The CEO Magazine EMEA – April 2018

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DELOITTE

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An entry point to becoming a digital enterprise

Transforming Baloise’s

finance function

C

EOs rightfully expect their CFOs to

report on how the company is

performing versus its competitors, to

anticipate sales and profit growth,

and to have a clear view on adopting new

business models. Discussions on such topics,

for example at board and management

meetings, are typically based on past

performance figures. Finance teams invest

effort to prepare numbers that their

management expects for these dialogues.

Most companies, especially those

operating in a regulated industry like

Baloise, are facing increasing costs in their

finance function – mainly due to the upsurge

of regulatory reporting. In Baloise’s case,

reporting requirements of both local

regulators, such as FINMA in Switzerland, and

multinational bodies such as the European

Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

have risen.

Two years ago, Baloise’s CEO and CFO were

looking into ways to solve this finance

conundrum. The firm could no longer sustain

a finance function with increasing costs while

operating with the same traditional, backward-

looking figures to steer the business through

a rapidly changing environment.

Baloise teamed up with Deloitte to tackle

this challenge. The first step was to have the

firm’s finance teams from both group level

and its subsidiaries join forces for a finance

vision lab hosted by Deloitte. The ultimate

goal: to define Baloise’s ‘future-proof

finance function’.

Having agreed on a vision and targets –

improving the what and how of finance reports

and how automation can simplify the

underlying finance processes – Baloise and

Deloitte then initiated the firm’s finance

transformation. Crucial at this project stage

was the buy-in of the executive committee.

Thanks to their strong support, the project

team was able to shape a governance structure

enabling quick decisions and including the

best people for the programme.

A next key step was laying out a roadmap

that allowed the joint Baloise and Deloitte

project team to systematically implement

improvement activities in line with the vision

during the first years, leveraging a lean and

improved budgeting and forecasting process.

The roadmap also helped to bring the business

owners on board to get their buy-in for the

finance journey. Understanding the business’

information needs and agreeing on finance’s

mandate is a prerequisite for any successful

finance transformation.

The process is steadily underway – the

first time in over 15 years that Baloise is

comprehensively transforming its finance

function. As a result of the 4–5-year journey

supported by Deloitte, Baloise will operate one

common finance platform across the group,

using one chart of accounts, a common data

model and a defined set of new, focused KPIs

and reports. This process is also prompting a

new mindset when it comes to collaboration

between entities and finance teams, taking

clear ownership for decisions and acting in the

interest of the whole group.

Daniel Schlegel,

Partner, Deloitte Switzerland,

leading the Insurance Consulting practice

[email protected] | +41 58 279 6770

Markus Zorn,

Director, Deloitte Switzerland,

leading the Finance Transformation practice

[email protected] | +41 58 279 6819

deloi.tt/finance-transformation