10th Annual Effective Management Accountant Conference

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10th Annual Effective Management Accountant Conference

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About

Now, more than ever you need to have the latest skills, knowledge and training along with a solid understanding of the ways in which you can make a positive difference. With this in mind, we are proud to announce the 10th Effective Management Accounting Conference.

With a line-up of practitioners and leading experts sharing their experiences and the lessons they have learnt along with a progressive range topics, you can’t afford not to attend this event. Some of the issues that will be discussed include:
• What the CFO needs
• Transforming the budgeting process
• Forecasting and risk
• Financial intelligence - a strategic asset in your organisation
• Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) - measuring efficiency, benchmarking and continuous improvement
• Current thinking about performance indicators and why current measures are not creating the change intended

Take advantage of the opportunity to attend the pre-conference workshop on the 23rd March 2010, facilitated by respected Bill Butler the Director of the Academy of Training.

Agenda

Day 1

8.30

Registration & Coffee

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Carey Wood, Partner, Ernst & Young

9.10

Opening NZICA Address: Leadership for the Current Challenge

Grant Ellis, Chief Financial Officer, Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd

9.30

The Management Accountant as a strategist: Contributing towards the strategic effectiveness of the organisation

• Bringing your perspective into strategy – what will add strategic value
• Providing information that links the daily actions of managers to the strategic objectives of an organisation
• Your role in identifying and evaluating different strategic options
• Partnering with other senior managers to drive and implement strategy across the organisation

Mike Durkin, Group Management Accountant, Resene Paints Ltd

10.20

Morning tea

10.40

CFO issues and expectations: What the CFO is really interested in

While one size rarely fits all, clearly all can benefit from considering this practical, timely insight from one CFO who is committed to strengthening oversight and lifting the game for their respective organisation. This speaker will highlight critical areas of focus and will discuss the changing environment, increased expectations, as well as how management accounting can provide the right degree of proactive support to CFO.

Maurice Horner, Chief Financial Officer, New Zealand Defence Force

11.25

Better forecasting and budgeting: Improving the budgeting process

• Creating a dynamic rolling forecast for both revenue and expenditure
• Producing a budgeting process that can quickly reflect the output from the rolling forecast
• Make your budgeting process responsive to plans inspired by changes in strategy and the market; plus competitor moves, advances in technology, efficiency and process improvement ideas

David Parmenter, Author, International Presenter & Facilitator

Speaker has declined permission for his material to be online

12.15

Lunch

1.15

Perspectives on leadership: Differentiating ourselves and our profession

Leadership is what allows management accountants to serve as trusted business advisors and exert influence at any level in the organisation. It also serves to differentiate our profession in the accountant’s value chain. This speaker offers engaging and real-life perspectives on leadership, with valuable insights and strategies into what it takes to be the best and to enhance the performance of your team.

Craig Lewis, Director, Lead to Succeed

2.00

Transforming your operation’s budgeting process

• Current perspectives on budgeting in organisations, both positive and negative – where is the future headed for budgeting
• Investigate budget techniques for predicting the future
• Budgeting and the balanced scorecard – linking budgets to other performance management systems
• Tackling human behavioural challenges to budgeting

Susan Hansen, Financial Consultant, Susan Hansen Consulting

2.50

Afternoon tea

3.10

The essential economic update for the New Zealand Management Accountant

• Local and global economic situation and outlook
• Interest rate prospects
• The exchange rate outlook and the NZ dollar
• Growth opportunities for NZ corporate

Nick Tuffley, Chief Economist, ASB Bank

4.00

Measuring the risk attached to plans and forecasts

The necessity for having reliable measures of risks attached to business forecasts is becoming increasingly evident in today’s volatile and uncertain markets. Improving visibility into our likely future performance will help us build effective dynamic plans and business models for a more proactive response to changing market conditions.
• Business forecasting, uncertainty and risk - terms & concepts
• Characteristics of business forecasting
• Case study – a real life problem
• Market volatility and uncertainty
• Business trends and baseline
• Business activities and risk events
• Uncertainty and its impacts on business forecasts
• Aggregating risk
• Producing range forecasts

Gary McLoughlin, Principal - Corporate Finance, WHK

4.50

End of day one & networking drinks

Relax, unwind and network with speakers and colleagues over complimentary drinks.

Day 2

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Nalar Mohamed, New Zealand President, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants; & Business Performance Manager Organisation Performance, Auckland City Council

9.10

Keynote CIMA Address: Management Accountants: Stepping up and delivering value in turbulent times

In the face of the current environment, management accountants have realised that they simply cannot afford to stick to “business as usual.” We are faced with the challenges of changing the way things are done as well as the way decisions are made, in a financial and strategic level. As trusted advisors we have had to help our organisations not only survive, but thrive and get ahead of the economic recovery? This speaker will discuss:
• Key facets of current thoughts, concerns and issues in management accounting
• Practical ways for management accountants to continue to step up and differentiate themselves in tumultuous economic times
• Dealing with the trade offs - how to guide your budget managers to ensure they understand how best to manage their activities with reduced resources

Nalar Mohamed, New Zealand President, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants; & Business Performance Manager Organisation Performance, Auckland City Council

10.00

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA): A method for measuring efficiency, benchmarking and continuous improvement

Every organisation is faced with trying to answer three basic performance questions: How well are we doing, what do we need to do to improve and who are the best-in-class performers for benchmarking purposes? DEA has been internationally acclaimed as a leading-edge method of performance measurement that supports benchmarking, continuous improvement and strategic analysis. In essence DEA provides the answers to these questions. In this session Paul will provide a clear understanding of DEA and how you can use it for performance improvement and benchmarking.

Dr Julie Harrison, Lecturer, The University of Auckland

10.50

Morning tea

11.10

Mastering performance measuring and reporting when times are tough and change is constant

• Working with flexibility – how to measure business performance and generate useful reports while changes occur every day
• Key factors of financial and non-financial performance measures
• Cost behaviour and how to measure and report costs with constant changes and the need to be flexible
• Other tools to measure and report performance

Ian Horne, General Manager Corporate, EECA

12.00

Finance business intelligence: From data to information to competitive advantage

Today’s competitive and challenging economic environment places further emphasis on real-time information for decision-making purposes. As finance professional struggle to improve performance amid fickle customers, shrinking product cycles, and volatile economies, they are besieged by the escalating distractions and costs of regulatory compliance. Every day, it seems, there are more controls to correct, more questions to answer, more reports to prepare and more rules to follow.
• Finance and Business Intelligence - A smart acquisition
• How BI can be used to drive decisions and performance
• How to make BI a strategic asset in your organisation
• Practical approaches and considerations for successfully implementing BI in your organisation

Belinda Johnson, Director, Cortell New Zealand

Speaker has declined permission for her material to be online

12.45

Lunch

1.45

How can Management Accountants become effective change agents?

A significant number of strategic change initiatives fail to deliver the promised benefits. One key cause for this is the fact that organisations when launching change initiatives underestimate the importance of trust, influence, having an active torch-carrier, informal power and engaging leadership. This session will provide a practical check-list of internal actions to be taken, and influences tapped, before and during major change in your organisation so as to ensure a successful outcome.
• Why do many strategic change initiatives start with a bang, and end with a whimper?
• What is the leadership style required for effective change?
• Involving people in the change process: getting buy-in and reducing stress

Christine Bear, Managing Director, CBA Consulting

2.30

Creating a Best-in-Class KPI Programme: Improving the way your KPIs are measured and reported

As all management accountants know, to run operations efficiently it’s essential for organisations to get their financial houses in order. They must have real-time visibility and control as well as effective management of their cash flow, financial commitments, and payments to know where the company stands at any given moment. Companies not only must meet set levels of compliance in these areas, but they also must demonstrate their continual improvement of financial processes. One way to achieve continuous financial improvement is to establish a programme of key performance indicators (KPIs). This session will discuss:
• Current thinking about performance indicators and why current measures are not creating the change intended
• How key performance indicators (or KPIs) are misused in many organisations and are not creating the focus, alignment and achievement that organisations are seeking
• A fresh approach to the way you measure, report and improve performance through the appropriate use of performance measures available

Mark Kippenberger, National Managing Partner Business Advisory, KPMG

3.15

Afternoon tea

3.30

Managing complex centres and the business reporting challenges

The team at KiwiRail deal with an incredibly complex array of cost centres, Sarah plays an active role in her team in managing these various cost centres, both at a divisional and group level. In this session Sarah will discuss:
• The KiwiRail environment
• How they have structured their cost centres
• How they manage analysis, query handling and reporting on P&L, KPI’s, budgets and forecasts for the various cost centres
• Rolling stock assets - how we overhaul and depreciate over time
• What works, what doesn’t and what they would consider changing

Sarah Carter, Financial Controller, KiwiRail Freight

4.10

The hidden profit and loss account: How to “see” ways to release more profitability into your business

Why do some organisations in the same industry have costs that are 20-40% lower than their peers? Why do so many costs fail to add value for customers? Seeing income and expenditure through the lens of cost centres rather than cost drivers fails to alert managers to the extent to which waste is accumulating in their businesses. This session will help you to “see” income and expenditure through a different lens.
• Why budgets and other top-down control systems fail to reduce costs
• Understand cost drivers, process improvement and lean accounting concepts
• Better manage the costs of the finance operation and learn how they can be reduced
• Understand how many other costs can be eliminated

Richard Laktin, Group Financial Controller Provider Arm, Counties Manukau District Health Board

4.50

Closing remarks from the Chair and end of conference

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