Visualise
| by Victoria Ashton 18 Oct 2006 Diploma in Financial Management Relevant to feature article |
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Niche consultancy company Metapraxis was founded by Robert Bittlestone in the early 1980s, with the aim of helping clients improve their results through using clear visual messages about future performance risks. In order that Metapraxis’ consultants speak the right financial language they take the Diploma in Financial Management.
Believing that the information senior managers and directors needed to know to run their businesses would be more useful if it was graphically presented, Robert Bittlestone and his colleagues at Metapraxis created software that would help senior managers visualise the messages in their financial data. Called Empower, the software helps the management team to see what is and isn’t working in the business and assess the likelihood of achieving forecasts for the financial year-end.
The software is unique because it is created and developed from the perspective of senior executive directors. ‘Because it is developed to answer the questions that a senior director would ask of his or her business, Empower allows them to find the information that they need in a way which makes sense to them,’ says Robert. ‘That’s our reason for doing business.’
‘In addition to creating charts and other visual aids, Empower software contains a library that managers can draw on in order to answer any number of questions. In addition, users can drill down into the data to find the details to answer more specific questions,’ explains Robert.
All analysts at Metapraxis take the Diploma in Financial Management when they start at the company. Prior to becoming company secretary and human resources director at Metapraxis, Jean Bittlestone recruited and trained financial controllers for the investment group 3i. ‘Our graduates there took the DipFM predecessor qualification (the CDipAF) to give them the required financial knowledge. When I joined Metapraxis I knew that the DipFM would open the door to the language of accountants for our graduate consultants. Taking just a year, it’s not too onerous for our new recruits and it gives them a quick way to unlock the code of financial terminology that they need when dealing with our clients. They can talk and understand the language. Once they have this knowledge they can then build on this and develop good working relationships with our clients.
‘Our consultants need to be able to understand and get up to speed with clients’ needs quickly,’ says Jean. ‘The DipFM covers what our consultants need to know. The different aspects of the qualification are really meaningful for our analysts and consultants. It gives a valuable building block on which our analysts can base a good understanding of what is happening in a client’s business.’
Even though relatively small and relatively young, Metapraxis is part of the established consultancy community. ‘However, our small size means that we can develop effective and meaningful relationships with our multinational clients,’ explains Jean. ‘As time has gone on, our software has become more sophisticated and remains cutting edge. This and the skills of our workforce differentiates us from our competitors. For the future, Metapraxis plans to build on our relationship with our technical partners, while maintaining and improving our direct client relationships.’
Metapraxis is based in Kingston upon Thames, UK, www.metapraxis.com
Metapraxis consultant profiles
ADAM BIMSON – MANAGING CONSULTANT
Adam Bimson joined Metapraxis six years ago as a graduate analyst. He is now a managing consultant with responsibility for key client relationships and
long-standing projects.
‘Metapraxis specialises in performance visualisation,’ explains Adam. ‘We help senior executives get the messages from their key financial and market data. To do our job we don’t need to get into the nuts and bolts of accountancy and finance. Instead, because we work with client finance teams and senior executives we need a ‘helicopter view’ of their world and priorities.’
All graduate analysts are asked to do the Diploma in Financial Management when they start at Metapraxis. ‘I had a chemical engineering degree and am fairly numerate and analytical,’ says Adam. ‘However, the DipFM gives you the confidence to use and understand the language of accountants. It is exactly what is needed for Metapraxis.’
Metapraxis consultants are often engaged with clients on a long-term basis. ‘Performance information needs to be shared across organisations,’ explains Adam. ‘We help our clients create an informed dialogue about where their organisation is going as well as where it has been, and in the process we hope to make finance exciting and less mysterious’.
DAN SEDLAK – SENIOR ANALYST
Dan Sedlak is a senior analyst and joined Metapraxis two years ago. Currently completing the final projects for the DipFM, Dan joined Metapraxis with a degree in maths and a masters degree from Durham University’s business school.
As a senior analyst, Dan works with Empower software to bring out messages in client’s corporate data. ‘I’m currently involved with building a strategic model that enables our client to see the impact of their strategic choices,’ explains Dan.
Dan has found the DipFM to be really helpful to his role. ‘I’ve completed the exams and I’m going to be finishing the projects ready to hand in for the next deadline in November. All the accounting aspects have proved useful. We have to be able to talk the language of accountancy to our clients,’ says Dan. ‘In addition, I’m involved with a value creation project and the DipFM course has definitely helped here.’
‘Through working with our clients on projects they get to know us quite well and we gain their respect. They know that we know what we’re talking about because we can speak their financial language.’
‘Self-learning can be quite dry,’ Dan admits, ‘but at the moment there are a few of us doing the DipFM so we can all discuss any problem areas that might crop up.’
For the future, Dan is hoping to make the most of the opportunities that Metapraxis offers. ‘Because of our size, we get the opportunity to work with senior clients very early in our careers. This was a big attraction in working for Metapraxis as opposed to working for a big consultancy firm. There are always opportunities to move up the ladder and because many of our clients are international, the chance to travel is very high.’
BETHAN ELLIS – CONSULTANT
Bethan Ellis started working at Metapraxis nearly four years ago as an analyst. Now a consultant, Bethan’s role is focused on building client relationships. ‘I work with clients to support their needs. As well as developing good personal relationships, this also includes training key and senior users, and communicating best practice through intuitive design.’
‘I completed the DipFM 18 months ago,’ explains Bethan. ‘I ended up sitting all four papers at the same session. I didn’t really plan to do it like that but I spent three months working in Sweden which took up a lot of my attention.’
‘Doing the DipFM enables us to understand how things fit together,’ says Bethan. ‘Every company does their profit and loss slightly differently but because I understand the basics I can understand the slight variations. The DipFM also enables you to grasp the different types of measurements that organisations use to check their performance.’
As a small company, Metapraxis analysts and consultants have a lot of interaction with clients. ‘We become part of their team and develop a lot of trust. I think the DipFM really gives us credibility in the eyes of our clients,’ explains Bethan.
ANDREW PERRY – SENIOR ANALYST
Andrew Perry is a senior analyst at Metapraxis having joined in 2005. He has just completed his DipFM gaining his passes in August this year.
‘Many large multinationals have consolidation systems that produce a lot of data, others have lots of spreadsheet-based reports. Either way, the data needs to be put into management reports for chief financial officers (CFOs) and other staff,’ explains Andrew.
‘In essence we are there to produce charts and other visual aids; to open up the ability to analyse data so that everyone can get something from it. We enable CFOs to better communicate key data to non-finance professionals within the organisation. For example, when an organisation wants to find out which areas are under performing, we can dig down through the data and pinpoint areas or products that might not be working as well as they should and measure that underperformance,’ explains Andrew.
Andrew is currently working on a specific internal project with a client. ‘This is especially interesting because I work with them in-depth and can do more sophisticated analysis. In this case we’re working more as strategic consultants which presents different challenges. We can go further in our analyses, draw conclusions and recommend changes to the business.
‘Metapraxis gives us a large amount of responsibility,’ says Andrew. ‘It can be a lot of pressure but we are given the opportunity to succeed and over perform at an early stage, giving us good scope and exposure. We have a great deal of client interaction and work directly with the highest levels – CFOs, senior management etc. This enables us to learn a massive amount.’
Andrew has found the DipFM very useful. ‘Although I had some financial knowledge from my degree in economics, understanding the terminology of a profit and loss account and other financial specifics has been a useful skill to learn. The performance management aspects of the DipFM
have also been especially helpful as it is basically what we do as part of our job; how to measure and how to react.’