The strategic role of the finance function: The path to relevance – by Aubrey Joachim During my term as Global President of CIMA nearly a decade ago, the theme I chose for my year of leadership was a single word – ‘relevance’. The word relevance is perpetual. It is contextual to when it is used. It is extremely applicable to the finance function and the finance professional of the day. They must be relevant to the audience they engage with. At the time I flaunted the word it was clear that the role finance played in organisations was shifting from one of being passive and reactive to one that was more proactive. Management accountants had to shift their focus from just historical financial statement preparation to participating in actively managing their organisations. Today that expectation has jumped many notches. Every major global accounting body is boldly promoting their members as ‘business leaders’ who can strategically take organisations forward. The challenge is for finance professionals to live up to this high expectation placed upon them when they are employed in industry and commerce. In an attempt to force ...

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