Re-Imagining Finance: Building a Future-Ready Function

We operate in uncertain times characterized by constant change. In today's volatile environment or the "new normal", finance must go beyond traditional stewardship to evolve and also become a co-architect of value creation. At Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), we are reimagining finance as a steward first, with the ability to wear the hat of a value creator—a co-pilot to the business, a strategic enabler that shapes the organization of tomorrow. As we build a future-ready function, it is cognizant to note that the job of finance at its core remains unchanged, however there are shifts which can be made within the same role using technology as an enabler to create value. Through this article, the shifts that the finance team at HUL have made and the capabilities we have built will be brought alive.

The Imperative for Change

Today, we are witnessing a disruptive consumer and channel landscape that demands a finance function that is proactive, predictive and participative. Maintaining a competitive edge thus requires making a shift from retrospective analysis to forward-looking strategies, and from transactional approaches to transformational ones, leveraging the power of technology, people, data and analytics. This shift, however, is not just about deploying new technologies, it is also about the ability to bring together financial and human capital, co-crafting organizational strategy, and re-wiring a culture to stay relevant and resilient.

Future-Ready Finance

There are four pillars to a successful transformation:

1. Identifying the opportunity and deploying the right technology.
2. Embedding innovation in legacy processes and established ways of working.
3. Addressing organizational-wide change management.
4. Encouraging upskilling and cross-functional learnings.

Our transformation journey at HUL is guided by a clear and compelling vision—to build a finance organisation that is not just future fit, but also future ready in its capabilities. There are two ways to approach this transformation i.e., from left to right or right to left. Left to right is when you pick up technology and decide to implement it in the business. Usually that doesn't go so well. It's always good to start from right to left i.e., begin with the problem we are trying to solve and then work backwards. Starting right to left has a far higher chance of being accepted and implemented. It also has the right impact in the right place.

Keeping this approach in mind, finance transformation at HUL is structured under three pillars:

• Partner to Drive Performance: Finance at the heart of business growth.
• Rewire Capabilities: Finance at the heart of driving net productivity, deploying the right technology and encouraging upskilling.
• World-Class Stewardship: Finance at the heart of holding accountability.

1. Partner to Drive Performance: Finance at the Heart of Business Growth

To put things into context for HUL—it is a complex business of Rs. 60,000 Cr.+ revenue operating across 50+ brands in 15 diverse FMCG categories, producing over 80 billion units in 27 own factories and 50 collaborative manufacturing sites and reaching over 9 million retail outlets, through our network of over 3,500 distributors across more than 2,000 towns and channel partners. Managing performance effectively and bringing insightful conversations to the table is not fruitful without harnessing technology, data and analytics capabilities, and a finance team that truly understands the business.

At HUL, performance is care—we care deeply about our people and about the business. Finance is deeply integrated into the business—co-creating strategy, influencing decisions, undertaking dynamic resource allocation to drive growth and bringing out insightful data analytics to have the often uncomfortable but right conversations. Our finance business partners gain a holistic experience working in stewardship roles as well as working hand-in-hand with brand, customer, and supply chain teams to unlock the financial growth model and drive value creation. Demonstrating the mindset of "what needs to be true", finance is always at the table, often with insightful discussions and a lasting impact.

At our disposal are powerful tools like Chanakya, our proprietary advanced data lake and analytics engine to democratize both financial and non-financial information, and Performance Cockpit—a business-first intuitive dashboard that provides a single source of truth across the organization. These tools leverage technology and aid in catalyzing the right conversations.

2. Rewire Capabilities: Finance at the Heart of Driving Net Productivity, Deploying the Right Technology and Encouraging Upskilling

Finance generally relies on systems and processes that are often rule-based, manual, and repetitive. To build a future-ready function, we have invested in upskilling, deployed technology to unlock trapped time, and embedded a culture of experimentation within the function, with a singular, underpinning thought: experiment and fail fast, or scale up fast.

The Unilever Accounting, Controls and Risk Olympiad is a flagship initiative designed to provide focused learning over 5 months. The competition is structured to test and enhance participants' knowledge in accounting, risk management, and internal controls through multiple rounds, culminating in a global finale at the Unilever headquarters in London. The India team's proactive engagement through expert-led classroom sessions, gamified quizzes and leadership-led case studies helped embed a culture of ownership and continuous learning. This cultural shift was instrumental in HUL Finance securing a hat-trick win at the Olympiad in 2024.

Shifting gears to the deployment of technology, the implementation of machine-led (ML) forecasting has been a success story for HUL. A forecasting cycle is complex, stakeholder intensive, repetitive, and takes up a good amount of time and resources at HUL. ML forecasting entails automation of the process, running the entire process, and forecasting each line of the P&L every month of the year for 4 business units, 3000 SKU's sold across 16 geographical clusters through various sub-channels. What started as a technology application taking baby steps is now galloping forward at HUL through the deployment of the ML forecasting solution. Collaborating closely with a cross functional team, we experimented, failed, and reiterated multiple times until we succeeded. We utilized the released trapped time to generate actionable insights. This led to the elimination of a manual forecasting process in 4 out of 12 cycles in a year and achieved 95%+ accuracy with intelligent co-relation of 45+ internal and external variables.

3. World-Class Stewardship: Finance at the Heart of Holding Accountability

While we embrace innovation, our foundation remains strong in stewardship.

"Embedding accountability and complete ownership across the organization ensures that transformation is both bold and responsible. Controls are integral to what we do in finance."

Controls Week 2024 was a PAN-India initiative by the HUL finance team to embed a culture of risk ownership and control consciousness across the organisation, extending beyond finance. The week featured immersive activations across factories, sales branches and depots in addition to our head office. Senior leadership across functions led focused visits that included interactive case study sessions to reinforce the importance of controls. The week also featured gamified quizzes, simplified control bytes on topics like inventory and whistleblower policy, and candid share and learn sessions where recent control gaps were openly discussed to derive systemic solutions. Crowdsourcing ideas to enhance controls from teams across factories and branches allowed on-ground control problems and solutions to emerge. The whole week came together under the tag line "#UControl Unilever" reiterating the importance of an owner's mindset in controls.

Reflections from the Author

As a proud Chartered Accountant, I have seen firsthand how the role of finance has evolved, from being a custodian of numbers to becoming a strategic architect of value. My professional journey of over 26 years has taught me that while tools and technologies evolve with speed, the core values of stewardship and "lifelong learning" remain timeless. The CA qualification gave me the analytical rigor and mindset of integrity to lead with confidence. The transformation we are driving at Hindustan Unilever Limited is rooted in these very principles.

Looking Ahead

In conclusion, finance at HUL is a catalyst for transformation. By embedding technology, upskilling talent, and reinforcing stewardship, we are reimagining finance as a forward-looking, value-creating partner to the business. Through collaboration, experimentation, and a strong culture of accountability, we are building a finance function that doesn't just respond to change but leads it.

Our journey is far from over. As we look towards the future, our ambition is not just to be future-fit, but future-ready. I hope this article resonates with fellow CAs and aspirants alike, and inspires them to embrace transformation, lead with curiosity, and reimagine the "Finance of Tomorrow." We are excited to share our learnings, collaborate with peers, and collectively redefine the finance function of the future.