Activities of finance professionals

Question 1

What is data ?

Answer 1

Raw, unprocessed facts and figures

OR

Numbers, words, letters, symbols, raw facts,events and transactions that are recorded but not yet processed into a form that is suitable for making decisions

Question 2

What is financial data ?

Answer 2

Standard metrics tracked and best understood by the organization

Question 3

What is enterprise data ?

Answer 3

Financial data plus broad, operational and transactional data that bolsters analysis and forecasting

Question 4

What is Big data ?

Answer 4

An emerging technology that has implications across all business departments. It involves the collection and analysis of large amounts of data to find trends, understand customer needs and help organizations focus on resources more effectively

Question 5

Where does Big data have a role to play ?

Answer 5

Information Management

Question 6

What is formal data collection?

Answer 6

Collection of data that happens when an organization needs specific data to fulfill a particular purpose

Question 7

What is informal data collection?

Answer 7

Collection of data that happens always

Question 8

What are the different sources of data ?

Answer 8

•Internal data : Accounting records, Human resources, Production data, Sales and marketing data, timesheets and etc

•External data : The public

Question 9

What does it cost for the assembling of information?

Answer 9

• purchase of tech
• equipment housing and testing
• operating costs

Question 10

For cost not to exceed the value ?

Answer 10

• saleable intrinsic value
• Could create a competitive advantage
• Cost control and reduction
• Corporate decision-making
• Strategy

Question 11

What is information?

Answer 11

Data that has been processed in a way that it is meaningful for planning and decision-making

Question 12

Technology ?

Answer 12

• plays an important role in capturing this type of information
• can collect data more effectively and efficiently
• is an opportunity that frees up time to concentrate on creating and preserving organizational value

Question 13

What is data cleaning?

Answer 13

A process which identifies inaccuracies or irrelevant data nd modifying or deleting it as appropriate

Question 14

What are the methods of data cleaning ?

Answer 14

• cross-checking raw data with validated data to identify data sets that require cleansing
• manual checks and corrections to database fields by humans
• automated batch processing or scripting processes by computer
• Data wrangling (converting data from 1 form to another form to use in a different syste)

Question 15

What is data connection?

Answer 15

Connecting different sources if data

~ each piece of the data is part of the organization’s story and is interrelated to every other piece of data in some way

Question 16

What is data analysis?

Answer 16

The process of evaluating data by comparison against benchmarks or yardsticks to form some sort of finding or conclusion

Question 17

What are insights ?

Answer 17

Indicators of the drivers of value for the organization

Question 18

What do insights enable ?

Answer 18

Insights enable advice to be provided that can influence potential business solutions and subsequently impact business decisions

Question 19

What is the role of data analysis?

Answer 19

To “report the facts”

• however, when finance professionals report insights they go further by exploring the reasons why the organization’s performance was as reported, what is happening now and what might happen in the future
  Reporting ➡️ Analysis ➡️ Monitoring ➡️ Prediction

Question 20

What are stakeholders ?

Answer 20

People or groups who have an interest or stake at the organization

Question 21

What is used to manage stakeholders ?

Answer 21

Mendelows matrix shareholder mapping (check notes for diagram)

Question 22

What are the factors that effective communication with stakeholders is based on ?

Answer 22

• Audience : target for communication, varying information needs

• Frequency : How often; use of tracking, analysis and apps to feed the communication needs of stakeholders

• Format : How and where should communication be delivered; one channel email ?, blogs, sms, formal reports, FaceTime, tele-video conferencing etc.

Question 23

Business partnering ?

Answer 23

The 2023 CGMA report “from insight to impact- unlocking opportunities in big data” proposes a very close partnership with :

• The IT function : primary data captures
• Data scientists : They perform advanced data analysis
• Business leaders : They turn ideas and insights into concrete actions

Question 24

What can the finance function achieve through partnering with others across the organization ?

Answer 24

• It is able to cascade the value creation focus to local-level planning, decision-making and ongoing performance management in business units
• It also receives help to deploy major initiatives and solutions by engaging in change management, strategy implementation and project management; in addition to ongoing risk management, process management and performance management

Question 25

What are the business partnering skills ?

Answer 25

• In effective business partnering relationships: ~empathy with business; ~compelling communication; ~ readiness to challenge
• In contributing insights into drivers of cost, risk and value : ~passion for business; ~Commercial curiosity; ~ professional objectivity
• In the Ability to integrate, apply and communicate : ~ business understanding; ~Analytical skills; ~Accounting skills

Question 26

What are the requirements of leadership support for decision implementation?

Answer 26

• understand data sources and analytical techniques
• Understand business operations
• Communication skills
• Good working relationships
• Leadership skills

(Check notes for the desired supports for impactful decisions)