De Montfort University

Brief

As one of the the most innovative universities in the UK with 3200 staff and turnover of over £170m they wanted their finance function to improve engagement of the budget holders to  get more buy in to the budgeting process.

Outcome

Following the program which took place over 6 month intervals over a couple of years to ensure ideas discussed were able to be bedded down “as homework”, the team changed the way in which their financial information was presented, adopted simple visuals. Approaches workshopped on the course gained more buy in and trust helping the non financial staff to have more confidence to open up more.

Post-audit review

The participants had continued to embrace the goals we set and engagement had improved although some saw legacy systems as a barrier to fully embracing everything.

“It really got us thinking thinking about how information is presented/communicated to our particular audiences to ensure they understand the messages that we are trying to convey.”

- Mohamed T, Head of Financial Planning and Performance