Financial Analytics

About

We understand that decision-makers rely on not good but great financial analysts, the backbone of any organisation. The analysis produced by your finance team ultimately affects and drives important decisions, which means having a confident and competent team of analysts matters to a great extent. Bearing this in mind, we at Conferenz have put together a comprehensive two-day event whose objective is to guide you thorugh the step-by-step process of building a world-class finance team. By applying the strategies and methodoligies that will be discussed by some of the leading finance experts in NZ, you will be making a difference to your bottom line, be able to elevate your decision making capabilities, and position your business as a frontrunner in the competitive market. Remember, great businesses are empowered by great decision-makers. 

 Some of the topics we have assembled this year are:

  • How to make informed finance decisions under fluctuating economic conditions?
  • Best practice financial modeling to support decision-making.
  • How to build a top-class finance team?
  • How to apply financial analytics to overall organisational strategy?
  • Apply structured approaches like TQM and ISO9000 to implement strategic decisions
  • Learn the tricks to groom finance data for better decisions

There will be a comprehensive, full-day, post-conference workshop, facillitated by Mr. Jeff Jackson of Soultions Matrix Pacific, that is scheduled on the 27th of July. This workshop employs a hollistic approach to help you get a deeper understanding of what it takes to enhance the quality of financial analysis with the help of right applications, approaches and the right tools. 

Agenda

Agenda: Day 1

8.30

Registration & Coffee

9.00

Opening remarks from the Chair

Mark Stinson, Group Accounting & Compliance Director, Beca Group; New Zealand Division President, CPA Australia

9.10

CFO Address: Empowering strategic planning through smart analytics

In order to drive compelling strategic initiatives and achieve clarity during strategy development, decision makers rely on clear and concise financial analysis that underpins the long-term growth and progress of the company.
• What is your financial data telling you?
• Striking a balance between intuition and analysis
• Why is it important to align financial analytics with your overall organisational strategy
• The importance of building effective decision support systems

Mark Conelly, Chief Financial Officer, Noel Leeming

9.55

Keynote Address: Analysing NZ’s macroeconomic environment

A stable and sustainable macroeconomic environment is an essential pre-requisite for growth. It affects three major aspects of any given business- long-term goals, productivity and future planning. Will the stability and sustainability of such an environment affect the decision making process within your organisation?
• NZ’s macroeconomic environment- how are we doing?
• Microeconomic factors that affect your business and the decision making process
• Recognising key economic indicators and using them as effective tools for decision making
• The effect of instability on risk appetite

Rod Oram, Business Journalist

10.40

Morning break & refreshments

11.00

The influence of a fluctuating economy on the financial side of a business

Under continuously shifting economic conditions, bringing stability and sustainability to your business becomes a priority. How can analytics help and play a vital role in helping you do so?
• The “value add” of an effective finance function within organisations and especially when operating within fickle economic conditions?
• The effect of uncertainty on finance forecasting and growth
• Recognising the significant areas of uncertainty around forecasting and planning and the need for continual refinement and challenge
• Analytical mistakes in fluctuating economic conditions and ways to avoid them

Warren Pedley, Senior Commercial Manager - Operations and Customer Services, TelstraClear

11.45

Panel Discussion: Financial analytics and risk management

Analytics can be used to provide great clarity and direction for businesses but it is also equally important to use the same information to build a strategic risk culture.
• How can financial analysts help organisations reduce risk adversities?
• The Balancing Act - how to make room for innovation and still avoid financial risks?
• Strategic innovation and calculated risks- achieving clarity and avoiding issues resulting from lack of transparency
• Building and communicating integrated risk views

Rod Oram, Business Journalist
Warren Meyer, Senior Manager Business Advisory, KPMG
Warren Pedley, Senior Commercial Manager - Operations and Customer Services, TelstraClear
Facilitated by: Mark Stinson

12.30

Lunch break

1.30

Case Study: Using financial analytics to achieve high performance in businesses and organisations

Great businesses are empowered by great decision makers. Research continues to support the fact that high-performance businesses rely to a great extent on financial analytics to achieve the lead.
• Best practices adapted by financial analysts in high-performance organisations
• Real world examples of how financial analytics is core to high-performance organisations
• Going from good to great- empowering decisions and taking your business to the next level by building a competent finance team

Anthony McGivern, Business Manager, Northland DHB

2.15

CFO Address: Using intelligent analytics to compete and thrive in the market

Financial Analytics play a vital role for businesses hoping to achieve competitive edge in the marketplace. This case study focuses on ways to apply intelligent analytics to stay ahead of the curve.
• Positioning financial analytics within your organisation to gain competitive edge
• What is your data telling you about your most important customers and most profitable services?
• Identifying the competitive differentiators that help achieve competitive edge and applying it to the strategic planning process

Gary Agnew, Chief Financial Officer, Paymark

3.00

Afternoon break & refreshments

3.20

Giving confidence in models used for decision making

In order to have confidence in the results of financial models there are a number of things that model makers need to consider while creating them. The topics covered will be:
• Risks and challenges involved in models supporting key decisions
• Model design consideration
• Tools to assist in validating models
• Assurance and testing techniques to consider

Hamish Bowen, National Director IT Advisory, Grant Thornton

4.05

Examining the role of financial analytics in enhancing the organisational productivity

This session discusses ways in which financial analytics can be used for improving the productivity within an organisation
• Examining the role of analytics in productivity
• Best of breed frameworks available to achieve the intended results
• Developing a clear and concise strategy to achieve better productivity- how can analytics help?

Braden Dickson, Partner - Performance Improvement, Ernst & Young

4.50

End of day one and networking drinks

Agenda: Day 2

9.00

Welcome back from the Chair

Mark Stinson, Group Accounting & Compliance Director Beca Group; New Zealand Division President, CPA Australia

9.05

Using predictive analysis to strengthen decision making

Predictive analytics can be a game-changer for businesses. This session will focus on how predictive analytics can improve your decision making.
• You may already have the data you need … but not be able to use it effectively
• How do you get the predictive analytics bit working for you?
• Examples of using predictive analytics in decision making and how that can improve your bottom line

Mark Loeffen, Managing Director, Mark Loeffen & Associates Ltd

9.45

Applying structured approaches to implement strategic decisions

This session discusses three different structures used widely in organisational management and explores ways in which they can be applied to affect strategic decision and implementation processes within an organisation.
• How does IS0 9000 compare to TQM as the effective quality management tool?
• How to apply these models for an integrated approach in strategic decision making?

Ian Lines, National Productivity Manager, Skills4Work

10.25

Morning break & refreshments

10.40

Case Study: The role of Six Sigma and Lean Activity in important organisational decisions

Applying Lean activity and Six-Sigma to financial processes has helped companies reorganise and revitalise their strategic decisions for the best.
• Understanding the role of Six Sigma and Lean in decision making processes
• Using Six Sigma and Lean activity for continuous improvement of finance data
• Top tips on putting Lean and Six Sigma to best use

Grant Humm, Business Improvement Manager, Kiwibank

11.20

Best practice financial models to facilitate improved forecasting

In an ever changing world, it is important for businesses stay ahead of the curve and remain abreast with best practice models used in estimating future financial outcomes.
• Tips to create robust finance models
• Realising the connection between forecasting and decision making
• Constructing models to link inputs, outputs and outcomes

Nigel Sinclair, Senior Manager - Transactions and Restructuring, KPMG

12.00

Lunch break

1.00

Better data, better decisions

Analysis can be seriously impaired with poor quality financial information. This session discusses ways to improve the quality of finance data in order to drive valuable business conclusions for mid-term and long-term projects.
• Identifying areas of improvement
• How to take your analytics to the next level?
• What are consequences of retaining poor quality data

Gareth Hoole, Director, Staples Rodway
Warren Newth, Senior Manager, Staples Rodway

1.40

Case Study: Using BI to gain insights into the finances of the company

This session will explore :
• The transition to successful BI
• What does my BI report about my company’s finances and how does it affect decisions and bottom line?
• Top tips on using BI generated finance data to drive the business towards success and high performance

Matt Boswell, Corporate Financial Planning Manager, Delegat's Wine Estate

2.20

Afternoon break & refreshments

2.40

Examining the role of finance transformation in analytics

By the end of this session, you will be able to help your finance team identify and work on reducing inefficiencies through various methodologies discussed here. Ian will be illustrating examples from his previous experience.
• How does finance transformation help in better analytics?
• What is the key to finance transformation?
• How to enable your finance team in recognising inefficiency and waste?

Ian Olan, Financial Controller, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare

3.20

Making the numbers talk

This session touches upon key communication skills necessary for financial analysts to translate numerical hypothesis in ways that can be easily understood by key decision makers and non-finance managers.
• Delivering key financial findings to decision makers
• How to deliver financial messages to non-financial managers?
• Developing persuasive oratory and written skills
• What do financial reports really report?

Dan Ormond, Partner, Ideas Shop Limited

4.00

Closing remarks from Chair and End of Conference

Workshop

Building top quality decision support systems

Financial analytics is the back bone of an effective decision-support system. Empowering your finance team means empowering the higher-manaement. This workshop will cover key skills required for the finance team to become more confident in their delivery. The workshop will be Facillitated by Jeff Jackson of Solutions Matrix Pacific and will cover the following aspects:

 • An overview of important decision enhancing tools available to financial analysts
 • How and when to apply sensitivity analyses to improve the quality of decision making
 • Excel Update: New and useful tools in excel to develop complex models
 • Developing “what if” scenarios to facilitate better decisions around risk and future events
 • Combining budgets with non-financial measures for better planning
 • Recognising and adapting the practices best suited for your business
Jeff Jackson, Managing Director, Solution Matrix Pacific

Sponsors

Interested in sponsorship?

There are some exclusive opportunities to promote your company, and its products and services, at this leading event. Contact the sponsorship team below to request a prospectus or discuss the options, or view more about event sponsorship.