Working at a local business unit often doesn’t give you access to sophisticated corporate systems to monitor performance. However, as a financial you are quickly immersed into daily operations, learning how things really work. A sample will be given of key indicators used to improve the cash forecast and position of a business unit. 

There are different financial indicators to monitor the financial results of a company. Focussing on ‘value creation’ is sometimes considered ‘rocket science’ for the local management team. However, by explaining the steps of calculating ‘value’, management will quickly see what is meant by it and how they create it. 

A question frequently asked by businesses of all sizes is what should my Key-Performance-Indicators (KPIs) be and how many should I have? They often look to other companies in their industry including suppliers and customers to see what they may use to run their business. Frequently, they are fraught with frustration by the lack of data in the public domain.
 

Among the difficult subjects for FP&A and management, there is the very “sensitive” relation between budget or forecast and managers compensation scheme. 

Many will still argue that target setting works. “What gets measured gets done”. Yes, targets do work. That is actually the problem. Managers hitting their target is, however, no guarantee whatsoever that this was their best possible performance, given the circumstances.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics that represent how various drivers of the business are performing. These drivers are often both financial and operational in nature. And while there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to choosing the "right" metrics for your business it is critical that the data used be consistent and accurate.