Finance Director responsibilities

[ChrisWickens]

Without having any inside knowledge of the workings of the Club Board the recent problems appear to stem, primarily, from fairly basic cashflow problems. That has seen the departure of three individuals (two who were Board members). There are lengthy posts on each of those departures but I am intrigued that the Finance Director appears to remain unscathed.

So, what are the responsibilities of the Finance Director within the Club? The following is from the website of the Institute of Directors -

"The role of the finance director varies according to the size of the company involved. However, in general, he or she oversees all financial aspects of company strategy and is responsible for the flow of financial information to the chief executive, the board and, where necessary, external parties such as investors or financial institutions."

That seems to sum up what I would expect of our Finance Director - an important position; it may well be the case that this was achieved and for confidentiality reasons we cannot have access to any discussions.

However, it was obvious that in January the Club was going to have these problems and little appears to have been done in order to reduce the likelihood of a PFA loan. Was a root and branch audit conducted in order to reduce costs on one side and increase income on the other?

OK, more questions than answers and I have always thought it is futile concentrating on the past, but in order to go forward one needs to learn from the past.

I am a keen advocate of the Trust model but I consider a real improvement would be that the finance director should sit in both Boards, ensuring greater control for the Trust and the members.

 

[Saint James]

Chris, you are entirely correct to focus on this as a matter of urgent reform for the Trust. The present incumbant (Steve Williams) has in the past been accused of keeping information guarded and it has been on his watch that finances have got to the state they are. I find it baffling that the departures thus far haven't been followed by someone who is directly linked with massive failure. It is beholden on the Trust to to completely review the financial management of the club and tell the club board that an open and transparent tender process begins for a Finance Director. Mr Williams should be allowed to apply but frankly his record should lead to a new and fresh appointment.

 

[Edward]

I think the problem is that too many of the club board are non-executives. The club is not their prime professional interest, it does not pay most of their income, it is merely a hobby and they have the luxury of playing with somebody else’s money.
Too many are not simply good enough to perform their roles but the Trust is scared of change, worried that the club might be bereft if they all suddenly left. My contacts tell me that Steve Williams, the present Finance Director, cannot be relied upon to provide the majority shareholder with timely management information which suggests a level of disdain (towards the owner) and incompetence that is entirely characteristic of the present regime.

In my view, all can be replaced and the business happily carries on, provided the key operational staff, the ones who actually make things happen, remain in place.

I have written elsewhere that the Trust should place two non-execs on the club board; neither needs to be the Chairman of the Trust which, in my view, is a quite separate role requiring very different skills. These non-execs should be savvy business people; at least one should have a background in finance and they should be current practitioners, earning their usual day rate whilst on club business. They should also advocate Trust ownership and communicate back to the Trust (although they don’t necessarily have to be Trust Board members). Most importantly, they should support the Financial Controller who will have the greatest awareness of the cash position at the club at any time (and into the future). Preparation of the management accounts is the responsibility of the FC; preparation of the annual accounts can be put out to tender.

As a first step, the Trust should find these non-execs and allow them to evaluate whether the remainder of the club board can continue to serve a useful purpose.

 

[Alistair20000]

As I understand the position Mr Williams is a part time FD while his firm acts as accountants to the Club. All of this needs to be reviewed to see if we have the right structure, are getting the right quality of advice and receiving value for money.

We were told at a Trust Forum in February that the new CEO Guy Wolfenden was instructed to undertake a root and branch review of all cost centres with no "no go areas." It is not clear what the results of that review were and how far any proposals by the CEO to cut wasted costs were implemented.

 

[PeteUSA]

As I understand the position Mr Williams is a part time FD while his firm acts as accountants to the Club. All of this needs to be reviewed to see if we have the right structure, are getting the right quality of advice and receiving value for money.

He's a part time funeral director? What would he or his company know about accountancy?

 

[Shabba]

He's a part time funeral director? What would he or his company know about accountancy?

FD - FINANCIAL DIRECTOR (bangshead)

 

[ChrisWickens]

He's a part time funeral director? What would he or his company know about accountancy?

Ha Ha!! Excellent - too much cider PeteUSA?

 

[iscalad]

As I understand the position Mr Williams is a part time FD while his firm acts as accountants to the Club. All of this needs to be reviewed to see if we have the right structure, are getting the right quality of advice and receiving value for money.

We were told at a Trust Forum in February that the new CEO Guy Wolfenden was instructed to undertake a root and branch review of all cost centres with no "no go areas." It is not clear what the results of that review were and how far any proposals by the CEO to cut wasted costs were implemented.

Well, he resigned.

 

[hatch4england]

Mr Williams' firm used to be the external accountants of the club (it is in itself an extremely unusual thing for a firm to be the reporting accountants when one of the partners is on the board). To be fair, before HW (the current reporting accountants) took over that job we actually got more disclosure in the club's accounts than we do now.

To blame a part-time beancounter for the club's ills is a bit harsh as the cost overruns are the result of the main board management. My argument would be that we just don't need these NEDs at all and to be reliant on an external, part-time accountant for management info is simply ridiculous. I can get detailed financial information in real time out of our accounting system.

The person who runs the club's finances day to do should sit on the board. It's not like there is a lot to do most of the week.

I wouldn't countenance having a p-t finance person as an NED on full rate (when I retired 16 years ago, I cost more than £1000 a day), nor need they be supporters of or even members of the Trust. What is important is that the Trust should have someone on it's board with the requisite amount of savvy /expertise and the RIGHT to full info and representation on the board so that the Trust is guaranteed access to the reasonable information that a 55% shareholder would have as of right anywhere else and that that person exercises their postion to inform the Trust responsibly.

Persoanlly, on the basis of collective responsibility, I'd fire the lot of them and start again.

 

[grecian-near-hell]

Whilst not being one to jump on the back of Perryman and Tisdale, I do wonder what a lot of the other board members do and their responsibilities, or is it a free afternoon's entertainment and lunch with the boys.

Surely our FD should be totally on top of the financial position that we cut our cloth as required, prior to any need to go cap in hand to the PFA. If he was then the fiasco with Roger Conway would have been averted. As H4E has stated financial management information can be easily accessed through accounting software, and I see that we also employ a financial controller what is his role as it would appear not much financial control is being exhibited.

Apart from the Laurence Overend who is the current Trust representative, who are the other directors and what do they bring to the table?