3rd Nov 2023:
Aspire More is a networking forum to inspire women professionals to step up to leadership roles. The forum equips leaders with essential skills and knowledge to realize their full potential and contribute to leadership roles.
The theme this quarter was financial management, and for the session, it was “business finance—a key to effective leadership”.
A curated discussion for a comprehensive understanding of the essentials of financial accounting and financial management for first-line managers discussed the following topics:
- A budget flow: how the CEO/CFO decides the organization-level budgets, passes them on to their next-level leaders, and finally trickles down to first-line managers
- A spreadsheet template for typical line items in an expense budget, under the control of first-line budget owners.
- Why budgeting and management are importantDifferences between the finance model and the budget model
- Difference between product and service companies budgets and targets
- How to ask for more resources and justify the budgets
- How to work with other stakeholders and keep the budgets, targets, and results on track
The esteemed panel consisted of Kedar Kasture, Global Head, Investment Operations, Head, India Services, Franklin Templeton Investments; Atchuta Madhav, Senior Vice President,IT, Franklin Templeton; and Gaurav Garg, GBS, Global Finance Shared Services, Global Payroll, Franklin Templeton. Sesha M. Rao, Executive Director, HYSEA, served as the panel moderator.
The audience was made up of product companies, service companies, line managers with finance, and product backgrounds.
Key takeaways were:
- Ensure the results and budgets are consistent.
- Ensure that there are no surprises, either positive or negative.
- Ensure you work with the finance department to manage variances carefully.
- Understand your role and contribute to the financial success of the organization.
