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Andrew Price is the partner leading Deloitte's national finance team and was brought into the firm in 2005 to improve efficiencies.
Previously group functions such as accounts payable and receivable sat within the firm's accounting function. These units have now all been brought into the finance group, as has payroll.
Instead of a team of 30 in national finance, Mr Price now has 100 people - 30 of whom are responsible for developing, delivering and maintaining the business intelligence systems which have been developed using Cognos.
'Having that oversight gives us a consistency of approach and better control - there is also more transparency and independence in the finance function,' said Mr Price. He said that the systems are now at a stage that Deloitte could provide its partners with a comprehensive financial report 'within one day of closing the books. In all my career I've never done it in less than 14 days.'
Besides having a clearer insight into the financial position of the firm, the national finance team has developed a pricing tool that allows Deloitte personnel to provide better pricing estimates for new jobs or to rebid more accurately for existing work. Mr Price said that the next release of the tool would also allow for resource scheduling.
