A Multi-case Study On Critical Success Factors Of Enterprise Financial Shared Services

Financial shared service is an effective management tool for large and medium-sized enterprise groups to promote the transformation of financial management mode and enhance the overall management level of the Group.Since the beginning of this century,it has attracted extensive attention of domestic enterprises.In the process of exploration,enterprises often formulate specific implementation plans for financial shared services based on their actual conditions.These implementation plans and final implementation effects will show certain differences,but the actual implementation of the successful ones will show consistency in some respects.The topic of this paper is to study this consistency,the critical factors that need to be addressed for the successful implementation of financial shared services,and the synergistic relationship between these critical factors.First of all,based on the hot topics in the field of financial shared services in domestic enterprises and the academic research results at home and abroad,this paper determines the research questions on the critical success factors of financial shared services,and reviews the concept of the financial shared services and critical success factors,the implemention risk of financial shared services and the critical success factors of financial sharing services.Secondly,this paper uses the business process re-engineering theory and the change management theory to illustrate the theoretical logic of the identification of critical success factors of financial shared services.Combined with the research results of other scholars,this paper describes the 5M theoretical model of the critical success factors of financial shared services.Then,ZTE,GCL and China Development Bank were selected to be the samples of the multi-case research combining descriptive case analysis and confirmatory case analysis.The implementation background,implementation process and implementation effect of their financial shared services were described first,and then the theoretical model is verified through the analysis of the data.Finally,the final conclusion of this study is formed by comparing the multi-case analysis with the theoretical model.This study finds that the successful implementation of financial shared services generally needs to focus on five aspects,including strategy management,business progress management,information system management,change management,and performance management in the context of financial shared service.The five critical factors are divided to thirteen subdivisions,including executives' support,clear strategic positioning,process identification and grooming,process standardization,process optimization,completeness of information system,synergy of information system,effective communication,education and training,incentive and promotion mechanisms,implementation of change culture,performance management of the center,and performance management of employees.Five critical success factors play a synergistic role in the successful implementation of financial shared services.Strategic management factors lead the whole process of financial shared service,indicating the development mode and development direction.Process management factors precede information system management factors,mainly helping companies analyze financial business processes that are suitable for shared services and improve those processes.Based on the process management,the combed,standardized and improved processes are set into the information system,realizes the automation of the processes,and it avoids the mechanical transformation of the process from offline to online.The change management factor runs through the whole process of the enterprise financial shared service,and focusing on the human factors,it is the manpower guarantee for the continuous and steady operation.Under the strategy management factors,the performance management goal is to visualize and implement the strategic objectives,the performance management factors help the shared services center managers to find the direction of continuous improvement based on the performance appraisal results,thus ensuring that the financial shared services center can continuously and steadily export quality services.