IS BEST PRACTICE WISHFUL THINKING?

摘要

First the bad news. Finance directors and CFOs hoping that the latest whizz-bang technology or management consultant's wheeze will transform their finance function overnight can forget it. In the words of a new ICAEW report, The Finance Function: A Framework For Analysis: 'Sometimes they help and sometimes they don't.' After looking at dozens of surveys and hundreds of academic articles on what makes an effective finance function, the report's authors have concluded there's no such thing as best practice. The core message is simple: there is no perfect answer,' says Dr Philip Smith, himself a former FD and MD and now a turnaround specialist. '