Photo - Ann-Mary Puig
With over two decades of experience advising businesses across sectors, Ann-Mary Puig is now unveiling the financial management strategies that are helping organisations streamline operations, enhance control and drive sustainable performance. Her insights are rooted in real-world application and focused on helping organizations move beyond reactive accounting toward proactive financial leadership.
1. From Reactive Accounting to Strategic Financial Leadership
Puig emphasises that financial departments must evolve from being back-office reporting functions to strategic business partners. This shift involves transforming how financial data is collected, analyzed, and applied to real-time decision-making.
“Financial management is no longer just about closing the books on time,” Puig explains. “It’s about delivering insight, at speed, that helps business leaders act with confidence and clarity.”
To that end, Puig advocates for -
- Continuous financial forecasting rather than static annual budgets
- Real-time dashboards that monitor cash flow, margins, and KPIs
- Close alignment between finance and operations teams to improve responsiveness
These strategies empower CFOs and finance leaders to anticipate risks, optimise costs and allocate capital more strategically across business units.
2. Streamlining Processes Through Automation and Integration
One of the most impactful areas Puig highlights is the use of automation to eliminate inefficiencies in financial workflows. Manual processes - such as invoice processing, reconciliations and budget tracking, are prone to delays and errors.
“Automation frees up financial professionals to focus on analysis and strategy, not paperwork,” she states.
Puig’s recommended actions include -
- Automating accounts payable/receivable workflows
- Integrating ERP and accounting platforms for unified data views
- Deploying robotic process automation (RPA) for repetitive tasks
- Enabling self-service reporting tools for business units
By removing bottlenecks, automation enhances operational agility and reduces the overhead required to manage increasingly complex operations.
3. Implementing Scalable, Cloud-Based Accounting Systems
As organisations grow and expand, especially across geographies, they require scalable financial infrastructure. Puig underscores the importance of moving away from outdated, siloed systems toward Cloud-based accounting platforms.
“Legacy systems slow down growth,” she notes. “Modern financial systems must support real-time collaboration, compliance and scalability.”
She encourages organisations to -
- Adopt Cloud-native solutions that support multi-entity consolidation
- Standardise charts of accounts and reporting structures for global consistency
- Ensure financial systems can integrate easily with CRM, HR and inventory platforms
Cloud-based systems also support remote workforces, mobile access and automated compliance, which are essential for operational continuity in today’s dynamic environment.
4. Enhancing Cost Visibility and Control Across Departments
Puig stresses the need for financial leaders to deliver greater visibility into spending patterns and operational costs, empowering department heads to manage budgets more effectively.
“Cost control is not about cutting; it’s about making spending transparent, justifiable and aligned with strategic priorities,” she explains.
Her recommendations include -
- Implementing project-based costing and departmental budget tracking
- Using variance analysis to quickly identify overspending or underperformance
- Setting up early warning systems with alerts tied to performance thresholds
This level of visibility creates shared ownership of financial results, strengthening accountability at all levels of the organisation.
5. Aligning Financial Goals with Operational Strategy
For Puig, one of the most overlooked aspects of financial management is ensuring that financial objectives are fully aligned with operational priorities.
“Finance must speak the same language as operations,” she says. “When financial goals are disconnected from frontline realities, efficiency suffers.”
She encourages organisations to -
- Embed financial KPIs into operational scorecards
- Include finance partners in strategic planning sessions
- Establish cross-functional teams to improve budget accuracy and resource allocation
This alignment creates a more cohesive organisation, one where financial discipline supports innovation and operational excellence, rather than limiting it.
6. Building a Culture of Financial Accountability
Puig also points to the importance of cultivating a culture of ownership around financial performance. Beyond tools and systems, long-term efficiency gains are driven by people who understand the impact of their decisions on the bottom line.
“Empowering teams with financial literacy improves decision-making across the board,” she says.
Key initiatives include -
- Providing regular financial briefings to department heads and team leads
- Offering training in basic financial concepts, margin management, and ROI analysis
- Recognising teams that meet or exceed financial efficiency goals
This cultural shift ensures that financial management is embedded into the DNA of the organisation, not isolated within a single department.
Puig’s financial management strategies represent more than just cost savings; they’re a blueprint for building smarter, more agile and more resilient organisations. In a world defined by constant change, businesses that invest in operational efficiency through smarter financial leadership will not only weather disruptions; they will thrive.
“Financial management isn’t just about reporting what happened,” Puig concludes. “It’s about shaping what’s possible.”
Her insights offer a compelling roadmap for organisations trying to modernise their financial operations, align their teams and unlock performance at scale. By putting financial strategy at the core of operational excellence, businesses can achieve sustainable growth, greater resilience; and long-term impact in any market condition.
Source - Ann-Mary Puig, Business Consultancy Specialist
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