Finance and Governance: Best Practices or Just Common Practices — How Can You Tell the Difference?

Speech Abstract

Many so-called "best practices" in finance and resource governance are nothing more than common practices. How can you discern the difference between truly the right thing to do, and simply what everybody else is doing?

As Stephen Covey said, "Begin with the end in mind." If you have a clear vision of how financial and resource-governance processes are supposed to work, then you can evaluate specific practices that industry pundits may recommend in that context. Furthermore, a vision of the destination can help you formulate your strategy, and design solutions to near-term challenges as steps in an evolutionary path toward that end-state.

Drawing on Meyer's new book, Internal Market Economics, this workshop describes a guiding vision and a set of practical principles, and then applies them to describe highly effective, non-bureaucratic processes.

Bring your questions, your current processes, and your ITFM projects, and we'll examine them in light of the vision and principles, and together figure out what the real "best practices" are.

100-word version....

50-word version....

Outline

• Chargebacks and show-backs.

• Allocations.

• Portfolio management.

• Budgeting.

• Service cost modeling and rate setting.

• Funding for infrastructure, innovation, and enterprisewide services.

• Cost management.

• Downsizing.

• Shared services.

• Outsourcing.

• Unfunded mandates.

• Management financial metrics.

Internal Market Economics (book)....