So often we come across finance teams who are firefighting. There’s no lack of effort but there is a lack of reward. Going through the motions just to finally close month end before starting the whole process again.
In most cases these teams are being held back by outdated systems, fragmented processes and imperfect team structures.
The goal of finance teams not just delivering reports and reconciliations, but insight, foresight, and strategy is a long way off for most organisations. Big transformation projects can help them get there but need the budget and resources to make it happen.
If your organisation can’t make sweeping changes or deploy flashy new systems employing the discipline of continuous improvement can see big improvements from small steps.
We believe that you can create a mindset and structure that drives better performance every day.
The Case for Continuous Improvement in Finance
The concept of continuous improvement has its roots in Kaizen, a Japanese philosophy that emerged after World War II. Meaning "change for better," Kaizen was first applied in manufacturing, especially at Toyota, where it emphasised small, ongoing improvements driven by employees at every level. It was influenced by quality experts like W. Edwards Deming, and prioritized incremental change over large-scale overhauls.
Today, Kaizen principles are widely used beyond manufacturing, including in finance, to shift teams from reactive problem-solving to proactive process enhancement. By adopting this mindset, finance functions can achieve meaningful progress through steady, everyday improvements that build over time.
Continuous improvement provides a framework for teams to regularly assess, refine, and enhance the way they work, leading to more accurate reporting, faster close cycles, and more strategic resource allocation.
In organisations in need of change, errors or delays often occur because “that’s just the way it’s always been done.” We’ve seen finance teams waste hours on rework, manual checks, and duplicate efforts, all of which could be avoided with smarter processes and a focus on root cause fixes.
Rather than throwing more people or tools at the problem, continuous improvement enables finance functions to evolve steadily and sustainably, reducing costs and risk while improving service and insight.
Laying the Foundation for Improvement
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Implementing continuous improvement begins with building the right foundation, one that considers people, processes, and data as a connected ecosystem.
People are at the heart of any change. We are firm believers in people first, processes and systems second. Finance teams need to be empowered to challenge the status quo, raise issues without blame, and suggest enhancements. This starts with leadership: CFOs and finance managers must create a culture that rewards initiative and values learning from mistakes.
Processes must be visible and measurable. It’s impossible to improve what you can’t see. Process mapping is a vital first step, not just to identify inefficiencies, but to understand interdependencies. Where are approvals held up? Why do reconciliations take so long? Where is manual work adding risk?
Data must be trustworthy. Even the best-designed processes will fall apart without consistent, accurate data. At Positive8, we often begin improvement projects by tackling data integrity, ensuring finance teams are working from a reliable foundation. Clean, well-governed data not only improves today’s reporting but also enables automation and analytics for tomorrow’s decisions.
Making Real Change, One Step at a Time
As we said at the start, continuous improvement isn’t about radical transformation overnight. It’s about making consistent, incremental changes that, over time, deliver major benefits. That could mean reducing the number of manual journal entries each month. It might involve standardizing how different departments submit accruals. Or it could be implementing a simple dashboard to track and visualise close-cycle bottlenecks.
Small wins build confidence, give teams the motivation to keep going and, importantly, they demonstrate value to leadership and stakeholders early in the journey.
We’ve seen clients cut reconciliation times, shorten their month-end close times, and reduce reporting errors significantly, all by committing to steady, structured improvement over time.
The Finance Function as a Strategic Enabler
Ultimately, the goal for continuous improvement isn’t just about operational efficiency. It’s about enabling the finance function to shift from being a back-office reporter to a strategic advisor. When finance teams spend less time chasing down errors or compiling spreadsheets, they have more time to analyse, interpret, and contribute to business strategy.
This shift unlocks immense value, from faster, data-driven decisions to greater organisational agility.
Partnering for Progress
At Positive8, we help finance teams move from “surviving” to “thriving.” Whether it’s refining workflows, improving data quality, or embedding performance metrics, we work alongside your team to embed continuous improvement in a way that sticks.
If you're ready to build a high-performing finance function that gets better every month, not just every year, let’s talk.
