Faster finance: how to move from defence to attack

Kevin Phillips explores why the speed and agility your clients' businesses need require more than just the right software.

Last month, in a somewhat surprising move for an accountant, I argued that sometimes accuracy has to give way to speed if businesses are going to survive. I suggested that integrated modelling, with key assumptions cascading through forecasts, can help companies move quickly while keeping professional rigour intact.

What your clients need is a fundamental shift in outlook, from being defensive to active and attacking. Think of Gareth Bale at Tottenham. Harry Redknapp moved him from left-back in 2009 to attack. Bale was perfectly capable in defence, but the shift unlocked his real potential and set him up for a lengthy, successful career. As accountants, we need to help clients make that same strategic repositioning: loosening their grip on defensive accuracy to become more nimble attackers in financial planning.

So far, so good, but easier said than done. And while tech is an important piece of the puzzle, it is not the only one. Like any change, it starts with people.

Getting people on board

Change rarely lands smoothly. Finance teams worry about technology and automation taking away their jobs. Operational managers, already stretched, see financial responsibilities as one more burden. Leaders are reluctant to relax standards when the world already feels like an unpredictable and risky place.

The challenge is to reframe this for your clients. Reassure people that this is not machines coming for their jobs, it is machines taking the drudge work off their plate, freeing them up to do the important thinking work. Non-financial managers aren’t expected to become accountants, but they can now contribute their coal-face knowledge and experience more effectively and with greater impact. Leadership gains a distinct competitive advantage through faster, data-driven decision-making. And the accountants? Well, we get to spend less time with hands on keyboards doing data entry, and more time out in the business, setting it up for success.

Building financial intelligence networks

Processes don’t change themselves, people do. If a team feels threatened or excluded, even the best system will fail. The shift comes when the finance department stops being the bottleneck and starts acting as the hub of a wider network that drives the flow of financial intelligence through your client’s organisation.

Start by thinking about decision rights. For instance, if currency markets move overnight, treasury shouldn’t have to wait for multiple approvals before adjusting assumptions. Likewise, marketing tracks demand and can see what is coming down the line. Operations knows where the wheels stick, usually long before it turns up in the numbers. Procurement feels the supplier squeeze first, etc. When these insights feed quickly and directly into the models, finance can focus on keeping the threads tied together.

Accessibility matters just as much. Numbers-heavy spreadsheets make sense to accountants, but to everyone else, they are a blur. (I’ve written before about the gains you can make when you make finance more intelligible to non-financial managers.) If you want engagement, meet people where they are: dashboards, visuals, plain language. The penny has to drop quickly and easily, or it will just be ignored.

Get this right and finance gains allies. Those closest to customers, suppliers and operations become active contributors, not just bystanders.

Technology as the foundation

None of this works without robust systems. The idea behind assumption-based modelling is simple, but building it properly is demanding. Software must handle hierarchies, recalculate dependencies automatically, and roll updates through forecasts and cash flow in real time. That takes more than clever spreadsheets.

The sophistication lies in the integration: linking assumptions to hundreds of line items and interdependencies, yet presenting results in a way that non-financial managers can actually use.

But here’s the catch: I’ve seen it happen time and time again that technology on its own almost never delivers. A system that people don’t like, trust or understand, or that buries outputs in jargon, will fail. The best tools should fade into the background so the focus stays on the activity and desired outcome, not the software.

Start small, build confidence

The adage about there being only one way to eat an elephant applies here. Most organisations will find it works best to start small and take one bite at a time: one business unit, a few key assumptions, before scaling.

Begin with a willing partner, like the department head fed up with reporting delays or the operations manager pushing for better visibility. Work with them to identify the assumptions they should give direct input into. Show how these flow through to financial outcomes. Keep it simple and practical. The goal is to create engaged partners who understand the impact of their decisions, not mini-accountants with extra homework.

Signs it is working

You can’t improve what you don’t measure, but traditional performance metrics are not much help here. So, instead of celebrating forecast accuracy, track how quickly new scenarios can be modelled when conditions change.

Look at decision velocity: how fast insights turn into action. Check whether operational teams are updating their assumptions and seeing the knock-on effect in projections. Most importantly, when disruption hits, are they able to respond fast? If your client can pivot in days rather than weeks, that is the difference between staying in the game and being left behind. It is that stark.

But the real marker of success is when the business starts spotting opportunities during chaos instead of just firefighting.

The smart, benevolent poacher

Competitive pressures may push towards speed, but your client doesn’t need to swing too far to speed at any cost. Your challenge is to find the balance point that makes sense for your clients that prevents them from clinging to standards that no longer fit, and from going all in on speed without any governance.

Digital technology makes assumption-based modelling possible, smart processes make it workable, and engaged people make it have impact. Get this shift right, and you are not just helping clients survive uncertainty, you are positioning them to thrive in it.

Redknapp could have kept Bale at left-back. He was competent there, safe, predictable. But 2009 was the moment for transformation, and waiting would have wasted Bale's peak years. For many businesses, that moment is now. Or risk being forced into the move from defensive to attacking finance later, and miss out on the benefits of making the shift today.

As published AccountingWeb - October 2025