Shaking the tree: your unexpected end-of-year bonus

A guest post from Buck Greenback, CFO

Carmen:

How time flies. The year is almost up. Last time we met you asked me to share some ideas about how to think more commercially.

So, you know me: I like numbers. Here’s a practical idea that can help you secure an unexpected end-of-year bonus. More bang for the buck so to speak.

Now there’s a caveat: it might not immediately make a difference to your own pocketbook, but doing this could very well position you to ask for a pay rise in next year’s budget – and that does put more change into the jukebox doesn’t it?

Shake the tree

So what’s the idea? Well, it is a simple one: shake the proverbial money tree. Earlier in the year you and I agreed a budget – you made the case for a set of investments that’ll make a real tangible return to Globocorp. So now’s the last chance to check if you’re on track – coming in on budget, and with the results promised. Doing what you said you would. “That’s not much of a bonus”, I can hear you mutter. Indeed. But it is the precursor for the real kicker:

• Knowing where you’re at with your spend (and the results) positions you early to make the case for next year’s budget.
• It also means you can speak confidently to your suppliers – they’re doing their final sprint, trying to close their books for the year. If their CFO is anything like me, then they’d like to get as much money through the door as possible. And that often makes them more willing to negotiate discounts, extras, extensions, and whatnot.
• And those partners you have joint projects with – have they spent all their budget? If they haven’t, now’s the time to shake it loose. Meet your stretch objectives.

The bottom line

You got a budget at the beginning of the year based on a projected return on investment. As your CFO I’m now looking for that return. Now’s the time to use the last bit of it to get as much value as you can through the door before the year is out. And then we can talk to Isobel, our CEO, about a well-deserved pay rise.

Normally we CFOs like to say “show me the money!”. In this case, though, I’m asking you to “show me the results”.

Good luck – and keep me posted.

Best, Buck

P.S. Don’t forget your team’s professional development budget – you made a particularly strong case there. Having spoken to my team, they’d love it to see more business partnering behaviour from your colleagues.  Corporate Snakes and Career Ladders workshops, perhaps?

Picture credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AlmondShakerbeforeafter.jpg. Father of Nehrams2020 [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Advertisement