for a firm, or the value of a project you have supported, they are a great way to demonstrate your value. But the figures do not always have to be monetary; you can include figures such as; percentages of targets achieved or time taken to deliver a piece of work.
By including some of the facts above in your own CV role descriptions, you will prove your worth to recruiters and greatly increase your chances of landing job interviews.
Source: Inc.com
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Time Management Experts' Best Schedule for Working Parents
It's not a perfect solution but it should get you 30 hours of concentrated work a week.
"In the Covid-19 economy, you can have a kid or a job. You can't have both," declared cookbook author Deb Perelmen in a recent, much circulated New York Times op-ed that perfectly captured the mounting despair of working parents during the pandemic.
Divide and conquer (or at least survive for now)
Time management expert Laura Vanderkam disagrees.
Not that Vanderkam, a mother herself and author of several successful books on time management, would probably disagree when Perelman writes of her fellow working parents, "every single person confesses burnout, despair, feeling like they are losing their minds, knowing in their guts that this is untenable."
Trying to balance a full-time job and full-time (or in the case of some school districts, half-time) childcare responsibilities is desperately difficult and unsustainable in the long-term. Typically it's even tougher if you're running a business. But Vanderkam recently told Business Insider that there is a schedule working parents can use to keep the juggle going for at least a little bit longer.
It should be noted before I get into the specifics of Vanderkam's recommended schedule that it only applies to some, relatively privileged parents. To implement it there needs to be two adults working at home who have at least reasonable flexibility to set their own hours. That definitely doesn't apply to everyone, and finding a remedy for business owners, essential workers and single parents is even trickier.
But if you're in the enviable position of having a partner to help you manage the kids, here's what Vanderkam recommends. First, give up on trying to simultaneously parent and be productive. It just isn't possible.
"If you have young kids, and want to work from home effectively, you cannot be the adult in charge during the hours you choose to work," she writes, leveling with parents. Instead, try to divide and conquer, splitting the day into A and B blocks so that each caregiver spends half the day wrangling kids and half the day getting something done professionally. She explains the details:
During half the weeks, party A works from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. window is "pure" focused time; the 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. window is probable time (when party A is "on" but this is understood to be screen/nap time). Party A also works from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.
Party B works the opposite hours: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday (with 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. being focused hours, and 1-3 p.m. being probable hours).
During half the weeks, the parties flip the Friday schedule, so party B works from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays and party A works 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
That may sound fairly complicated but it allows each responsible adult a solid (if not outstanding) 29 hours a week of focused work, as well as availability during normal work hours for meetings and other collaborative work.
Vanderkam offers several additional tips and caveats in the complete post. If you're thinking of giving it a try, check them out. But no matter how thoughtfully you divide your days, I still can't see this schedule working indefinitely (my five year old is watching Netflix on my iPad next to me as I type this) but it's at least a stopgap solution that might help some families keep from completely losing their minds.
Do you think this schedule could work for your family?
(Source: Jessica Stillman - Inc.com)