Keys to Building an Effective Finance Team

Building an effective Finance team is hard for many businesses, regardless of size. With a few simple principles it does not have to be. Thinking of your Finance team as an ever evolving group that must work with the needs of your business and its evolution is key.

Tips for building an effective finance team:

1. Let the process determine the need.

In Finance we need enough staff to allow for effective internal controls and redundancy. Often times companies end up with overly large finance teams when they allow the current team to determine what the process will be, rather than building the team around the process.

2. Make sure the team members understand the “why” behind the tasks they are completing.

When Finance team members have only lists of tasks they complete without an understanding of the greater purpose and importance of those tasks then they are not able to identify when something doesn’t make sense or isn’t quite right. We want people on our teams to be able to tell us how a process could be done better. We want them to know enough to allow them to identify why something is not working as it was intended to.

3. Leave your ego at the door.

Good leadership is not ego driven. If you want a good team you need to be able to empower them. The best way to empower your team is to ask them questions and listen to their responses. Make sure they know that their ideas and feedback are not just valuable but crucial to the success of the team and the company as a whole.

4. The only constant is change.

Just like every other role in your company, Finance roles will need to evolve with growth. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, or may just not be the best way of doing things anymore. Finance should strive to get better, more efficient, more effective, more able to drive the business and its value into the future. A good team is excited and on board with that, a good leader helps them feel that way and see where they can grow and make a difference.
 

Not sure how effective your Finance team is? Take the time to review their position scopes, their workflows, and how successful their output is to take the first step in determining that.

© YC Partners 2025