1 What are finance processes?

Finance processes are the activities and tasks that support the financial management of your organization. They include planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, accounting, auditing, compliance, risk management, and more. Finance processes are essential for ensuring the accuracy, reliability, and timeliness of your financial data and information, as well as for making informed decisions and meeting your strategic goals.

3 How to use VSM for finance processes?

VSM for finance processes follows a similar approach as VSM for any other process, with basic steps that include defining the scope and objective of the project, mapping the current state of the finance process, analyzing it to identify opportunities for improvement, mapping the future state, and implementing and monitoring it. To start, choose a specific finance process to improve, such as invoice processing or financial closing. Gather data from your finance team and relevant parties to document the current state of your finance process. Use tools to uncover gaps, bottlenecks, errors, waste, or variation in your finance process. Then design and document the future state of your finance process based on your analysis and prioritize opportunities for improvement. Develop an action plan to implement the changes and transition to the future state of your finance process. Monitor and measure the results and outcomes of your future state using metrics you defined. Lastly, evaluate and adjust your future state as needed based on feedback and data.

5 What are the challenges of VSM for finance processes?

VSM for finance processes is not without its challenges, such as resistance to change from stakeholders, lack of data to map and analyze current state, complexity of the processes, and resource or time constraints. Your finance team may be reluctant to adopt new processes, roles, or systems, or to share information or feedback. You may not have enough data or information to measure and monitor your future state if your finance processes are manual, fragmented, or outdated. The processes may involve multiple steps, roles, systems, or regulations, or span across different functions, departments, or locations. You may not have enough resources or time to complete your VSM project if your finance team is already busy or understaffed and the project is not prioritized by leadership.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?