Preparing Enterprise Finance to Support Strategic Plans in Higher Education
ScottMadden frequently helps organizations understand and achieve their organizational restructuring goals. Contact us to learn how we can help support your business transformation and shared services projects.
At a Glance
Centralized FP&A
Helped client design and implement a single, centralized FP&A organization responsible for business planning, reporting, and financial forecasting
Improved Effectiveness
The centralized financial planning organization helped the university to:
- Clarify governance and organizational roles and responsibilities
- Provide schools with enhanced financial modeling support
- Improve financial decision-making capabilities
Board Approval
The new organization and process produced a fully integrated, five-year financial operating plan and budget approved by the board of trustees
Challenge
A top-20 research university undertook a full review of its finance function to ensure the appropriate structure, processes, and people were in place to optimally position the university’s resources and better enable its long-term mission. The university’s complex governance structure contained inconsistent approaches to financial and business planning and outdated forecasting, data analytics, and IT capabilities. ScottMadden was engaged to examine the current state of financial planning across the university and to provide recommendations on how to enhance financial transparency and oversight.
Process
- Gathered input from the university’s key stakeholders (e.g., board of trustees, university president, provost, president’s leadership team, deans, and other senior leaders) regarding the current state of financial planning
- Evaluated existing Financial Planning & Analytics (FP&A) processes against leading practices and benchmarks to identify performance gaps and improvement opportunities
- Prepared a business case for the creation of a single, centralized FP&A organization responsible for business planning, reporting, and financial forecasting
- Designed organizational structure for FP&A organization along with supporting roles, responsibilities, and change management considerations
Result
- The new FP&A organization helped the university shift from a two-year to a five-year planning horizon with decisions supported by ScottMadden-designed predictive analytics models
- The centralized financial planning process clarified governance structures, improved communications for requirements and standards, provided schools with enhanced financial modeling support, and improved overall decision-making
- The new organization and process produced a fully integrated, five-year financial operating plan and budget approved by the board of trustees
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