Defining the job of a Finance Controller is as difficult as being one. They not only bring accuracy to the table but also are responsible for improving the financial efficiency of an organization.
What does a Finance Controller do?
Finance Controllers safeguard a company’s financial health by meticulously managing accounting activities. They ensure that ledgers reflect all transactions correctly. Then, they use this data for strategic decision-making, forecasting, and budgeting.
So, their work blends accounting expertise, strategic thinking, and a healthy dose of problem-solving.
Sounds a little too much? Don’t worry. We know someone who can explain it better and more practically.
Let us meet Swara, an experienced finance controller who works for a top software development company in Bengaluru, India. In this article, we will learn how a typical workday in Swara’s life goes by.
So, get ready to discover what it takes to manage financial operations, tackle complex challenges, and how a simple decision can be life-changing.
Swara’s Morning Routine
As the lead Finance Controller of her company, Swara starts her day by checking emails while enjoying her morning coffee. Most of her emails are about day-to-day subjects like expense reports, meetings scheduled for the day, etc.
According to her, setting clear priorities is crucial for a Finance Controller. Swara then reviews her schedule and to-do list, taking note of critical deadlines and urgent requests. Having a clear game plan keeps her focused throughout the hectic day.
She then coordinates with her team, vendors, and senior management. A glance at her dashboards reveals key financial metrics for the past day – cash balances, sales trends, and anything that might be of importance for the day ahead.
Role of a Finance Controller
It is time for the real action now. The major part of Swara’s day revolves around analyzing and managing the flow of money. The day starts with reviewing daily sales reports and then comparing the actual revenue against the budgeted forecast.
This allows her to identify trends and variances early, enabling timely adjustments to strategies or resource allocation to ensure the company stays on track to meet its financial targets.
It starts with reviewing accounts payable and receivable. This includes ensuring that bills are paid on time and invoices are sent accurately, as well as keeping an eye on key metrics like Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).
Next up is budgeting, which she reviews and updates religiously to make sure the company remains on track with its financial goals.
Financial reporting and analysis are also on her plate. From compiling monthly financial statements to detailed analysis of various departments’ performance, Swara ensures all numbers tell a clear story about the company’s health to management.
Reporting to Senior Management
According to Swara, this is the most important part of her day. As a finance professional, her job also is to communicate the performance metrics, significant risks, and other technical aspects with senior management.
While Swara knows that it is not everyone’s cup of tea to comprehend complex financial information, she also understands that knowing the numbers and their importance is essential for all the company’s stakeholders.
So, she presents this information to the board using visually appealing charts and scenario analysis. She then suggests her recommendation as an expert based on the project’s revenue growth and ROI potential.
For instance, on the previous day, Swara’s main task was to analyze and then report to the board of directors the outcomes of an internal audit that the company had performed.
Challenges Faced by Swara
Of course, like every other job, Financial Controllers have their own challenges. While the name of the position might sound fancy, the job primarily revolves around going through spreadsheets, invoices, and reports. Moreover, as complex data is involved in this job, the possibilities for errors increase.
“The biggest challenge I face is managing so many different things simultaneously,” said Swara. “Excel Sheets come with their own impediments, and you’re always under the pressure of deadlines. We must have accurate data to make informed decisions.”– she added.
She further shed light on common pain points she faces. For instance, a payment made to a supplier was not recorded by the accounting staff, leading to an overstatement of accounts payable and an understatement of cash outflow. This might seem like a very small mistake, but the overall impact on the books was huge, and Swara had to spend hours tracing it.
So, much of her time gets consumed reviewing and reconciling data discrepancies in manual data entries, which are prone to errors.
She expressed she would instead like to spend this time studying data that can contribute to the business’ growth.
Also, regulatory compliances and guidelines add another layer of complexity to the Finance Controller’s responsibilities. An important thing to note here is the fact that all these are deadline-based tasks. So, maintaining accuracy becomes even more challenging.
The Role of Financial Automation
The solution to many of Swara’s challenges lies in financial automation. Picture software solutions that streamline once-manual tasks. Time-consuming tasks like invoice processing and bank reconciliation are now taken care of by the automation tools that import the invoices, reports, and bank statements.
This means minimizing errors, freeing up time, and gaining more profound knowledge of financial data. You can get massive raw data to make sense in a click or two.
Moreover, automation tools can completely change the Finance Controller’s day-to-day operations.
A financial automation tool streamlines processes and helps implement standardization. This would have otherwise been challenging as maintaining consistency is not easy where large-scale manual data is involved.
Moreover, automation also helps management make better decisions based on more accurate financial information.
Let us follow Swara as she tells us how these tools have changed her daily workflow.
How Financial Automation helped Swara?
Thanks to financial automation, Swara is now a happy woman. Her company has implemented accounting software that automates several processes that used to eat up her hours.
Additionally, solutions mainly focused on automating accounts payable and receivable have really helped. For instance, she now uses analytical tools and dashboards that help her get key metrics like DSOs, customer credit history, etc.
“Automation has really been a game-changer,” says Swara. “Tasks that used to take us hours are now completed in minutes. This has made our life easy, and we can now focus more on strategic analysis and collaboration with other departments, which is invaluable.”– she added.
Swara now easily generates customized reports thanks to the seamless integration of her automation tools and accounting systems. Her workflow is not only quicker but also more accurate. She and her team are now far from the stress of tight deadlines.
She is now finally able to recruit and train colleagues in her team. She wanted to do this for a long time but did not have the time and energy to do so. Swara also actively assists the top management in making better financial decisions based on customized and latest financial data.
Conclusion
This was a day in the life of Swara, a Finance Controller. By now, it must be clear that her job is demanding, requiring dedication and a sharp mind for numbers. She faced challenges as her responsibilities increased, but being excellent in problem-solving, she found the solution.
By utilizing new technologies like automation, Finance Controllers like her can maximize their productivity and accuracy and add more value to their company.
So, if you’re a Finance Controller facing the same problems, it is high time that you get the help of technology. Let the automation tool do what it does best. Your precious time is meant for greater things!
If you liked this article and the conversation with Swara, do like and leave a comment below! Check out Open.money for more such content on finance and automation.
