Why Finance is like driving a car

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been driving my son around as he recovers from hip surgery. The other day, we saw a near miss. A car was trying to change lanes and didn’t see the other car coming up in its blind spot.

As we continued our drive, my son reflected on some of the driving tips he had picked up from me. One of them was to always check your rear-view mirror. Even when cruising on a highway.

“Be aware of what’s coming up behind you. Don’t just focus on what’s in front of you” he said.

Which got me thinking - the opposite applies to financial reports.

Financial reports tend to focus on the past. What has already happened. It would be like trying to drive a car by looking in the rear-view mirror only.

While understanding the past is important when you are in business, you need to be able to make informed decisions about the future. You need to use your windscreen to see what’s in front of you.

What financial information are you using to make business decisions?

Is it information from a rear-view mirror only or is it a combination of windscreen and rear-view mirror.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Robert

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are a couple of ways I can help:

1. Come to your site and run a Finance for Non-Finance Managers workshop. These workshops are designed to help your people understand what’s behind the numbers so that they can have greater impact.

2. Mentor your Finance team. The forecast is the most powerful tool in a Finance professionals tool bag. Book me in for a chat about how I can help add a couple of dimensions to this skill set, and see how your Finance team can become the trusted advisor at all levels in your organisation.