The Role of the Accountant in Strategic Planning

This work aims to provide a working guide to developing strategies for individual business and groups of companies, with a particular focus on the role of the accountant. The first part of the book sets out the survey sent to members of the Board of Chartered Accountants in Business and offers an insight into current practices in strategic planning. The second part of the book describes the process of strategy formulation through the story of a finance director at a subsidiary of a public company. Following a hostile takeover bid, the company is forced to take a serious look at strategic planning. This is reviewed from two perspectives, business strategy - the strategy of a single business, and corporate strategy - the strategy of a collection of businesses. The book clearly explains how accountants can get close to the process of strategy forumlation and in so doing reaffirm their central role in wealth creation. The author argues that business strategies must be firmly rooted in an appraisal of the current competitive position of a business.
He concludes with a warning to shareholders in those acquisitive companies whose management, without adding value by business strategy or good management, have generated profits by extensive use of acquisition accounting. As tougher regulations are introduced, Simon argues, these companies will need to return to business basics - superior strategy and superior operations.