ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Finance transformation
Kestrel Foods operates a finance SSC established three years ago. Costs per transaction have fallen, but the board notes that the SSC staff only process what they are sent, business units still request bespoke reports, and finance is seen as a back-office cost. The CEO wants finance to contribute to strategic decisions. Which conclusion is most consistent with finance transformation thinking?
The SSC has delivered efficiency, but the next step is to redeploy capacity towards business partnering and analysis, using standardised data and automation. Finance transformation seeks to shift from transaction processing to decision support. Reverting to local teams or outsourcing would lose the gains or weaken business insight.
- AThe SSC has delivered efficiency, but further transformation should free finance resources for business partnering and analysis, supported by standardised data and automationCorrect
- BThe SSC should be abandoned because cost savings show it cannot add strategic value
- CFinance should return to local teams so that managers receive bespoke reports faster
- DFinance should be fully outsourced because strategic input is best bought externally
Explanation
Finance transformation aims to move effort from transaction processing to value-adding support for decisions. The SSC achieved the first step, so the next step is to use released capacity and better data for business partnering. Abandoning it or decentralising would lose the efficiency gains, and outsourcing strategic input would weaken business insight.
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