Ways to Develop Best in Class Finance Functions for Police Forces
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010Ways to Develop Best in Class Finance Functions for Police Forces
Previously, finance functions for Police Forces was traditional based and for this reason they centered mostly on transactional processing while business decision support and management information received limited support and interest. With the introduction of new technology, things have changed for the better and they now have a renewed focus on efficiency. This has automatically pressurized the finance departments to improve in their services so that they will add greater value to the force with little cost incurred. The following ways will enable them get things done:
Aligning to Force Strategy: it is very important for operation and finance to be closely aligned because Police Forces actually need finance for them to function very well. This combination of finance and operation is very powerful and with it the Police Force can actually realize significant improvements. Note that there are also some barriers for them to overcome. Finance directors must be very sure that their Force is ready for the combination and also if they can survive it.
Supporting Force Decisions: most Finance Directors are interested to develop finance functions and improve on them. The heavy task before them is to convince the rest of the Force to support them on the conviction that the finance functions will add more value if they devote more effort and time to financial analysis.
Adding Value to the Force: adding value to the Force has been part of the interest of decision makers which has increased cost in finance functions. The initiative that can cause value to be added has to do with centralization. This centralization means that the Police Force will create different centers for excellence where they can share and develop the best practice of the industry. With all these, the Police Force will be better placed.
