Making good decisions quickly
SME business decisions must be made quickly. Good decision support for small and medium sized business is about applying good techniques to simple, relevant information.
Most SME Finance teams can provide much better support without much investment in new systems or people. Your existing finance team is a great resource just waiting to be used more effectively.
Improving SME decision making is the final step in the FAB program; it can also be offered separately.
How to get better decision support from your finance team
A finance team must help management know what uncertainties are worth focus, and what the likely range of financial outcomes is: bringing simple 'what-if' modelling to SMEs.
GrowthPath believes the existing Finance team, be it only a handful of people, can provide much better support without much investment in new systems or people. Your existing finance team is a great resource just waiting to be used more effectively.
How are SMEs different?
Most ideas about better decision support come from the world of large companies. SME owners and managers are different.
SME owners and managers are less likely to have MBAs, are more likely to be genuine entrepreneurs rather than professional managers, have more expertise in their market, are more likely to be owners or share-holders, are more likely to be involved in the execution of the decision, and are much more inclined to fast decision making.
A finance team must help management know what uncertainties are worth focus, and what the likely range of financial outcomes is: bringing simple 'what-if' modelling to SMEs.
GrowthPath believes the existing Finance team, be it only a handful of people, can provide much better support without much investment in new systems or people. Your existing finance team is a great resource just waiting to be used more effectively.
How are SMEs different?
Most ideas about better decision support come from the world of large companies. SME owners and managers are different.
SME owners and managers are less likely to have MBAs, are more likely to be genuine entrepreneurs rather than professional managers, have more expertise in their market, are more likely to be owners or share-holders, are more likely to be involved in the execution of the decision, and are much more inclined to fast decision making.
To learn more about the topics below and to download an Excel example, please download this position paper, at no charge: Learn more, with free downloads
Key skills that finance brings to decision making
The process is at least as important as the outcome
Eight rules for successful SME business models
A downloadable example
