A diagnostic for CFOs and finance directors

The Finance
Function
Scorecard

Twenty four questions that tell you whether your finance function can support the decisions you are making.

Checks

Control areas

Minutes

Points available

Score each statement 0 to 4, judging the function as it actually is this month rather than as it will be once the current project lands.
Section totals and your overall score calculate themselves as you go.
Then ignore your total. Look at your lowest scoring section, highlighted for you at the end. Financial control does not average. It fails at its weakest point, and it fails there first.

Answered0/24

Score0/96

Not started

0Not true. We do not do this at all.

1Rarely. It happens occasionally, by accident.

2Partly. In place but unreliable or incomplete.

3Mostly. Works, with known gaps.

4Consistently true, and I would stake a decision on it.

Your result

Answer all twenty four statements to see your full result. Completed sections appear below as you go.

Your result and what to do about it will appear here once all twenty four statements are scored.

Add up your six section totals for a score out of 96, then find your band below.

80 to 96	Controlled	The information is trustworthy and timely. Your constraint is no longer reporting. It is what gets decided with it. Move the effort to forecasting, scenario modelling and capital allocation, and run this again annually so it does not quietly decay.
60 to 79	Functional but fragile	The function works, but one or two areas carry risk that will surface under growth, acquisition or audit. Fix the weakest section deliberately rather than improving everything a little. This is the most common band and the most improvable.
40 to 59	Reactive	The business is being run on lagging information. It works until it does not, typically at a large hire, a new entity, an acquisition or a bad quarter. Start with cash, because cash failures are the ones you cannot recover from.
Under 40	At risk	The finance function is not yet capable of supporting the decisions being made against it. This is a structural fix rather than a training issue, and it should be dealt with before any expansion is committed to.