How corporate finance 'masters' get an edge.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: ORGANIZATION

Finance "masters" focus on corporate strategy, alignment with business objectives and analytic capabilities, according to a new report from global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company Accenture. These companies deliver value to corporations with a laser focus on strategy, aligning their organization, capability development and selection of departmental initiatives with overall corporate business objectives.

High Performance Finance Study 2008: The Changing Role of the Finance Organization in a Multi-Polar World is based on a survey of more than 350 senior executives of finance departments in large companies across a broad range of industries. It's the third in a series of global studies from Accenture that examine the state of the profession and factors that set the top-performing finance departments apart from lesser-performing ones.

Companies earn the "masters" designation by reporting that they had advanced capabilities in a combination of five areas: finance function management, enterprise performance management, finance and accounting operations...