Read our latest features and articles on business partnering.
Why you need great influencing skills
Accountants with the ability to influence others will be seen as trusted business partners and strategic aides – and may end up working on high-level tasks that don’t involve numbers.
Business partnering courses
Our business partnering, personal impact and business ethics training courses cover topics including communication, commercial skills, strategic management skills and influence.
A-Z of CPD courses by topic
As a global leader of the finance profession, ICAEW offers a comprehensive range of training and learning options for every stage of professional development, designed for finance teams and finance leaders.
The ICAEW Library & Information Service provides full text access to a selection of key business and reference eBooks from leading publishers. eBooks are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users. If you are unable to access an eBook, please see our Help and support advice or contact library@icaew.com.
Exclusive
Being the business partner
A chapter on business partnering for finance professionals who want to progress in senior roles. Topics include: building relationships with other departments; working with the CEO; working with entrepreneurs; working with private equity firms; working with clients; working in the not-for-profit sector; presenting to the board; relationships with investors; relationships with the auditor, banks and credit rating agencies; media relations and managing cost-saving programmes.
Business press
The ICAEW Library & Information Service provides access to leading business, finance and management journals. These journals are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users subject to suppliers'
terms of use.
Exclusive
Managing financial services relationships
The CFOs of 180 Life Sciences and Healthcare Triangle offer tips for working well with banking partners and navigating M&A. They suggest ways of conducting due diligence when choosing an investment banker to partner with. They also cover M&A best practices and pitfalls to avoid and recommend questions the CFO needs to ask banking/financial services partners.
Exclusive
Becoming a trusted business partner
The article discusses ways accountants can build their career in management accounting. Advice is given for developing the skills of a successful salesperson, as you will potentially need to influence and persuade both internal and external stakeholders in a variety of different situations. Four types of relationships that commonly exist in business partnerships are explained - Technical professional; Business friend; Dispensable business partner; Trusted business partner.
Exclusive
Six shortcuts to the finance business partnering mindset
The best finance business partners are able to translate the finance world into something useful for non-finance folk and help them understand, with measured and objective views, the issues facing a business.
Exclusive
CFOs: How to enable finance as a business partner
How to use the integrated business planning (IBP) approach to support finance business partnering in your organisation. IBP can be used in various elements of performance appraisal by the finance business partner, such as budgetary control, alignment of KPIs and risk management.
Exclusive
Creating an inventory control center of excellence
Stephen McNally was previously a Finance director/controller at Campbell Soup. He explains how his finance team created an Inventory Control Center of Excellence (COE) to improve the company's inventory management and reduce costs.
Exclusive
Get in gear
Team up with HR and IT to transform the future of finance, suggest the authors. They look at examples of businesses who have taken a functional integration approach, and provide a list of steps towards increased cross-skilling and communication between the Finance, HR and IT functions.
