This “Back Office Performance” Issue
was Raised by a Member…
One of our most active members recently reached out to me to ask about the best
design for, and performance benchmarking of, a Back Office function.
Here's some context to help us launch a discussion at the April 11 &12 meeting...
Background:
A member company is going through a Finance function transformation, which they
see as an important part of their continuing process of improvement.
Their CRO is concerned that their Back Office function is being reviewed under the
same generic criteria for benchmarking as are all other "accounting functions" across
the Company.
His opinion is that shadow invoicing for commodities is a very essential control tool
which is complex and unique, requiring an understanding of the commodity trading
business.
Therefore, in his opinion, the Back Office as a part of our CCRO recommended
"Front/Mid/Back" office model should be subject to benchmarking among trading
organizations, rather than financial accounting in general.
Our First Question to Evaluate:
A) Should we think about Back Office (and benchmark it accordingly in terms of
FTEs and KPIs) as a generic accounting function that can be performed by
enterprise business services department, like any other invoices?
...or …
B) Should it be a specialized group with commodity business knowledge,
understanding commodity invoices, CTRM knowledge, ability of creating shadow
invoices, and disputing them with counterparties? Etc.
CCRO members completed a quick poll of viewpoints on this key issue à
www.ccro.org
1
was Raised by a Member…
One of our most active members recently reached out to me to ask about the best
design for, and performance benchmarking of, a Back Office function.
Here's some context to help us launch a discussion at the April 11 &12 meeting...
Background:
A member company is going through a Finance function transformation, which they
see as an important part of their continuing process of improvement.
Their CRO is concerned that their Back Office function is being reviewed under the
same generic criteria for benchmarking as are all other "accounting functions" across
the Company.
His opinion is that shadow invoicing for commodities is a very essential control tool
which is complex and unique, requiring an understanding of the commodity trading
business.
Therefore, in his opinion, the Back Office as a part of our CCRO recommended
"Front/Mid/Back" office model should be subject to benchmarking among trading
organizations, rather than financial accounting in general.
Our First Question to Evaluate:
A) Should we think about Back Office (and benchmark it accordingly in terms of
FTEs and KPIs) as a generic accounting function that can be performed by
enterprise business services department, like any other invoices?
...or …
B) Should it be a specialized group with commodity business knowledge,
understanding commodity invoices, CTRM knowledge, ability of creating shadow
invoices, and disputing them with counterparties? Etc.
CCRO members completed a quick poll of viewpoints on this key issue à
www.ccro.org
1
