Context
The British Gas Services business had recently re-organised into a number of separate Business Units, with
P&L accountability.
The business saw a Finance function that was always busy, but they wanted Finance to play a more strategic role. It felt as if Finance were peddling hard to provide a basic level of service, with little spare time for adding enough business value.
Questions
Is there a better a better way to organise Finance? How can we free-up time to play a more value-adding business partnering role?
The Arcus Approach
- Engaged business unit Managing Directors in the best ways for Finance to add more value
- Identified the issues and constraints in Finance in Services, as well as across British Gas
- Developed options for a new finance organisation, sharing good (and bad) practice learnings from other large companies
- Re-defined new, consistent finance roles with detailed definitions of skills, responsibilities and priorities
- Facilitated the decision-making process for implementing the new organisation (including a mid-way transition of finance leadership!)
- Helped to mobilise the change and launch the new finance organisation.
The Arcus team brought real-life experience of how to improve our finance organisation. They stretched our thinking, but were pragmatic and ‘streetwise’ about how to make it work in practice.
I very much valued the war stories they brought from other companies – ‘theoretically this is what you do, but practically these are the things that really matter’.
I’ve enjoyed working with the Arcus team, and they certainly have my advocacy for their approach, experience and style.
Oliver Smedley
Finance Director, British Gas Services
The Arcus approach is top-down and refreshing. They tackle the big questions, and are very effective at eliminating the noise. But they dig into grass roots levels when they need to unblock practical issues. I quickly built a trust in the Arcus team.
At times they’ve felt like immediate colleagues, with valuable, straight-talking advice that goes beyond the traditional consulting model.
