Poor finance process in manning selvage and lee company’s finance department

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business NGUYỄN THỊ HẢI VÂN MASTER THESIS POOR FINANCE PROCESS IN MANNING SELVAGE AND LEE COMPANY’S FINANCE DEPARTMENT MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business NGUYỄN THỊ HẢI VÂN MASTER THESIS POOR FINANCE PROCESS IN MANNING SELVAGE & LEE COMPANY’S FINANCE DEPARTMENT MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: DR ĐOÀN ANH TUẤN Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020 Content List of tables Executive summary Company overview Symptoms 2.1 Negative Cash Flow 2.2 Decreased Profit Margin 2.3 Long collecting period 10 Problem identification 11 3.1 Potential problems 11 3.1.2 Lack of standardized financial process 13 3.1.3 Weak collecting function 14 3.2 Validating problems 16 3.2.1 Assistant’s perspective 16 3.2.2 Finance Manager’s perspective 17 3.2.3 Employee’s perspective 17 3.2.4 The importance of main problem 17 Cause validation 18 4.1 Potential causes 18 4.1.1 Lack of internal controls 19 4.1.2 Lack of skilled staffs 20 4.1.3 Lack of team cooperation 20 4.1.4 Weak working allocation 20 4.2 Validating causes 21 Alternatives solutions 23 5.1 Solution 1: Preparing and controlling the budgeting process 24 5.2 Solution 2: Implement training program to improve company financial status .35 5.3 Solution 3: Apply KPI – rewarding system 38 Supporting information 50 References 53 List of abbreviations AR Account receivable CFO Chief finance officer CF Cash flow HR Human resource KPI Key indicators performance RF Rolling forecast List of figures Figure 1.MSL Organization Structure Figure 2.Finance – Accounting Department Structure Figure 3.Net Cash Flow of the company Figure 4.Change in net cash of the company Figure 5.Profit Margin of the company 10 Figure Average collection period of the company 11 Figure Overheads RF vs Actual 12 List of diagrams Diagram Initial cause and effect map of Finance Department 16 Diagram Updated cause - effect map of F&A Department .19 Diagram Fish bone analysis diagram of the lack standardized finance function 23 List of tables Table 1.Roles and responsibilities of participants in budgeting plan 27 Table 2.Project management plan for running the budgeting process 30 Table 3.Training program to improve company financial status 38 Table 4.PSC Principles for allocating responsibilities 42 Table 5.PSC example format when allocating and scoring each department .45 Table 6.Example format for cascading: Individual KPI 49 Executive summary Finance and Accounting has been becoming as a major of concern in the world of fastpaced business To keep advantage competitive, every firm not only needs to keep up with technology but also need to apply modern technology into the real work, utilize the current resource to maximize the profit Hence, finance and accounting function becomes one of the most important components in an organization This function maintains the relations with all parts of the company as well as ensure the operation is always under control at a management team level A solid finance and accounting function will be a strong base for firm in the progress of achieving chosen objectives and optimize future investments However, Manning Selvage & Lee (MSL) Companya company that is working in public relations (PR) industry and its Finance Department in current situation, it can be seen that the firm is experiencing from long collecting period, poor cash flow management and decreased in profit margin due to the lack of standardized finance function This research examines the impact of three main causes- weak working allocation, lack if skilled staffs as well as lack of team cooperation These are the cause of some problems including weak overheads management, lack of standardized financial process and weak collecting period In this paper, in-depth interview, literature reviews and historical data are used to figure out effective and efficient solutions for the department To sum up, this paper defined symptoms and problems to evaluate and assess their importance as well as propose feasible solutions to enhance business performance, solve the current issue, general and improve the profit of the company through increase more inflows Throughout this paper, viewers could have a full picture of relationship between cause and effects well as get familiar with solutions to cope with problems happened in the department Company overview Founded in 1926, Publicis Groupe is the 3rd largest communications group in the world Through a powerful alchemy of creativity and technology, company are driving business transformation across the entire value chain Highly modular, Publicis Groupe Connecting Company model is a unique platform that gives clients plug and play access to our best- in-class services Supported by a Global Client Leader (GCL), company’s clients benefit from a borderless, seamless service that drives the alchemy of creativity and technology Publicis Groupe is organized into Solutions Hubs for easier connectivity and integration: Publicis Communications, Publicis Sapient, Publicis Media and Publicis Health In this model, all agency brands still exist but share an operational backbone, which gives them the power and expertise of all the Solution Hubs combined to deliver the scale required to compete and win in new world markets As a Connecting Company, firm is able to deliver as the Power of One - driven by a common purpose, a powerful spirit, shared behaviors, great character and a relentless focus on our clients Publicis Vienam is established in 2016 with four main agencies including Manning Selvage & Lee (MSL), Publicis Media, Publicis and Leo Burnett that will be in charge of two mains divisions: Publicis Communications and Publicis Media The needs of client are the core of the Connecting Company Model - Clients come first - We are seamless - We are frictionless - We are modular - We are united 1.2 Organization structure Leading the company is Chief Executive Officer- Mr Lukasz Rosz who will take the management role for total company in Vietnam market There are four shareholders which takes responsibility for four main groups: Finance and Accounting Department, Human Resource Department, Admin (Office) Department, Production Department Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Finance & Accounting DepartmentHuman Resource Department Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Chief Talent Officer Finance Manager Chief accountant HR executives Admin Department Office Manager Admin executives Production Department Digital executives Event executives Planning executives Account excutives Finance Assisstant Figure 1.MSL Organization Structure Source: MSL’s internal information 1.3 Mission Publicis Groupe’s mission is to be the world leader in sustainable value creation through imaginative ideas and connections that build business with empowered people everywhere Be the preferred creative partner for our clients' marketing transformation Publicis Group offers two primary value propositions: innovation and brand/status 1.4 Finance- Accounting Department Finance Assisstant AP accountant Chief accountant AR Accountant Finance Manager General and Tax Accountant CFO Figure 2.Finance – Accounting Department Structure Source: MSL’s internal information Symptoms Thanks to the interview with finance manager- Mr Minh as well as Ms Hanh- finance assistant, Ms Linh- AR accountant as well as employees at MSL and historical data of the company, there are three symptoms could be listed as following: negative cash flow, decreased profit margin and long collecting period 2.1 Negative Cash Flow The definition of cash flow is known as the cash and cash-equivalent which will be transferred into and out of an organization’s business In other words, it shows References Ahmad, K Z., and Bakar, R A (2003) The association between training and organizational commitment among white0collar workers in Malaysia International journal 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Explaining labour productivity effects from schooling and training International Journal of Manpower, 22(1/2), 158-173 Appendices Appendix 1: Finance and Accounting Department’s internal information Data 1: Change in net cash from 2017 to 2019 Source: Finance Department Data 2: Actual and Forecast Profit and Loss report from 2017 to 2019 Source: Finance Department Appendix 2: Transcript summary Question and Answer Coding Job Position Full name, job position and job description of interviewees Ms Hanh: My name is Doan Hong Hanh and I am an - Finance assistant under the guidance of Mr Minh – the Finance Manager assistant Mr Minh: My name is Nguyen Binh Minh and I am a Finance - Finance Manager Manager of Finance Department Ms Linh: My name is Nguyen Thuy Linh and I am - Account account receivables accountant receivable Ms Diep: My name is Dinh Thi Diep – a finance executive accountant in Finance Department Ms Hien: My name is Nguyen Thu Hien and I am also a fiancé executive in Finance Department Category - Finance Department staff Ms Anh: My name is Tran Phuong Anh and I am working in admin team under the Admin(Office) Department - Finance Department staff Admin staff Job tenure Q1 & Q2: How long have you worked as your current position (working experience)? How long have you worked at MSL? Ms Hanh: 4-year experience and years working for MSL Mr Minh: I have been working for MSL for 10 year I have 15-year experience in role Ms Linh: years and years working for MSL Ms Diep: I have 7-month experience as a Finance executive at MSL Ms Hien: I have worked here since 2017 so I have been working at MSL for years and I have –year experience Ms Anh: I have been working as an receptionist for years before moving to admin team since early 2019 I have 4- year experience in total at MSL Q3: How you feel about your job at MSL? Ms.Hanh : My job is quite hard and challenging as I Employees’ - Hard, have various responsibilities, as a result, sometimes Challenge and I feel overloaded and could not focus on the main feel overloaded tasks Mr Minh.: I’m really stressed about the current scope of work - Stressful now Company is experiencing employee shortage period even and heavy they worked for company more than years, some even work loaded years Hence, the remaining employees have to handle others work while still are in charge of their current job It is obviously they are newbie in some tasks and they feel so overwhelmed Ms Linh: I think my job is quite busy as I both handle - Busy, following client payment status and take responsibilities for overloaded as purchasing Sometimes, I get some requests to purchase new handle two equipment for company while I still need to update the roles AR feelings and opinions payment term for customers and complete AR report every accountant and month-end closing I feel quite overloaded more often merchandiser at the same time Ms Diep: Actually, my job and position are not bad because I - Not bad but there are so many thing that I have not a chance to learn sometimes before In charging of new duties requires me to manage my unhappy with time and my tasks to make sure I can deliver result on time work However, I feel unhappy with the work allocation when I am allocation still needs to handle some paper work instead of production team as it makes an impact directly on my month-end closing Ms Hien: That’s right, Ms Diep and I are not only in charge of accounting and finance but also activities related to - Fine but production team such as create code for employee, create PO unhappy with for suppliers However, when I applied for this position in work allocation MSL, I am informed to take responsibilities of activities of as well Finance Department only Ms Anh: I feel this position fits me well and I can even have an opportunity to move to admin team which means Quite good but expanding my scope and get involve in company business feel complicated However, I can see that the current process is quite with the current complicated and overlapped some in between For example, way of working when my team submit invoice related to company furniture or for the process equipment, I always get asked why there is no alignment between admin and finance team for the purchase Since I joined my team, there was no clear guidance on how a process should be From my view, I think whether this activity should start from both sides, finance and admin team to discuss and finalize the quotation before placing an order Apart from that complex work allocation, everything is still fine in my department Q4: What you think about MSL and Finance Working Department’s working performance? performance Ms Hanh: Currently, some of employees who takes main charge with clients have already resigned Therefore, Finance - Lack of skilled team needs to update and get work progression from other staffs, employees There are some back and forth activities such as resignation, system access, expense claims and project liquidation complicated process It can be seen that Finance team takes a main Finance connection to production and account team since the departmental beginning till the product liquidation steps As a result, structure and Finance Department is stressed out because all concern unproductivity related to process from others team always roots to team for explanation and instruction That is also the reason why Finance Department has to take care lots of activities as currently so one of the main tasks is boosting company financial performance is still low in progress Mr Minh: Before, the performance was quite good back in 2016, but recently it has been fluctuated When extracting - Fluctuated data from system, you would find out the negative profits in compared to 2016, recent years There are still some issues can be listed here like negative profit, delayed debt collection which put company in a money delayed in shortage situation However, there are some cases which boosting financial collection days are expired for too long but there is positive Performance signal to get it back as AR accountant seems to overwhelmed to push more than 30 clients at the same time Mr Diep: From my point of view, besides the working allocation, I think the company performance compared to previous is a quite lower as many employees resigned Ms Hien: It is correct, when I consolidate data and prepare report monthly, I find out that revenue and profit could be ups and downs more often There are some costs are still not paid although it is overdue quite long I also highlight this to Mr - Resignation with poor work allocation Minh and he is planning to figure out more effective way with CFO to make decision on collecting and payment schedule - Decreased profit margin, overdue costs, Finance Manager over workload Q5: What you think about the flow of cash in the Cash flow company? Why is it not effective? management Mr Minh: In this area, as I mentioned about the cash shortage earlier, cash flow management is facing a real issue You know, cash flow is only taken into consideration when it - Cash shortage flow is only done for practice purpose and there is no clear budget management - No clear does not mean our company is not working on the budget but budgeting due to the lack of deep dive analyzing data and time spent on plan training for Ms Hien, Ms Linh is quite limited so she could - Lack of not absorb all the important parts in the short of time As a skilled result, feasible actions could not be done to improve the employees situation Therefore, a standardized financial function could function - Poor cash comes to submitting funding request to regional Forecasting as well as target to control the cash inflow and outflow It and finance - Poor finance be seen a transformation step to allocating workload and put function more effort into each controls for our company Ms Hien, Ms because AR Linh and I therefore could spend more time on the cash flow accountant and management frequently Finance Manager overloaded with other duties Q6: Why does the department submit quarterly Quarterly report for client profitability report instead of report monthly or yearly? Ms Hanh: According to company’s policy, regional needs to consolidate and analyze data client profitability report quarterly to ensure every related costs related to client are Sometimes, there reported accordingly It will help regional as well as local would be only one team to understand and adjust cost spent on each project is project in a quarter allocated suitably Investors can be therefore have a full picture about the current business performance It would be also a chance for company to get more funding to expand the business in the market Reports will be submitted by Finance 60 team every quarter Q7: What impacts on the dramatic decrease of profit Decreased margin and significant increase in collection period? What profit are the consequences of those impacts on the company’s margin’s performance? problems Mr Minh: In my point of view, the collection period is clearly facing some problems which can be seen as lack of un-strict policy, poor working allocation, unskilled employees and solid - Lack of process Long collection period issues plan As s result, department fails to pushing and follow up with (un-strict policy) client payment which makes collecting days increase more - Poor work significantly As for profit margin, poor cost management is the allocation, labor main reason for increasing expense while revenue is still not & plan stable To be more specific, there are some unnecessary general and administration cost related to furniture and equipment temporarily adds more expenses on company cost Cash flow shortage can be therefore become more serious and it might - Fail to follow up client payment - Expenses control make an impact on future investment and outcomes Q8: What does it means when you say “temporarily Expenses unnecessary general & administration expense” situation Mr Minh: As you can see, by paying for temporarily unnecessary costs like travel and entertainment, team lunch, are costs I mentioned above Instead of paying those invoices, we can utilize this to improve current operations and hiring more - Travel and entertainment fees, experienced employees to expand the business for example 81 Q9: What you think about the benefits of the company? Firm’s benefits Mr Diep: As for the bonus, I would say it quite good but in - Satisfied but others terms of needed benefits, there are some benefits were cut like benefits are cut yoga class and other allowance as a result of cost management recently Cost It might impact on our motivation as well as indicates there are saving can help to some issues we are facing at the moment In addition, if that hire new staffs, cost saving is spent on renovation or hire experienced renovation employees, it might be more effective than current practices Ms Anh: My main major is related to financial but I could see the pressure put on Finance Department There are some benefits are cut since early 2019 for saving purpose so I am not sure on my side whether other benefits are going to be cut along the way My - Co-workers are teammates are also worried about that and sometimes they not not comfortable feel comfortable besides workload they still handle about the benefits as well as the workload Q10: What is your opinion on MSL, departmental and Departmental your personal issues? What solutions you think it can issues, Main help you to solve your problem? causes and Ms Hanh: I have some suggestion to propose on your question You know, the main responsibilities for Finance Department is taking control in every financial aspect such as manage cost, manage, verifying orders and suppliers, instruct production team to access to company system for project management purpose and lots of paper work In my view, to boosting team performance as well as reduce the cost pressure, an effective budgeting process needs to set and implement As currently, it mainly starts from the top-down activities while it supposes to be from bottom-up and top-down activities Finance Department needs to be aware of all cost to be incurred in the business as well as budget for each department needs to be allocated from the beginning That helps to ensure there is no unexpected cost out of the budget as well as create the connection between Finance - Set clear budgeting processes to control cost suggested solution Department and relevant teams in the progress of improve company financial performance Mr Minh: The question is really on point The solution needs to be executed to improve current finance function The first come to my mind is transforming current structure into a solid one with firstly clear budgeting processes which currently is an issue to the company I often consider every cost incurred in the business and carefully check on my estimation whether that spending is needed I feel there is not enough information for me to make decision sometimes as I have not got a chance to discuss with head of each department on what they are going to spend on this year Most of the time, I only get informed when the cost is needed to pay in a short period of - Improve finance time Therefore, to set a budgeting processes is really important function, prepare to the firm Budgeting plan needs to be taken care not budget to solve the only for reporting purpose but also for the firm final goals cause of overrun With a clear budget and clear goal for the budget, I together cost with my team can analyze more deeply to identify the weakness as well as take action accordingly to prevent overrun cost and improve the financial performance in general When there is a proper budget, we can take action or adjustment if needed to ensure cost incurred is under control Q11 & Q12: Could you help me to draw conclusion about Conclusion the quality of finance function in the company? Is there on finance anything to share? function Ms Hank: As I shared with you earlier about my proposed solution, I think we need to take action immediately as waiting will just make the situation more serious and worse Along the way, solutions could be adjusted accordingly to ensure it is possible to and suitable for the current budget But if we still wait for the suitable time, we could not know how long we need to wait - Solutions still must be gradually executed and adjusted (fit with budget) Mr Minh: As for the solution, I would say that starting to set - Main problem: and control budgeting process, set KPIs rewarding system to lack of encourage employees to take more proactive actions on day to standardized day job could be considered to implement finance function - Solution: set budgeting processes and KPI system ... MINH CITY International School of Business NGUYỄN THỊ HẢI VÂN MASTER THESIS POOR FINANCE PROCESS IN MANNING SELVAGE & LEE COMPANY’S FINANCE DEPARTMENT MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION... for four main groups: Finance and Accounting Department, Human Resource Department, Admin (Office) Department, Production Department Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Finance & Accounting DepartmentHuman... propositions: innovation and brand/status 1.4 Finance- Accounting Department Finance Assisstant AP accountant Chief accountant AR Accountant Finance Manager General and Tax Accountant CFO Figure 2.Finance