Finance is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Once viewed as a back-office function focused on closing the books, ensuring compliance, and reporting results, today’s finance organizations—CFOs, finance directors, controllers, and FP&A leaders—are expected to guide the enterprise toward profitable growth, resilience, and sustainable success.
Finance leaders are no longer mere scorekeepers reacting after the fact; they are expected to be financial stewards who align capital with strategy and have data ownership and keep risk and working capital in check. Best in class Finance leaders have an even more prominent role as strategic partners to the business, steering the company to growth, profitably and sustainably.
As finance evolves from a back-office function to a strategic partner, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) provides the framework to turn strategy into action. It aligns capital with priorities, surfaces risks early, and links execution to outcomes—enabling profitable, resilient, and sustainable growth.
First, iterative simulations articulate strategy across business units. By modeling key drivers and scenarios—market shifts, pricing, capacity, supply constraints, and sustainability commitments—finance can test trade-offs, quantify risk, and align targets with resources. This creates a shared, data-driven narrative that connects corporate objectives to BU plans and capital allocation.
Second, continuous closing activities deliver early insight. Instead of waiting for period-end, finance validates data, reconciles key accounts, and updates actuals and forecasts throughout the month. Variances surface sooner, supporting timely course corrections in spend, pricing, and investments, which strengthens margins and working-capital discipline and shortens the close.
Third, effective controls and ongoing monitoring safeguard performance while enabling agility. Standardized workflows, embedded approvals, and transparent data lineage improve governance and audit readiness. Role-based dashboards track leading and lagging indicators—profitability, cash conversion, risk exposure, and sustainability metrics—so leaders can spot trends, intervene early, and demonstrate value creation.
Together, these EPM objectives form a closed loop from strategy to plan to execution to results, empowering finance to steer the enterprise toward profitable, resilient, and sustainable growth.
These objectives can be attained by following the Enterprise Performance Management process end to end, continuously aligning Statutory, Managerial and Tax viewpoints.
Plan and Forecast
use integrated planning across LOB’s with continuous simulation and probability modeling based on operational drivers to translate strategy into aligned business‑unit plans and resource‑backed targets. Example deliverables:
- Budgets & Forecasts
- Tax simulations
- Aligned group and business unit plans
Intercompany management: establish intercompany transparency based on an integrated value chain so scenarios, transfer pricing, and eliminations reconcile quickly and consistently. Always having a clear view on impact at the group level. Example deliverables:
- Settlements and allocations
- Intercompany reconciliations
- Operational transfer prices
Close and Consolidation
run automated financial close routines for entity and group to support continuous close, deliver real‑time insights at any level, and surface variances early. Example deliverables:
- Statutory close
- Managerial & plan close
- Tax provisioning
Analyze and Disclose
Apply real‑time control effectiveness monitoring and produce financial, tax, and sustainability disclosures that compare outcomes to plan and feed the next planning cycle. Example deliverables:
- Statutory disclosures
- Profitability analysis
- Tax reporting (BEPS Pillar 2, CbCR)
Implement Controls and Execute
adjust steering controls and optimize business operations based on emerging signals to lock in improvements and mitigate risk. Example deliverables:
- Budget allocations for project execution
- Thresholds for intercompany transfer prices
- Hire approvals for cost center managers to recruit
It is key that across every step in the EPM process, statutory reporting, managerial (business steering), and tax management are aligned. Ensuring decisions are coherent, compliant, and value‑creating—enabling profitable, resilient, and sustainable growth.
