For most manufacturers, retailers and distributors, the performance of the supply chain drives the significant costs impacting upon the performance of the business. Despite this, we regularly see examples of where finance and supply chain management could work more effectively together—in partnership—in order to drive additional value for the business. Leading chief finance officers (CFOs) and finance teams do this well.

One of the difficulties in managing the supply chain is that to get an end-to-end view of total costs and performance can be difficult. If a business has multiple brands and/or business units and geographies, this challenge gets larger.

Further, it is sometimes difficult to assess whether the level of cost incurred or planned is good or bad. What should be the benchmark? What internal or external drivers are impacting upon costs? Is using last year as the baseline right for budgeting?

In addition, in recent years, many businesses built a substantial online business. For many, this is a challenging business as the costs to manage and deliver often outweigh the incremental sales (especially when sales are below 10 percent of total sales). In these situations, there is a much clearer requirement for the CFO and supply chain executive to work together to optimize performance.

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