What is a Business Partner role?

HappyUser

Hello

I have an interview for Finance Business Partner.

The only Partner roles I know, are these in Professional or Law firms where basically you are partner in the owning of the firm and these are highly paid jobs and very senior.

However, the one I applied is junior/grad and it pays mediocre.

Can you tell me please what companies mean by Business Partner? Is it highly regarded role that can boost my career or it is just any other finance role?

Thanks!

jobbingmusician

I certainly cannot tell you what companies mean by this title. That's because companies can set job titles more or less at will. All John Lewis employees are partners, for example.

In this case it sounds as if the title should follow the payscale - the role is likely to be mediocre, like the salary. However, there is an outside chance that if you took it your next potential employer might be dazzled by the title and think that it is something more senior than it actually is. And of course it might be a role with lots of development opportunities which is just underpaid.....

[Deleted User]

HappyUser wrote: »

Can you tell me please what companies mean by Business Partner? Is it highly regarded role that can boost my career or it is just any other finance role?

It's whatever is in the job description they provided you with.

[Deleted User]

Surely before you applied you either had a job description and person specification to review alongside, or you asked for further details, no one in their right mind would apply for a job they had no idea bout, especially as you will find you may not understand what is been said or asked when you attend the interview.

Exodi

Titles are very often misleading and you have to assess the job spec + salary to ascertain what the role truly is.

Take for example someone that works in an office dealing with inbound calls from customers (quite a common position).

Their title could be; customer service/telesales advisor, accounts/sales assistant/manager, administrator, BDM, sales executive/representative, you get the jist.

Jobbingmusician touched upon two very good points. John Lewis refer to their staff as partners (due to their business structure) and also that it has the potential to set you up nicely.

I once had a job that was by definition, a Sales Representative role, however the company opted to term me as the 'Area Sales Manager' - despite the job having very little to do with sales management. I ended up leapfrogging from this position to a Sales Manager job (with a £10,000 pay increase I might add) off the back of this.

El_Torro

In my company a Finance Business Partner is someone who liaises with a specific department. So Business Partner - Marketing, Business Partner - Sales, etc...


Looking at the people who have this role it doesn't seem particularly junior, certainly more than just number crunching.


As other posters have said though the best way to determine what the role is is to look at the job description. A Business Partner in one company may be very different to another.

Marcon

Another random question...OP, do us all a favour and learn to use google! You could then have found out the following in one click:

Finance business partners are accountants who work closely with a particular business unit creating a real and active partnership with both operations and management. Their role is to provide 'real time' support and analysis, to be a trusted adviser and to add value that will assist in decision making. Critical to their success is an ability to communicate their message, to understand their audience and deliver the information in a clear and user friendly manner. It is this mix of analytical, commercial and communication skills which are at the heart of successful finance business partnering.

10 traits of effective finance business partners

Finance business partners actively influence day to day decisions, shaping strategy and the direction of the business
They are the interface or ‘translator’ between finance and operations
They are commercially aware, understanding and anticipating the needs of both operations and management
They have strong core business skills including influencing, stakeholder management and presentation skills
Successful finance business partnering is a way of thinking, at the heart of which is problem-solving
They interpret data, order and assess its value and then present the findings to the relevant stakeholders in a clear and concise way
They can draw on ‘big’ and ‘small’ data, selecting the appropriate tools to manipulate, analyse and interpret it in sophisticated, audience-appropriate ways
They must be able to form and stand over their opinions, have a well-developed sense of ethics and be prepared to stand up for these principles
They should be comfortable with risk and working with ambiguity
They learn from the past but are future orientated
"The expectation for finance to add greater value to the business is growing. Successful finance business partners are seen as leaders that can influence the decisions that a business makes to maximise shareholder value and return.” Alan Flanagan, Deloittes

Source: https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/professional-development/specialist-qualifications/Diploma-in-Strategic-Finance--Analytics/What-is-a-finance-business-partner

Does that sound remotely like you?

Manxman_in_exile

Ignore what you understand by the word "partner". It's used by some employers or departments to make the staff (or them) sound more important than they probably are.


"Consultant" is often used in this confusing way in the NHS (eg HR Consultant).

[Deleted User]

I've heard of HR Business Partner title before.

I did think it was a just a fluff on role for positions of seniority.

When I see Business Partner, my little brain often wants to read it that they've paid into the business just joking!

Duckyduck

It’s the buzz word in accounting departments these days. Basically you are the official point of contact between team finance and whatever non finance department. Help them with budget/forecast, explain to senior finance what drove the results, provide a finance perspective to projects etc, help identify cost savings.

With automation “traditional” accountant jobs are disappearing and being replaced by these roles instead.

Doshwaster

Deleted%20User wrote: »

I've heard of HR Business Partner title before.

Also used in IT and other "enabling functions" which support the main business of the organisation. It just means that you are aligned to a particular part of the business - e.g. manufacturing, R&D, sales etc and are expected to have some specialist knowledge of what that department does in order to support them rather than being a generalist.