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The provision of consistently credible information to stakeholders and the investor community generates a major benefit to the company that is, it builds trust, an invaluable asset built by tried and tested practices through the years.
“An inefficient finance organization will significantly erode value by increasing the perception of risk,” McDonald related. “Conversely, an efficient finance team builds confidence and trust in the business.”
In spite of the gains through solid business practices, notable changes in environmental standards have brought new challenges. Case in point, the environ- mental compliance cost which has significantly increased over the last three years. This has led to significant investment in this area because maintaining a healthy environment is important for the business’ long-term viability. “They’ve significantly changed the dynamics and it’s costly,” says Mcdonald, “so we’ve [had] to [reshape] our organisation to fit these dynamics. We have to help and prevent any kind of environmental impact from spills; we have to be compliant.”
“...an efficient finance team builds confidence and trust in the business...”
He explained that given the new operational safety requirements they must manage the business in such a way that these mandatory processes are upheld while still maintaining viability. “You have to find a solution,” McDonald added. “It’s costing us until we find a solution.”
There are other things for which the finance depart- ment is trying to find a workable solution, such as its perceived role as a ‘bean counter’, with the primary objective of not spending money.
“That is far from the truth,” said McDonald. “We see ourselves as business partners. However, we often- times play the role of the conscientious objector,
constantly testing the business decision against sound financial principles.”
To create greater acceptance and framework for the conversion of principles that facilitate finance’s role as business partners, McDonald said the global finance team has set up a non-finance programme.
He reasoned, “I think when this initiative is completely rolled out the organisation will have a deeper understanding of the finance team’s objectives and how they individually and collectively impact the company’s financial services.”
In the meantime, the team is continuously looking to build itself, guided by the mantra ‘working hard, playing hard’.
“This group is not a hard group to work with,” shared McDonald. “They’re pretty resilient and for the most part they keep a positive outlook. The team has great spirit, overall they work very well together.”