As controller of the ABB Service Group in Canada, it was clear to me that many people in our organization lacked an understanding of financial principles and how their day-to-day decisions impact performance.
Meetings were inefficient because we did not have common language and understanding about several key issues. We have a project focused group and many players were not clear on the differences between an orders, revenue recognition, customer invoicing, and cash collection. Beyond creating common language and understanding I wanted to provide tools for improving revenue, profitability and cash collection. Most of all I wanted to create predictability in our forecasting process.
We are very happy that after considering other options, we chose MetaMark to deliver one and a half day training sessions for our managers, sales professionals and other key decision makers. MetaMark has created a unique and innovative way to make finance clear to an audience of non-financial professionals.
Here is what makes the MetaMark program effective from my perspective:
- The program is customized to ABB’s business and financial objectives
- The learning takes place through a series of engaging activities that provoke real life discussion
- Participants learn the basics of the financial statements by running a business and creating a balance sheet, cash statement and income statement from typical daily transactions.
- The program balances the teaching of strategic business objectives, financial statements and principles, analysis of financial information and tools for improving profit, cash flow and return on capital.
- By the end of day one, participants have cleared up enough previous confusion about finance that we can dialog about the issues that concern me, such as revenue recognition and customer invoicing.
- Participants leave the program excited about making better decisions
The MetaMark delivery team was very good; they adapted when change was needed and the program actually improved as we worked as a team to improve the critical discussions I wanted to have with participants. Overall, I would say that the MetaMark program was a positive surprise. The average rating of the program from participants was 9 out of 10!
Joonas Eronen, Controller
ABB Inc, Service, Canada