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Where will Finance Focus in 2024?
APQC conducted its annual 2024 Financial Management Priorities survey in late 2023 to better understand the focus areas, initiatives, and challenges that will shape the finance function in 2024. The survey, which included approximately 330 participants representing 22 different industries, asked…
Develop Contingency Plans for Supply Chain Disruptions
While organizations cannot avoid the unexpected, supply chain professionals can develop a “just in case” playbook with contingency plans to activate when alternatives are needed.A contingency plan spells out the actions to take, such as reallocating money, people, equipment, and other resources,…
Good News About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in 2024
It’s hard to look at the DEI news and not come away discouraged. Since the turn of the new year, there have been reports of:Cutbacks to DEI staff and budgets, Growing risk of DEI programs falling out of compliance with fast changing laws, and Corporate decisions to modify or…
What is Talent Development?
Talent development is the process of building upon an employee’s skillsets to advance individual competency or growth within the organization. Effective talent development programs help employees understand their roles better and actively work to gain the skills needed to be successful in…
2024 Knowledge Management Priorities & Trends
In my 2024 predictions blog on November 14, 2023, I discussed how business leaders continue to see the connection between knowledge management (KM) and the overall success for their organization. APQC’s recent research on 2024 priorities shows KM is still a priority for most organizations and…
What is Process Mapping?
Process mapping is one of the ways organizations can document and understand their processes. Often, projects lack clear scope and poor understanding of work processes. Process mapping can help create an upfront understanding, allowing organizations to realize some of the issues and assist in…
Five Continual Pre-Closing Activities for a Stress-Free Year-End
Waiting until the last minute to start year-end closing can add to the already stressful process. By performing pre-close activities throughout the year, accounting teams can ensure a faster and easier cycle time and alleviate some of the year-end pressure. When performed throughout the…
PPM Priorities and How APQC Research Can Help
Every year, we conduct a survey of process professionals to understand the current priorities and challenges they expect to face in the coming year. According to the 2024 survey, process professionals are focused on the following areas this year:Process management (97% of survey respondents)…
Connect, Change, and Grow at APQC’s 2024 Conference
Throughout the past few years, we’ve heard organizational action verbs such as "pivot" and "adapt", but what do they really mean when people are involved? Beyond simply “getting the job done,” people are at their best when they’re able to collaborate and connect with others to share ideas, address…
4 Tips for a Faster and More Effective Budgeting Process
Completing the annual budget in a short time goes a long way in saving time and money across the organization. APQC finds that top performers (those at the 25th percentile) complete the annual budget in 28 days or less—nearly twice as quickly as organizations in the 75th percentile.Creating your…