Client

A global insurance and asset management company asked us to help them achieve several objectives within the finance department. These included reducing costs, centralising finance functions from various UK and European sites to one UK site, implementing a new group reporting tool, reducing the lead time of the financial reporting period and significantly improving the quality of results.

Challenge

The client’s finance team role is to undertake complex and meticulous investigations and analyses. This combined with the team’s concentrated workload during the reporting period and an understandable resistance to change meant we needed to overcome significant hurdles to implement the required new initiatives.

Approach

Collaborating with stakeholders

  • From the outset, we adopted a collaborative approach working with all stakeholders and ensuring they were informed and aligned with all proposed changes.

Laying down solid foundations

To successfully embed the various initiatives within the team, we took the following steps:

  • Introduced operations management principles and tools.
  • Engaged the full finance team in continuous improvement.
  • Provided Lean/CI training to managers, team leaders and team members.
  • Delivered bespoke workstream presentations to individual teams.
  • Introduced a Finance Reporting Board and daily huddles.
  • Assisted teams with process improvement.
  • Created a visual representation of the complete end-to-end reporting timetable.

Scaling impact across teams 

We built on what we achieved with the client’s teams in London and Europe to:

  • Create workstreams in each team with two Lean specialists.
  • Foster trust with those affected by the changes.
  • Implement a workstream charter with each team manager.
  • Provide a standard structure for each workstream.

Results

  • Improved finance operations and significant contributions to large projects.
  • Reduced the need for overtime.
  • Improved data quality and responsiveness by 40%.
  • Embedded operations management.
  • Facilitated a reduction of 4 days in the finance reporting timetable.
  • Improved process capture and design for system developments.

Testimonial

“We knew that process improvement would enable us to speed up our reporting. The pleasant surprise was that operations management has initiated a change in our culture. Finance now feels more vibrant, and we are restless to further improve what we do.”

Finance and Commercial Director