To wonder if Finance Departments are worse than HR

[topcat2014]

HR departments have come in for some grief on another thread. AIBU to think that Finance functions would come a close second?

(disclosure - I work in finance).

After all, finance departments can impose "silly" rules about needing purchase orders rather than just buying what you need on the company card.

Also, sending out reports full of numbers that no-one really has any ability to control.

A former colleague in another job once said to me "we make the bullets for other people to fire".

I think all corporate environments have their own strange eco-structure. I work for various different companies & I’m always baffled by the hierarchy / who I can & can’t email / talk to. Who does what / why. How everything is segregated.

I work in finance and I think the worst thing is trying to explain to (non finance) Directors why you just can't 'make things look better'
Or when asked to explain in great detail, say it's too complicated to understand.

Nope

Where I work our finance teams are pretty incompetent however this is a first. I'm also married to an accountant who regularly works 14 hour days and is under the most immense pressure constantly as are the rest of his team and the level of work they deal with compared to many other departments is unreal. I would definitely not rate finance as low as I would HR, HR to me are people who failed to get into any other department (sorry HR!) there's a reason accountancy is one of the original "professions" and so regulated. And I'm not in finance.

“Also, sending out reports full of numbers that no-one really has any ability to control.”

Well that’s exactly what budget holders are supposed to be doing. What kind of finance department do you work for? 🤣

I work in a financial role. It's others that are pain in the arse 😂 I have been chasing for a month someone who instructed work to be done with no approved budget and strangely the supplier is now pissed off we can't pay them. Does anyone care? No.

Ppl seem to talk about HR behind their backs IME.

I work in HR and one of the biggest problems is staff and managers who don't listen after asking for advice...then coming back to you when they make a mess of things and wanting you to fix their mess.

Ppl get annoyed because you don't tell them what they want to hear. They go from one person to another, leaving out bits of the story in order to get the response they want. Then they quote you, ommiting to say they didn't tell you the facts.

Some managers say we're inflexible, because they want to do things without following policies and procedures.... so you have to be very resilient to work with and support these different characters across the organisation.

They usually have a change of heart when I say, I'll just confirm my advice in writing, including the risks to the organization of a sexual/racial/disability discrimination claim and let them know the decision is theirs to make.

Luckily this is the minority of people and our HR department is seen as being very supportive overall.

As for finance... they're okay IMO. Only once had a problem with them...which is not indicative of the whole profession.

I work in finance. Most of the time people get annoyed because they haven't followed the process for something and so it has gone wrong.

E.g. The agreement is we get 2 days to review and approve funding for role replacements, job changes etc. Someone phones us all upset and annoyed because they have someone going on maternity leave tomorrow and they submitted a request to hire a replacement 2 minutes ago and it's not been approved yet. Or we haven't approved one yet because the hiring manager hasn't advised how a role is going to be funded, and they keep promising to email over evidence but never do, they just call every day asking why it's not approved and start getting annoyed, saying how urgent it is, trying to phone someone else and get them to approve etc.

Or they want to know why someone has been paid the wrong amount. It's either because you told HR the wrong pay grade or the external payroll provider made an error. We are not HR or Payroll. If someone has left and are still being paid, it's not Finance's fault. The line manager needs to tell HR their employee has left.

I work in the NHS so that might have something to do with it.

Having had a meeting with someone else's 'finance' team today, i totally agree.

My own finance team though, are ace.

It depends - if Finance understand and embrace the fact they’re a support function rather than the controllers they tend to be better.

I’m a HoF and see it as my job to help the business run smoothly - not provide unnecessary obstacles.

Our HR dept and Finance depts are wonderful. Anything the top brass want, they get.

New senior appointments, from outside, into a post nobody else thinks we need, and not advertised? Go right ahead! Oh, you promised your pal chosen candidate a salary that's way above the pay scale? Er, OK then, we'll find the money somehow; everyone else will just have to tighten their belts. Oh wait, you want ANOTHER senior post, at an even higher salary? Uh-huh, we'll manage somehow.

Meanwhile, if I want a junior admin post, it's 'No chance, there's no money in the budget'.

And this is the public sector.

I’m a teacher and have never had an issue with finance until this year when they have placed a limit on petty cash we can take out on visits. It’s a £50 limit, which when you are taking 60 kids out on dofe and the campsites want paying in cash it becomes a bit of an issue. Even having shown them the quotes they’re still being awkward 🤬 that’s before we factor in any other expenses. They quibbled with my colleague over 5p after we’d taken out 6 expeditions in 3 weeks and were totally knackered. To say he was annoyed was an understatement

Oh yes,our Finance Department is epic.

Won't pay invoices due for 30 days because that's policy.

Then question why the project hasn't started to bring in an income yet, as they had budgeted it in from week 2...well, because due to H&S I can't start it before I see the report... which you've refused to pay the invoice for until you've had it for for 30 days..