Ep. 249: Ahmed Hassan - The Evolving Role of Financial Leadership

Join Adam Larson on the Count Me In Podcast as he sits down with
the insightful Ahmed Hassan to explore how financial leadership
has shot into a new era. Ahmed, an esteemed finance executive and
IMA Global board member, shares how the roles in finance have
shifted from traditional number-crunching to proactive, strategic
business partnering.


Listen in as they discuss the impact of digital tech, COVID-19,
and sustainability on financial strategies, the importance of
people skills, and the rise of data analytics in decision-making.
Ahmed backs up the talk with his journey in embracing change,
leveraging automation for insightful analysis, and his advocacy
for continuous learning through the IMA.


This episode offers a treasure trove of knowledge for finance
professionals looking to adapt to the evolving demands of the
industry. If you're curious about the future of financial
strategy or keen on understanding the shifting focus in finance,
this conversation is your must-listen. So sit back, tune in, and
get inspired to take on the financial world with a fresh,
informed perspective!


Full Episode Transcript:
 < Intro >


 


Adam:           
Hello, and welcome to Count Me In. I'm Adam Larson, and today I'm
joined by a distinguished guest, Ahmed Hassan, Head of Decision
Support at Vodafone, Global Board Director & Middle East
Committee Chair at IMA. In this episode, we'll dive into how
financial leaders are expanding their influence beyond
traditional roles, and embracing strategic, data-driven
decision-making amidst global changes and technological
advancements.


 


Staying ahead of the curve and fostering continuous learning have
been key to navigating the landscape of finance. A world now
permeated by AI, automation, and the need for dynamic skill sets.
So, without further ado, let's welcome Ahmed, to share his
valuable insights with us here on Count Me In.


 


 < Music >


 


Ahmed, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. We're really
excited to have you today, talking about FP&A, and the roles,
and your experience. And to start off, I thought we could start
with how has the role of financial leadership evolved, as you
look over the past decades. And what are the driving forces
behind those changes, in the financial leadership?


 


Ahmed:          So,
thank you, Adam. First of all, thank you for having me today. I'm
very looking forward for a very engaging and exciting discussion,
so thank you for that. Thank you for the question to start with,
this is a very in-time question. So as the finance roles are
evoluting, and it's not only on the last decade. So I think
finance roles are evoluting since almost 20 years, as we speak.
So it's undergoing significant changes that is taking place in
the finance role as we speak. 


 


This is turning the finance function from the one responsible for
financial reporting, and forecasting, and the normal finance
roles that used to be. To the one co-driving organizations to
achieve their goals and targets. So, currently, finance leaders
spend more than 50% of their time on value-adding, business
partnering activities. Rather than a typical finance department
role and what they used to do, a few years ago.


 


So now we give more focus on casting a wider net for new
efficiency opportunities, as we go. Boosting finance roles in
managing data, strengthening decision-making process, through
widespread adoption of data visualization and data analytics.


 


So this is how we look into how we use that data that we have, as
we speak. It's mainly for putting a very solid ground into the
decision-making and driving business, as we go. And the role of
finance leadership is evoluting as well as this is evoluting. So
the finance leadership has been influenced by several global
forces, as we speak.


 


So definitely with all what happened in the past few years, in
terms of COVID, where we will touch base a lot on the impact of
COVID and how this evoluted. The overall changes that took place
in organizations and then zooming into finance in specific. And
also all the changes that is taking place in the world, either
from a geopolitical viewpoint, economical, and all other changes.


 


So there are several global forces that are impacting the finance
role evolution, including the growth of digital technologies. All
the changes that I just mentioned. The importance of
sustainability, changing demographics, complexities that are
taking place in the geopolitics, as I mentioned, and all the
dependencies that are making transformation or structural
transformation a must, during these times.


 


All these forces actually led to all the evolution that is taking
place in the finance role and in the finance leadership role, as
a result, as well. So this all led to a greater focus on
collaboration and people-oriented leadership. As well as the need
for managers to take important decisions, with input from their
teams based on a very robust data analytics that is generated
from the finance functions.


 


Adam:            I
think that's a really good overview in the evolution of the
finance leadership, and how the team is changing as the
environment changes. And when you think about the environment
changing, and the term a lot of people use is business partner.
And, so, in order to do that transformation that you just talked
about, you have to become that business partner.


 


And, so, are there key strategies that people should consider
when they're trying to, "Hey, I want to become that business
partner. I don't think I'm there, yet." What are some strategies
that they can apply in their own roles, so that they can make
sure they're becoming that? 


 


Ahmed:          Okay,
so transitioning, which comes also as a result of what we
mentioned, the evolution that took place in finance. So finance,
as we speak, in different roles, are business partners. And this
is not only in a function that is named business partner or
decision support in finance. I think this is across all finance
roles. So this will take place in FP&A, as an evolution of
the role.


 


Definitely in all decision support roles and finance business
partnering roles, in different areas of finance operations,
treasury, tax, supply chain. So this is all different types of
business partnering in finance. If we need to focus on what are
the key skills or developments, that a finance guy should adopt
to be a business partner. We can start focusing on some points.
So building a strategic engagement with the business. So this is
a key thing that has to take place in a finance role.


 


Building strong relationships with all stakeholders, is
fundamental to effective engagement with different business
functions. Spending time to know your stakeholders, understanding
their priorities, and be ready to challenge points they may not
have considered, or maybe it's not a focal point for them. While
actually it's something risky that you need to highlight.


 


Ensuring that analysis and reporting provided is aligning to the
key strategic directions that the stakeholders need to see, and
not only what is accessible and meaningful to finance specific.
So it's that perfect merge between finance and all the other
business requirements ...