Best Financial Management
For the firm that has educated its partners in the importance of meeting tough targets for WIP, debtors, headcount and overheads, and can demonstrate exceptional progress.
2006 WINNER
Louise Fleming of Barclays with Andrew Moran of Taylor Vinters
Taylor Vinters� approach has been to provide everyone in the firm with desk-top access to financial information. They have all been encouraged to use this information and to take responsibility for managing their results helped by a business simulation game and benchmarking with peers.
As a result work in progress has been reduced by a further 36 days and debtors by 5 days even though the firm already had a very good level of lock up compared to the rest of the profession. It has also maintained an impressive realisation rate of 95%.
This combination of access to financial information and education in adopting different practices with demonstrable success has made Taylor Vinters� entry the winner in this category.
RUNNER UP
What was impressive about Greenwood�s approach was the long term view it took on improving financial performance. Lock up has been reduced by a steady and sustainable 46% over the last five years.
The firm has achieved this by tackling a wide range of different issues to improve performance supported by the use of traffic light system and specially tailored reports. An example of this was the way gearing was tackled. Specific information on gearing was provided to each department so that they could see for themselves the need for improvement and the beneficial effects of the actions they took.
3RD PLACE
Lawrence Graham�s entry largely rested on its new intranet based financial management tool, Per4mance, launched in March 2006. This is helping to reduce levels of work in progress dramatically but it is rather too soon to be certain that the benefits will be sustainable. And as no information was provided on the way debtors, headcount and overheads are being tackled it was not possible to make a full comparison with the other two finalists.
2006 SPONSOR
Barclays have business banking relationships with 80% of the top 20 accountants, lawyers and surveyors in the UK and a growing market presence in the US. They are proud of their client relationships as well as the industry expertise and specialist banking skills of their people. They work together to bring innovative solutions to the market, supported by market-leading service excellence. Barclays aim is to work in partnership with professional services firms to help them achieve their ambitions.
OTHER YEARS
OTHER AWARDS