Anders Liu-Lindberg

Copenhagen Business School

Handelshøjskolen i København

Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on how to succeed with business partnering

Copenhagen, Capital Region, Denmark

Imagine you've stumbled upon a complex problem. It's a problem that's affecting millions of people across the world. At the time, no one has been successful in solving the problem, and as time passes more and more people's careers are being impacted. That's how I feel about business partnering.

All finance and accounting professionals face a choice. Evolve or be automated. Business partnering is one of those evolutionary paths that these professionals can take. However, despite being a desirable path for more than two decades only a few have found the way and made it to the other side. Most are still on the journey and are having a hard time making it.

This is why we have founded Business Partnering Institute and why I have made it my mission to help these millions of people find their way. In my role as Chief Commercial Officer, I'm responsible for creating awareness around what business partnering is and how you become good at it. In doing that I'm making the connection between companies and individuals who are looking for guidance and how BPI can help them.

As a former business partner myself, I have been on the journey and know all about the struggles that others are facing. That's why I and the team at BPI are ideally suited for helping finance teams across the world elevate their influence in the company through business partnering. We can help you too. Just send a message and let's get the conversation started.

Business Partnering Institute

Partner  -  Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

The Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence (PACE) is a non-profit community of professionals dedicated to helping organizations make better, more informed decisions through the use of data analytics employing integrated, causal models.  Focusing exclusively on how to enable better managerial decision-making within organizations through the use of such models, PACE is the go-to source for people looking for independent and impartial (vendor and methodology neutral) information in this area.

Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence

Board Member

LinkedIn is the best marketing channel you haven't heard of yet! Most see it as a resume platform however there's a thriving content community on the platform and professionals go there for the latest news within their field. From companies to individuals this is a cannot miss opportunity to improve your employer or personal brand. Linkedist is your go-to company in the Nordics and Baltics for help unlocking this potential.

As advisory board member at Linkedist I help shape the strategy for the future and make real choices about where to play and how to win as a company. I use my experience from my own start-up and other advisory board roles to help the Linkedist team make the right choices. That and I get to further pursue my passion for how to best use LinkedIn as a platform!

Linkedist

Advisory Board Member

The tides of change are flowing into the finance function which sends the function into the age of 4.0. We say it is "Enabled by tech - Driven by people".

At Born Capital, we focus on tech enablement and are looking for early-stage startups in what we call #CFOTech that will enable the finance function to become a profit driver. We have a keen interest in FP&A and Business Finance as this is where we see the biggest improvement potential.

Actually, CFOs themselves know this as 71% of them are not happy with the performance of their FP&A team despite significant investments made in the past decade. We will help the office of the CFO get the right tech and tools to step up to the plate and deliver on the expectations of the CEO and other CXOs.

Feel free to reach out if you would like to know more about how we can help your start-up to the next level...

Born Capital

We've founded the Business Partnering Institute because we want to crack the code on Business Partnering and unlock the value potential hidden in finance functions around the world. By helping them adopt a business partner mindset they'll instantly move closer to the business and start Creating Value Together.

At BPI we want to be the catalyst for change in Finance and help individuals and organisations to change in a digital world where the finance function of tomorrow looks very different from that of yesterday!

We focus on three core areas being Training & Advisory, The Business Partnering Round Table and an online Business Partnering Community. You can read more about each of the three areas at <a href="http://www.businesspartneringinstitute.org">www.businesspartneringinstitute.org</a>.

At the Business Partnering Institute my main focus is to grow the online community and in particular, the Finance Business Partner Forum which is the largest online Business Partnering Community in the world with close to 5,000 members. You can join the forum here <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8475765">https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8475765</a>. In the forum thought leaders will share relevant content and new articles about Business Partnering and the changes happening all around the finance function. Everyone can join in the discussion and ask questions directly to the leadning thinkers in Business Partnering. What are you waiting for? Join today!

Co-Founder

Here's the most comprehensive piece ever written on how to become a successful finance business partner and how to implement the concept in your company. Moreover, we describe how being a finance business partner is just as much a mindset for the whole finance function as it is a specific role.

In essence, it's about knowing your business and how to create partnerships with your stakeholders/internal customers by always having the customer's needs left, front and center of everything you do.

Finance is not here to do Finance but to support the business create value or even create value on its own. Without value creation, neither you, your finance function nor your company will go anywhere.

You can buy the book here <a href="http://www.financebusinesspartner.dk">www.financebusinesspartner.dk</a> [Currently only available in Danish).

Co Author of the book "Create Value as a Finance Business Partner"

LinkedIn is the world's largest networking site for business professionals. Since 2014, they have opened up their platform for the members to write content which they can share with other members.

I write about how the finance function is changing and what you as a finance professional or company can do to keep up with the changes. In addition, I write about personal branding, disruption, networking, leadership and other areas where I think I can add some insights.

I'm not a specialist, but I share my opinions and discuss them with other LinkedIn members.

LinkedIn

Blogger

Imagine you could work with something that you're immensely passionate about and fulfill your purpose. What would that be? To me, it's helping finance professionals across the world becoming better business partners. That's exactly what I can do at the Business Partnering Institute which I was part of founding in April 2018.

Through learning and development programs we train finance professionals in the skills that are needed to succeed with business partnering. We also advise senior leaders in Finance to help them better understand how strong their teams are at business partnering. Lastly, we cover immediate needs through interim business partnering when you've received a critical resignation.

What's my role in all of this? As a partner, I deliver our services and am in charge of our research and networks service line where we release business partnering best practices every day. As a COO I make the company run from strategy to execution and drive us to achieve our goals. It's also my job to take the company from a start-up to a scale-up. As a CMO I do marketing when it comes to our point of view on business partnering as well as our product offering.

Our ultimate goal is to crack the code on successful business partnering and start creating some value together with you! If you want to join the journey and improve on business partnering then don't hesitate to reach out!

Partner  -  Chief Operating Officer (COO)  -  Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

8 months into my new senior finance business partner role I got an added scope. Now It's my job to drive value creation as a trusted partner for the trades from Asia to/from Middle East and Europe as well as Middle East to/from Europe. This scope makes up roughly 30% of Maersk's Ocean Business and a massive opportunity to create value!

My approach to business partnering is simple.

Step 1: Go learn about how the business is doing.
Step 2: Pair your newly acquired business understanding with your understanding of the numbers and present your view on the business.
Step 3: Make recommendations for how to improve performance.
Step 4: Follow-up on if the decisions made to improve performance yielded the expected results.

From here you repeat steps 3 and 4 and elevate your impact from an operational level, to tactical, and to a strategic level. This is my mission with my added scope as it was since I started my new role. Meet or beat targets and get a positive NPS score from my stakeholders. That's really all that counts!

A.P. Moller - Maersk

Senior Finance Business Partner, EMEA (Europe & Middle East)

As the CMO of the Business Partnering Institute, I'm in charge of all online marketing activities aiming at increasing brand awareness and placing the institute as the go-to company for training and advisory on business partnering. This includes lead generation and talking about business partnering with individuals and companies all around the world.
I'm also responsible for creating and publishing content that showcases the latest developments within business partnering and case studies of how individual companies are doing it.
Reach out to me if you'd like to learn more about our approach to business partnering and how we could potentially help you and your company.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Business partnering is simple to understand but hard to do successfully. That's why I've decided to once again be a finance business partner at Maersk. I want to crack the code on successful business partnering and I hope that you want to help me! We need to collaborate on solving this challenge and it starts now. Connect with or follow me and let us create value together!

At Maersk, I'm a business partner to our largest product being the trade lane between Asia and Europe. I challenge the strategic direction setting and ensure we make the right choices about Where to Play and How to Win. It's my responsibility to answer the question "Are we Winning?". If we're not winning then I collaborate with my stakeholders to come up with actions that can improve performance. If we're winning I challenge them to deliver even better performance.

I measure myself on two success criteria: 1) are we achieving or overachieving on our targets and 2) do my stakeholders think that I made a positive contribution to that end. Nothing else matters.

Senior Finance Business Partner; Europe Trade Cluster

Freelance writer at D!gitalist Magazine where I write about digital finance, finance transformation and the future of finance.

Have a good story you want to publish? Reach out and let’s work on it together!

Freelance Writer

What would you do if someone offered you the opportunity to create a World-Class finance function? I decided to say "Challenge Accepted!" when offered this opportunity back in the Spring of 2017. With a purpose of helping the finance function become more involved with the business and drive value creation this role was ideally suited for me!

Now I work with providing strategic advice to our senior finance leaders in terms of how to develop our finance function at Maersk. I also help them execute on their strategic plans through overall program management and specific project support where needed.

I collaborate with The Hackett Group on understanding where we need to further develop the function and with top-tier consulting companies on some of our large-scale initiatives. One such initiative which I am particularly proud to have been part of is our Business Finance College. Probably the largest training program of its kind ever globally, we took 500 Finance Business Partners and leaders through a tailormade training program designed to make them better business partners and better leaders. We are aiming for a complete culture and mindset change with a winning aspiration to Drive Value Creation as a Trusted Partner.

We're not World-Class yet but we're not far off so watch out for the big fanfare when we reach this milestone!

Head of Global Finance PMO

Contributing with articles about current developments in the finance function and in particular around how Finance can help the business add value.

Techstory.in

CFO innovation Asia

Maersk Line is the world's largest container shipping company and operates a vast logistics network covering almost all countries in the world. Whether you need transportation from door to door, port to port or any other connection Maersk Line will get the job done for you.

I work as a Senior Finance Business Partner in the Europe Region where I help shape the finance function of the future in a global finance transformation project. We're moving almost all finance staff from the frontline to global service centers. Teams that only a handful of years ago consisted of several hundred people are now down to pure business finance teams supporting the front line. Consequently, the global service centers take end-to-end responsibility for processes and tasks and can make significant improvements the former teams could only dream about.

I work with defining what good finance business partnering looks like and how the remaining teams can accelerate their value adding activities. I help them implement the strategic direction set by top management and through performance management ensure that we reach Maersk Line's strategic goals.

In addition, I have been the project manager on a cost saving project where we several years running have saved upwards to USD 100M. I set the direction for the region and facilitate knowledge sharing sessions where operations managers come together to discuss how to come up with new savings ideas.

You should also read some of my articles on finance business partnering and how you can transform your finance function below.

Senior Finance Business Partner

Jobindex is the leading job site in Denmark where companies post their positions and enlist Jobindex to encourage candidates who have an active CV to apply for the positions.

I help people who are looking for a job refine their resume and cover letter and prepare pitches for interviews and have so far helped more than 10 candidates whereof several of them have found interesting jobs after receiving my guidance. My offer of assistance isn't limited to Jobindex as I generally try and help all job seekers out there getting closer to their dream job.

I have been recognized by <a href="https://www.topresume.com/">https://www.topresume.com/</a> for having a resume ranking in top 4% of all resumes and I want to use that expertise to help you write a stellar resume too!

You can read some of my advice in below articles.

Jobindex A/S

Job Search Coach

Proformative is a site for finance and accounting professionals which allows members to ask questions to other members, post blogs, read whitepapers and receive training from tailor-made courses and webinars.

Besides postings blog posts on Proformative, I help by answering many of the good questions asked by the members as well as help start discussions on topics like business finance, budgeting, careers and finance transformation. I can really recommend this site to all professionals who want to broaden their knowledge within finance and accounting.

Proformative

Site Contributor

Maersk Drilling is one of the larger operators of drillings rigs in the world. Essentially they own and operate drilling rigs which are leased to oil companies on everything from 30 days to several year long contracts. In Houston, Maersk Drilling now operates three drilling rigs and employ around 500 people.

By the time, I arrived in Houston, on my first expat assignment, it was a smaller operation of only one drilling rig where I was tasked with leading the finance team of two accountants. My ambition was to introduce the concept of finance business partnering and bring the team closer to the business. At the same we needed to streamline the transactional processes to free time for more partnering. We did this by automating, eliminating and digitizing wherever possible such as implementing Concur for travel expenses management, automating accrual postings and using the accounting system for account reconciliation rather than Excel. Eventually, we could close the books in 1 day (down from 4 days) and handle 200% business growth without adding any significant resources.

To boost the business partnering, we introduced new management reporting formats, hired interns and eventually a financial analyst to do more analysis of cost and revenue items to improvement the bottom line. Some of our major achievements were facilitating a cost saving program for the start-up of two new drilling rigs where we achieved multi-million dollar savings and helping Commercial better understand the impact of the escalation clauses in the drilling contracts also with a multi-million dollar impact.

I encourage you to read the case study on the changes we made at Maersk Drilling USA Inc as published by <a href="http://afponline.org">afponline.org</a> in the Spring of 2014. You can also read an interview by Wilson Perumal where we discuss how I used a breakfast seminar they hosted to develop a full strategic plan of how to significantly improve the profitability of Maersk Drilling.

Maersk Drilling

Finance Manager

Maersk Drilling is one of the larger operators of drillings rigs in the world. Essentially they own and operate drilling rigs which are leased to oil companies on everything from 30 days to several year long contracts.

At Maersk Drilling's headquarters, we had a focus to close the books faster and increase the monthly, quarterly and yearly close process. At the same time, we wanted to partner more with the business and became part of asset teams where we were part of business discussions with Operations and Commercial on how to improve overall profitability.

One important project I took charge of was implementing Beyond Budgeting in Maersk Drilling. We needed to create a process where we could do a quarterly forecast, a yearly target setting and a continuous resource allocation. More importantly we needed to gain buy-in from the business to go through with the change and abandon budgets. Implementing a new process is easy but changing behaviours and mindsets are much more difficult. If you're about to go beyond budgeting you should know that it's a several year long project and you can read more about it in below links.

Business Controller

A.P. Moller-Maersk is the largest company in Denmark measured on turnover and in top 200 globally.The Group consists of multiple business unit and most notably Maersk Line, Maersk Oil, APM Terminals and Maersk Drilling. The company is listed on the Danish Stock Exchange and report following IFRS.

In Group Accounting, I worked with consolidating the Groups business units and the overall financial statements of A.P. Moller-Maersk. We focused on improving processes and closing the books faster to speed up reporting to the Danish Stock Exchange. We also introduced quarterly statements to increase transparency for investors as well as comply with new regulation.

I quickly became a systems expert in using the Group consolidation system, HFM and I was able to provide training to other users as well as make better use of the system by introducing validations.

A.P. Moller - Maersk Group

Financial Controller - Manager

My primary responsibilities were checking balances, reporting statistical data, booking of invoices, timesheets ect., tax reporting and a load of ad hoc assignments. I really think this position helped me developing towards attaining an attractive business profile.