CIMA where business + finance meet
Savings of £25m and staff redeployed into higher value work. We realised the equivalent of 13 -15 full-time employees per year by achieving one day reporting. This has allowed us to redeploy people into higher value-added work in analysis and decision making.
Steve Swientozielskyj FCMA
Head of Finance Shared Services, Network Rail Since 2004 Steve Swientozielskyj has been applying his CIMA skill set alongside his inspirational leadership style to drive huge cost savings and enhanced performance for Network Rail. After establishing Network Rail’s Finance Shared Services Centre (FSSC) in Manchester Steve has led a quite remarkable turnaround in performance. In 2004 Network Rail’s finances were being managed across 25 different offices using 35 different systems and processes, this not only caused problems with compliance but also created huge costs. Using his CIMA skills, Steve transformed the management of Network Rail’s finances into a truly world class operation. Just some of the measures: • invoices now take an average of three hours to process compared to six weeks in 2004 • requisition-to-pay headcount has decreased 50%, while volumes have increased 100% - saving £1 million annually
The performance of the FSSC is regularly benchmarked across a number of frameworks and the whole team built around CIMA members and students at Network Rail have contributed to some outstanding results. Steve then went further and set an ambitious target of a one day reporting cycle. The motive - the rapid completion and distribution of reports would allow for quicker decisions, enhanced performance monitoring and optimised management. Steve explains, ‘We’re proud of our world class status, but it’s no time to sit back, it’s better to go on seeking better ways to serve the business.’ The result of these efforts: ’We realised the equivalent of 13-15 full-time employees per year by achieving one day reporting. This has allowed us to redeploy people into higher value-added work in analysis and decision making.’ An achievement even more impressive when viewed in context of the sheer volume of transactions and large values handled by Steve’s team.
• first-time invoice accuracy now 87% compared with 13% in 2004 • customer-to-cash have realised £25 million in debtor reductions.
CIMA value: Network Rail Savings of £25 million and staff redeployed into higher value work.
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