Well-attended meeting on unpredictable governance
On December 14, Ekan Management organized a breakfast seminar on the theme Beyond Budgeting in practice. More than 20 participants from various companies active in the industry had to listen to how Beyond Budgeting can strengthen the company's competitiveness.
The morning started with breakfast and mingling at the Lindholmen Conference Center in Gothenburg, and then Hans-Owe Sjöö, Business Area Manager for Industry at Ekan Management, started by welcoming and introducing today's topic. Then we got to listen to Knut Fahlén, author of the book Beyond Budgeting in practice and management consultant at Ekan Management. Knut presented how companies by changing the governance and management processes, organization and leadership can create a more dynamic governance model adapted to today's conditions and business rhythm. The ideas behind the concept were presented together with good examples from companies that in different ways adapted their governance and management to today's reality.
The seminar continued with an in-depth study of the area, focusing on how the use of standard costs can and should be developed in an increasingly unpredictable business environment. Rikard Olsson and Petra Bredehorst-Carlsson, management consultants at Ekan Management, presented their experiences in the area. They highlighted four major challenges associated with managing standard costs; the problem of evaluating performance, difficulties with updated prices, costly processes and poor data management. Rikard and Petra then presented examples of concrete measures to address the challenges today and ideas about the role of standard costs in the future.
The morning ended with a discussion where participants shared experiences on how standard costs were handled by the various businesses, and thoughts on how to develop it in the future. Ekan Management has started one Think Tank for those interested where experiences and solutions in the management of standard costs should be shared and discussed. If you are interested in this, send an email to petra.bredehorst@ekan.com to get more information.