The Role Of Finance In Confronting Globalization Challenges For Management Improvement

Traditional Finance Function Activities

Question:

In the executive summary of CIMA’s recent study of the role of the finance function based on data collected from more than 4000 finance and senior managers worldwide, it is stated that

“The finance function and its members constitute a force for further development of the management support role. Implementing this change will be dependent on identifying and developing the appropriate personnel and demonstrating to business managers what and how the finance function can contribute to the organisation”.

Using relevant theoretical and empirical literatures, critically discuss the above statement?

Statement: “The finance function and its members constitute a force for further development of the management support role. Implementing this change will be dependent on identifying and developing the appropriate personnel and demonstrating to business managers what and how the finance function can contribute to the organisation.”

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has stated that the finance department plays a major role in further development of the management support role. This paper will focus on analysis of the role of finance and its contribution in the organization for critically discussing the above statement of CIMA. First of all, it is important to discuss the traditional roles of the functions of the financial activities in an organization. Additionally, the financial and no financial challenges encountered due to globalization will be discussed and evaluated as those have directly affected the functions of finance in the organizations. Therefore, the paper will emphasize on the endeavors of the finance functions in confronting the external challenges for contributing overall improvement of the management function of the business firm (Coombs, Hobbs & Jenkins, 2005). In this paper, the working capital of Sainsbury will be calculated in order to illustrate how the financial activities of an organization help in supporting the management.

Traditional finance functions refer to the activities of the finance department of the business firms in earlier days. Traditional finance function activities principally focused on the transaction processing such as general accounting, cost accounting, tax accounting, tax filing, customer bill etc. The finance department is responsible for managing accounts payable and accounts receivable (Epstein & Lee, 2005). The major activity is associated with the planning for acquiring the necessary funds. Cost accounting helps in estimation of the probable cost of the organization and therefore making arrangements of the necessary funds (Genpact, 2015). Tax accounting has been considered to be one of the most important activities of the finance department in an organization. Additionally, budgeting is a traditional finance function where the organizational resources are allocated. The major responsibility of the finance department is to manage the cash position of the firm.  The traditional finance function includes recordkeeping of the monetary transactions (Gazely & Lambert, 2006).

The finance functions of an organization have been encountering major financial as well as non-financial challenges due to globalization. It has evident that the globalization has facilitated the reduction of trade barriers. E-commerce has been able to significantly break down the geographic boundaries and it has become very easy to approach the international market. The business firms have identified that the market is becoming more homogeneous and high level of economies of scale will be realized (Ayyagari, Demirguc-Kunt & Maksimovic, 2008). It is quite obvious that the domestic business firms will focus on approaching the global marketplace. In this situation, the finance department has a major role to play in supporting the evolution of a business firm as a global organization (Coombs, Hobbs & Jenkins, 2005).

Financial and Non-Financial Challenges Caused by Globalization

The financial challenges would include the strategic financial activities of the firm. Due to globalization, the organization will get large range of options in order to raise funds. The reason is globalization has helped in reducing the barriers in the financial market. The business firm will get various opportunities for entering into strategic alliances with other companies. Additionally, merger and acquisition opportunities will enhance. These strategic financial decisions can be considered as the threats (Gazely & Lambert, 2006). Hence, both small and large organizations are encountering financial challenges which have significant impact on the finance functions of the organization.   

Globalization has caused some non-financial challenges which have significantly affected the financial functions of an organization. It has been found that the integration of the business activities in the international market has leaded to the encounter issues regarding strategic operations such as coping up with different time zone, compliance with the regulatory framework of that nation, matching with the language and culture of the region etc. This has a significant influence on the financial functions such as asset allocation, reporting requirements, accounting standards and other financial decision making elements. Hence, it can be concluded that various financial as well as non-financial challenges occurred due to globalization and significantly affected the financial functions of the business firms across the globe.

Finance functions of an organization focuses on providing extensive support to the operational activities of the firm in order to achieve the long term objectives of sustainable growth. The above section has briefly discussed the traditional roles played by the finance department in an organization. It has been found that the finance functions principally emphasized on the record keeping on the financial transactions, tax accounting and cost accounting. However, it has been identified that globalization has encouraged the business firms to integrate business functions in the international market as the barriers have reduced (McGuigan, Kretlow, Moyer & McGuigan, 2008). It has been found that the finance functions had encountered major financial as well as non-financial challenges. Therefore, business firms have identified that it is important to change the finance functions for confronting with the discussed challenges. First of all, financial awareness has been raised across the organization. This section will clearly discuss the key functions of the finance department for responding to the new challenges emerged from globalization. 

In the present dynamic global business circumstance, it is very important to raise financial awareness for understanding the financial implications of the operational and strategic decisions of the organization (Epstein & Lee, 2005).  One of the major activities of the finance professional would be training the line managers to become more aware of the financial condition of the company as well as the global business conditions. Financial awareness throughout the organization will significantly help in the conforming all the activities in the uniform direction leading to achievement of organizational success. 

The finance department of an organization has been reshaping its functions through the investing, financing and asset management decision making. Globalization has helps in exposing a business organization to various investment opportunities (Tylecote, 2007). Investing decision making activities focus on analyzing the investment opportunities on the basis of return as well as risk. Various financial analytical tools are utilized by the professionals for evaluating the investment decisions (Hansen & Mowen, 2005). Additionally, it has been found that the financing decision making is the major responsibility of the finance department. Both external as well as internal sources of finance are available to the company (Srivastava, 2008). It is important to select the sources of fund in appropriate ratio. Strategic decision making supports the management by choosing the optimum sources of finance so that the company can achieve its organizational objectives (Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2008). Managing the liabilities of an organization in an efficient manner for meeting the strategic goals is included in the financial functions. Acquisition and efficient utilization of assets are considered to be a significant aspect of decision support system of an organization (Genpact, 2015). The finance department is given the operating responsibility regarding the existing assets. The financial professionals are found to be highly concerned with management of the current assets instead of fixed assets (Ayyagari, Demirgüç-Kunt & Maksimovic, 2011).

Contribution of Finance in Supporting Management

The business firms emphasize on the value maximization through strategic management of the operational activities. Value maximization of the business organization is the principle strategic objective of a firm. Hence, the finance managers are responsible for maximization of profits though effective allocation of funds and controlling the operational activities such as inventory management, quality management etc (Seal, Garrison & Noreen, 2009). The finance department must support the organization through providing effective strategy for value maximization (Ross, Westerfield & Jaffe, 2008). Additionally, it needs to consider the alternative investment opportunities, asset management strategies, financing decision must reviewed for analyzing its implication for the value of shareholders’ wealth (Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2008).  Management needs to develop market strategies on the basis of the input provided by the finance professionals. It can be clearly stated that the finance functions must be integrated with the operational activities of the firm for maximizing the value of business. Additionally, handling the agency problems and resolving plan is also developed by the finance department of the organization. In the present business climate, corporate social responsibility has been receiving extensive attention across the globe (KPMG Management Consulting, 2015). The objective of profit maximization must not ignore the corporate social responsibilities of the organization. Hence, it is very important to integrate the concept of corporate social responsibility into the financial decision making of the firm.  

Control and risk management is considered to be one of the most important functions and emphasize has been given on the function for achieving sustainable growth in the international market (Ross, Westerfield & Jaffe, 2008).  Controlling organizational activities is associated with evaluation of business performance through effective business tools. Budgeting is one of the most important activities for controlling the organizational activities (KPMG Management Consulting, 2015). The variance between the budgeted activity and the actual activity indicates the present business situation of the company Risk management is carried out through effective corporate governance strategies (McGuigan, Kretlow, Moyer & McGuigan, 2008).  For managing risk, auditing is one of the best tools. Internal auditing is conducted by the internal audit team for ensuring the organizational activities comply with the legislative framework of the nation (Antonakakis & Scharler, 2012). Additionally, the internal auditors are responsible for ensuring that appropriate reporting standard has been followed for communicating the annual business position of the company (Shapiro & Sarin, 2009). Thus the auditing helps in validating the reliability of the documents produced by the company (Genpact, 2015).

Sainsbury is one of the leading retailers in United Kingdom. This section will focus on analyzing the implication of effective working capital management on the management activities (Horngren, Harrison & Bamber, 2005). Working capital can be described as the difference between current asset and current liabilities. In simple terms the capital required for managing the regular activities of the organization. The finance department plays a major role in effective management of the working capital (Preve & Sarria-Allende, 2010). If the company has adequate working capital then the operational activities can be completed smoothly. If the organization has enough current assets for meeting the current liabilities, it will indicate that the organization has enough short term liquidity for managing day to day operations. In other terms the current ratio or the ratio between current asset and current liability must be 1 or greater than 1. On the other hand, it must be considered that very high current ratio does not have a positive implication for the company. It indicates that the company has excess current asset which is not effectively utilized by the organization for improving the organizational performance (Horngren, Sundem & Stratton, 2005).

Working Capital Calculation	2014 ( £ million)	2013 (£ million)
Current Asset
Inventories	1005	987
Trade and other receivables	433	306
Amounts due from Sainsbury’s Bank customers	1283	0
Derivative financial instruments	49	91
Cash and bank balances	1592	517
Total Current Asset	4362	1901
Current Liability
Trade and other payables	2692	2726
Amounts due to Sainsbury’s Bank customers	3245	0
Borrowings	534	165
Derivative financial instruments	65	65
Taxes payable	189	148
Provisions	40	11
Total Current Liability	6765	3115
Working Capital	-2403	-1214

Endeavors of Finance in Confronting External Challenges

Annual report of Sainsbury has implied that the operational cash flow of the company has improved thorough the better working capital management. In 2013-14, the changes working capital in the operating cash flow of Sainsbury has been increased by 5.6% in comparison to the previous financial year (J Sainsbury Plc, 2014).  In Sainsbury, the working capital is estimated by calculating the difference between current assets and current liabilities. Current assets in Sainsbury include inventories, amount withstanding from the bank customer of Sainsbury, trade and other receivables, derivative financial instruments and the cash and bank balance.  On the other hand, the current liabilities of Sainsbury include trade and other receivables, short term borrowings, taxes payable, amount due to the bank customers of Sainsbury, derivative financial instruments, provisions etc.  Cash flow statement of the company has indicated that the cash generated from the operating activities have increase. It has a positive implication for the organizational performance. It has been found that the Sainsbury has been able to manage its working capital inefficiently as the current liability s estimated to be greater than current assets. An adverse movement in the working capital has been observed. It clearly indicated that the potential of meeting short terms liability is less which is not favorable for the company. It can be concluded that short term liquidity position of the company need to be enhanced in order to boost up the overall performance of the company.

References

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