Financial Excellence With Game Changers, Presented By Sap

The buzz: EPM. Innovations in Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) are redefining how organizations around the globe are managing and growing their business. Technologies like Mobility, Cloud, Social and beyond are available to help you understand, react and adapt to changing market conditions, global events, and all-important customer needs, behavior and expectations. Are you ready to embrace these opportunities to become agile and do more than just survive? The experts speak. Steve Sussman, Column5: “Over half of the investments made by companies in analytics tools will be wasted, because of cultural immaturity, a lack of required skills and inappropriate training levels”(Gartner, 12/2011). Michael Svolos, TekLink: “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool” (W. Shakespeare). Karuna Mukherjea, SAP: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” (Steve Jobs). Join us for Enterprise Performance Management Innovations: New Frontiers.

You likely use at least one personal mobile device for real-time access to relevant data, from breaking news to stock performance and hyper-local traffic conditions. Can your company’s Finance function also leverage innovative technologies to be more effective and strategic? Good news: Yes! Look to in-memory technology for up-to-the-minute financial and operational data; the cloud for quick implementations; analytics and mobility for combined company and market information. And there’s more. The experts speak. Bill Sinnitt, Financial Executives Research Foundation, Inc.: “You can never have enough analytics from business intelligence.” John Steele, Deloitte: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” (Peter F. Drucker). Birgit Starmanns, SAP: “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination” (Albert Einstein). Join us for more insights on Tech Innovations in Finance: Driving Business Results.

Business risk is a fact of life. Does the specter of product liability, cyber and physical security, fraud, theft, regulatory failure, breakdowns, and low revenues keep you awake at night? The experts speak. Paul Albert, Albert Investments: “A wise, battle-hardened senior investment banker told me: ‘We're in the business of taking risks with the objective of creating value for our shareholders while serving our clients' interests, so I don't mind taking risks. But when I take risks I want to understand what they are, why I am taking them, and how to reduce them or to get out of them.’” Nola Masterson, Science Futures Management Company: “Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” (James B. Conant) Brian Barnier, ValueBridge Advisors: “What do a winning basketball team and a company with consistently higher returns have in common? The ability to ask ‘What if?’ more insightfully than their opponents.” Join us for Board Risk Oversight: What Are Regulators Saying?

The buzz: Risk Your risk managers are being forced to prove that they are adding value to the business. At the same time, they are faced with a range of choices in how and where they implement risk management practices and which, if any, technology innovations to use to drive success. The experts speak. Saret van Loggerenberg, Exxaro Resources Limited: “Governance, Risk and Compliance is not about ticking boxes for compliance sake. Applied correctly, it is a set of interrelated business processes to ensure we create value for shareholders and the broader stakeholder community.” Scott L. Mitchell, OCEG: “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.” (Confucius) Bruce McCuaig, SAP: “The more efficient you are at doing the wrong thing, the wronger you become. It is much better to do the right thing wronger than the wrong thing righter! If you do the right thing wrong and correct it, you get better!” (Ackoff) Join us for Risk Management: Driving Value by Leveraging Technology.

Today’s buzz: Profitability. Despite sophisticated business intelligence tools that enable analysis of Big Data, and the renewed popularity of profitability and costing analysis, many companies still can’t get a grip on fundamental planning inefficiencies or rebound from recent economic instability. If you’re among them, it’s time for your finance organization to rethink their approach to data and their role in the business. Bottom line: Who should own profitability and the best practices to build a more profitable future? The experts speak. Gary Cokins, Analytics-Based Performance Management: “There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” (da Vinci). Jon Essig, CPA, Optimal Solutions: “Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so” (Galileo). Rob Jenkins, SAP: “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” (Niels Bohr). Join us for Predicting Profitable Performance in Challenging Times.

Today’s buzz: Payment challenges. Banks and corporations are facing an increasingly complex landscape in the payments arena and the associated integration. New types of payments and currency, new technology tools, new security threats and security techniques, and new challengers to traditional providers all contribute to the immense change. The world of payments is now driven by risk, cost, and the ability to reconcile. Players have just two choices: innovate or face greater opportunities to lose big. The experts speak. Tom Durkin, Bank of America Merrill Lynch: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” (Bill Gates). Laurie McCulley, Treasury Strategies: “Older people sit down and ask, 'What is it?', but the boy asks, 'What can I do with it?’” (Steve Jobs). Leonard Schwartz, SAP: “Nothing like a little disaster for sorting things out” (Thomas in Blow-Up, 1966 film). Join us for Managing Financial Performance: New Payment Challenges and Innovation Options.

The buzz: Fraud. As hard as your company works to put in place effective anti-fraud processes and tools, fraudsters are working harder to circumvent whatever you try. Take heart! Predictive analytics technology may be able to help you understand emerging fraud patterns and adapt strategies against new types of attack. The experts speak. Derek Snaidauf, Deloitte: “By some estimates, the typical organization loses 5% of its revenues to fraud each year, which translates to a potential projected global fraud loss of more than $3.5 trillion. Fraud perpetrators are sophisticated, well organized, and adaptive—as soon as one scheme is detected, another one materializes.” Michael P. Cangemi, Cangemi Company: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” (Albert Einstein). Jérôme Pugnet, SAP: “People always tend to see gangsters as stocky dark-haired guys. It’s the silliest prejudice.” (Antoine Beretto, “Ne nous fachons pas!”). Join us for Fighting Fraud: Predictive Technology to the Rescue?

Closing the books and creating financial reports are nothing new. But with the accelerating pace of business, Finance now must deliver faster, more reliable and visible results, all with full regulatory compliance. Is this keeping your CFO awake at night? The experts speak. Wendy Reinitz, Performance Analytics: “There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. (Indira Gandhi). Gabe Zubizarreta, Silicon Valley Accountants: “According to Peter Drucker, ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” but I add that if you can’t see it or measure it, then you can’t manage it!” Elizabeth Milne, SAP: “A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.” (Stephen Covey). Join us for Financial Closing and Reporting: Keeping Up with Change.

You likely use at least one personal mobile device for real-time access to relevant data, from breaking news to stock performance and hyper-local traffic conditions. Can your company’s Finance function also leverage innovative technologies to be more effective and strategic? Good news: Yes! Look to in-memory technology for up-to-the-minute financial and operational data; the cloud for quick implementations; analytics and mobility for combined company and market information. And there’s more. The experts speak. Bill Sinnitt, Financial Executives Research Foundation, Inc.: “You can never have enough analytics from business intelligence.” John Steele, Deloitte: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” (Peter F. Drucker). Birgit Starmanns, SAP: “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination” (Albert Einstein). Join us for more insights on Tech Innovations in Finance: Driving Business Results.

The role of Internal Audit is changing. It has to. Why? Stakeholders are challenging Internal Audit to up its game. Boards want better assurance. Management expects clearer insight. How – and how quickly – can technology and automation help the Internal Audit function meet all of these demands and ultimately shift its role from “compliance police” to valued “strategic advisor”? The experts speak. Malte Globig, Flint Group: “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please” (Mark Twain). Michael O’Leary, E&Y: “Keep growing everyday as a person and professional. Always recognize opportunities to learn and expand your horizons and be open to innovation.” Bruce Carpenter, SAP: “There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction” (Franz Kafka). Join us for Internal Audit of the Future: Is the Best Yet to Come?

The buzz: Integrated planning. To be optimally effective, budgeting and forecasting require understanding your business today and being able to predict tomorrow. How? In an ideal world, your CFO and CIO will make this happen by seamlessly cooperating on Integrated Business Planning across the organization. Are they there yet? Will disruptive technologies like mobility, cloud, and in-memory databases help or hinder their relationship? The experts speak. Jeff Hattendorf, Macrospect: “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking” (Albert Einstein). Steve Player, Beyond Budgeting: “To make the future happen … One has to be willing to ask: What do we really want to see happen that is quite different from today? ...” (Peter Drucker). Floyd Conrad, SAP: “It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all” (Henri Poincare). Join us for Integrated Business Planning: Will Disruptive Tech Help or Hinder?

The buzz: Financial transformation. Today’s CFO’s and finance organizations are expected to take a more strategic role than ever before in supporting the business, to drive value. Transformation needs to look holistically at the finance function. How? Leveraging technology and analytics, and focusing on high value activities, can help them become more effective business leaders and achieve excellence. What will this process look like in the future? The experts speak. Richard Sernyak, PwC: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts” (Albert Einstein). Kyleen Wissell, The Coca-Cola Company: “Remain constructively discontent” (Muhtar Kent, CEO, The Coca-Cola Company). Elena Shishkina, SAP: “Do your best, worst will eventually come.” Translation from the Russian saying that one should always strive for excellence to achieve the best outcome.” (Elena’s father). Join us for Financial Transformation 2020: Can you see clearly yet?

Today’s buzz: Finance transformation. In the past 12 weeks, we’ve covered game-changing approaches to finance transformation for companies of all sizes, industries, footprints and maturity levels. Today we’ll review the valuable lessons learned and how your company can embrace innovative technologies and strategies to achieve your own financial excellence goals. Hear our expert panel’s insights and predictions around GRC (risk management, board risk oversight, role of internal audit in driving risk programs, and integrating governance, risk and compliance activities); EPM ( business innovations and transformations, strategic execution, evolution of business planning, efficiency in financial disclosures); and Finance (mobility and shared services). Join us for Financial Excellence Roundup: Lessons Learned and Onward!

Today’s buzz: Annual reporting. Reality check: the scope of annual reporting disclosures is growing every year ... not just the financial part, but also the non-financials. If your organization doesn’t have the right people, processes, technology, and best practices in place to conquer these intensifying challenges, how can you expect to cross the annual reporting finish line with your collective sanity intact? The experts speak. Jon Church, cundus: “If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough.” (Mario Andretti) Mike Willis, PwC: “Standardization of the business reporting supply chain is transforming / enhancing processes, controls, capabilities for all market participants.” Thorsten Jopp, SAP: “Disclosure management is far more than creating and publishing financial reports; it is effective communication – to internals and externals.” Join us for The Last Mile of Reporting: Staying in Control.

Today’s buzz: GRC (governance, risk and compliance) integration. Is your organization suffering from “GRC pain syndrome”? According to practitioners in the know, the most prevalent symptoms include nagging-audit fatigue, effort-duplication frustration, piecemeal-GRC depression, and compliance-silo isolation. If you’re dreaming of a cure, take heart. The experts speak. Elizabeth McNichol, PwC: “But the upside of painful knowledge is so much greater than the downside of blissful ignorance.” (Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead) Tim Sheehy, Coca-Cola: “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” (John C. Maxwell, the World’s Top Leadership Guru) Heike Fiedler-Phelps, SAP: “Should is a futile word. It's about what didn't happen. It belongs in a parallel universe. It belongs in another dimension of space.” (Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin) Join us for Integrated GRC: Dream vs. Reality?

Today’s buzz: Predictive analytics. How did IBM’s Watson computer best Mensa people on TV’s Jeopardy and Obama’s 2012 campaign influence voters? How does Target know your family size and Match.com pick your next mate? If you were that smart, think what you could do for your company’s bottom line! The experts speak. John Elder, Elder Research: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24) Greta Roberts, Talent Analytics: “In 1995, a 28-year-old rogue trader lost $1.4 billion dollars and killed 230- year-old Barings Bank.” Eric Siegel, Predictive Analytics World: “Predicting human behavior combats financial risk, fortifies healthcare, conquers spam, toughens crime fighting, and boosts sales.” Henner Schliebs, SAP: “Finance has to deliver on the new normal: top and bottom line support through finance analytics.” Join us for The New CFO Agenda 3.0: Tying Predictive to Financial Performance.

If you believe strategy and planning are the same, think again. And if your CFO and CIO are not on good speaking terms, your organization’s efforts at achieving truly integrated business planning may become a daunting challenge. Why? Planning is evolving to be more about people and process than about technology. The experts speak. Jeff Hattendorf, Macrospect: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” (Benjamin Disraeli) Nat D’Ercole, Deloitte: “The only limits are, as always, those of vision.” (James Broughton) David Dixon, TruQua Enterprises, author/ speaker: “You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.” (Yogi Berra) Floyd Conrad, SAP: “Management is all about managing in the short term, while developing the plans for the long term.” (Jack Welch) Join us for more insights on Business Planning: How Far Have You Evolved?

Today’s buzz: Bribery and Corruption The global economy brings great opportunities. And great risks. On your home court or a new playground, whether perpetrated by your staff or a third party, new flavors of bribery and corruption fraud schemes are keeping regulators, boards and executives awake at night. Can technology help them sleep? The experts speak. Vincent Walden, Ernst & Young: “Fraud is similar to fashion. Things get hot, then fade away. In the early 2000s (pre-SOX) ... financial misstatements and ‘cooking the books.’ In the mid-2000s, stock-options backdating was hot. For the last 4–5 years, it is FCPA (and insider trading)...”. Thomas Fox, attorney, independent consultant: “Your compliance program is a living entity; it should be constantly evolving”. Melissa Lea, SAP: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.” (Warren Buffett). Join us for Compliance: Focus on Anti-Bribery/Anti-Corruption.

Today’s buzz: Internal Audit Truth time: Do your Board of Directors and Audit Committee understand the internal audit role and what your internal auditors really do? Is the Audit Committee weak or strong? If internal auditors are your heroes, are they unsung or celebrated? The experts speak. John Fraser, Hydro One Networks: “Part of what distinguishes high reliability organizations from other organizations is the extent to which they obsess about the question of what they ignore.” (Managing the Unexpected by Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliff, University of Michigan Business School) Renee Murphy, Forrester: “Trust is not a control, luck is not a strategy.” Norman Marks, SAP: “Internal audit has two roles: to inform the board and top management (does the organization have adequate processes for risk and compliance management?) and to persuade (help management improve those systems with both recommendations and cheerleading).” Join us for The Role of Internal Audit: GRC Police or Driver?

Today’s buzz: Strategic planning. Truth time: Is your company doing the right stuff or the dumb stuff when it comes to annual budgeting, planning and control? For example, do you measure activity or outcomes? What about a clear vision of what ‘success’ looks like, so you can gauge performance? Are stale finance practices a roadblock to your becoming a lean, agile, adaptive organization? So much to consider. Take a break and hear what the experts say. Colin Cooper, ISSEL: “What is the point of knowing how well you are performing if you don’t do anything about it? Creating reports doesn’t improve performance, strategic initiatives do. And if the two are not directly linked you are stacking the deck against yourself.” Steve Player, Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT): “Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the face.” (Mike Tyson) Tim Teinzer, SAP: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” (Peter Drucker) Join us for How to Hit a Home Run: Strategic Game Plan