View from the board: just say no... but nicely

'Finance come in and act like the Monday morning quarterback. It’s easy to say what went wrong after the event ­ it’s getting help beforehand that we need’.

No. I haven’t had a break down, and I’m not writing this in the small hours of Sunday morning. I’m just repeating a couple of the quotes that I have heard recently from some of the operational management with whom I deal. And they make an important point. Not necessarily that what they are saying is true ­ they could be talking rubbish for all I know.

Finance people the world over could be reading this saying that it isn’t fair. In this market, of course someone in finance has to say no more often than before.

But that doesn’t, sadly, matter very much. Because, as Jordan and Peter Andre are proving so wonderfully, right now, it’s not the truth that matters but the perception of the truth.

Are finance departments saying no more often than before? I hope so. If they aren’t then I should be even busier than I am replacing many of them. We are in the middle of what’s being recognised as the worst recession of the last 30 or 40 years. If finance isn’t saying no a lot more than during a ten year growth phase, then we’ve got bigger problems coming.

But ­ and this is the critical point ­ marketing managers, salespeople, R &D Directors or whoever don’t care about that, not when they are talking to you to try to get the money for their favourite project. They want to get sign-off on this one thing ­ and you are the gatekeeper.

And that’s when perception matters ­ because you are going to say no, and deep down, they probably know that. The important thing, though, is how you do it. Right at that moment, you have the ability to make ‘no’ seem like a good thing.

Right now, when all they are hearing is no, you have a vital role to play in making them feel positive about the business, the product, the market, and most importantly, about the finance function. If they walk away from you unde rstanding the reasoning, they will defend you and the function to anyone that complains. But if they walk away and all they have heard is no, the perception of finance will conform to the old stereotype, and the carousel will start turning again.

Having spent ten years fighting our way off that particular merry-go-round, please let’s not turn straight back onto it.

Mark Freebairn is a partner at Odgers Ray & Berndtson