The structure of the division system originated from the American General Motors Company. In the early 1920s, General Motors merged and acquired many small companies. The scale of enterprises has expanded rapidly, and the number of products and business projects has increased, but the internal management is very chaotic. At that time, P Si Long, the executive deputy general manager of General Motors, made reference to the experience of DuPont Chemical Company in the United States, and completed the reorganization of the original organization in the form of division system in 1924, which made the reorganization and development of General Motors a great success and became a typical example of implementing division system, so the division system was also called "Sloan model".
The business division system is to set up several business divisions according to the business of the enterprise, including dividing departments according to products, regions and customers (markets). Under the unified leadership of the enterprise, the business division has certain operational autonomy and independent operation and accounting. It is not only the profit center controlled by the company, but also the product responsibility unit or the market responsibility unit, and has the function of unified leadership of product design, manufacturing and sales activities.
Main characteristics of business division system
1. Combine business activities according to the output of the enterprise, and set up a special production and business department, namely the business department.
If there are many kinds of products, each product can form a large enterprise in its own market, and several business departments can be set up according to the products. All business activities related to products, such as design, production, technology, sales and service, are organized in this product department, which is responsible for it. This will facilitate the organization of specialized production, form an economic scale, use special equipment, and give full play to personal technology and professional knowledge in the fields of production and sales, thus helping to improve labor productivity and economic benefits of enterprises; In the case of wide sales area and scattered factories, enterprises can divide business divisions by region; If the types of customers and markets are different, business departments can also be set up according to customers (markets). In this way, each business department has its own whole production and operation process of products or services, and contributes a profit to the enterprise.
2. In the vertical relationship, according to the principle of "centralized policy and decentralized management", handle the relationship between senior leaders of enterprises and the division system. To implement the business division system, senior leaders of enterprises should be freed from daily administrative affairs, concentrate on studying and formulating various business strategies and policies for enterprise development, delegate the maximum management authority to each business division, let them operate independently according to the policies and systems of enterprises, and give full play to their enthusiasm and initiative. For example, after the reorganization of General Motors according to Sloan model, the cars sold by each department must be within the price range set by the company, otherwise they will operate completely independently.
3. Horizontally, all business divisions are profit centers and conduct independent accounting. That is to say, the implementation of business division system means introducing market mechanism into enterprises, and the economic exchanges between business divisions will follow the principle of equivalent exchange to form commodity currency relations. It is not only convenient to establish a standard to measure the work efficiency of the business department and its management personnel, but also convenient for the senior management of the enterprise to lead him and evaluate the contribution of each product to the company's total profit, thus guiding the strategic decision of enterprise development.
4. The senior management of the enterprise and the internal of the division still carry out organizational design according to the functional structure. For the high-level organizations of enterprises, in order to realize decentralization under centralization and improve the economy of the whole enterprise management, some functional departments should be set up according to specific conditions, such as fund supply and management, scientific research, legal consultation, public relations, material procurement and so on. As far as the business department is concerned, in order to run its own business well, it is necessary to establish a management organization. Due to small scale and single product, functional organization is generally adopted. It can be seen that the main difference between the business division system and the functional organization lies in whether the first-level department under the top leadership of its enterprise is set according to the business part or the functional part.
Division financial management system
(1) According to the financial management system of the Division
Generally speaking, there are two types of financial management systems that match the organizational form of business division system. First, implement the business division system under the leadership of branches. Under this system, the finance is all led by "double", that is, the branch manager and the finance department of the group headquarters. Other business is entirely the responsibility of the branch leaders. There is no level of profit between branches, and a certain competitive relationship has been established. The other is to implement the business division system under the leadership of the group headquarters. The headquarters of the Group has set up a number of branches or agencies in various business divisions to form an organization with unified management from product trial production to production, sales and revenue and expenditure, and implements "unified leadership, hierarchical accounting and hierarchical management" in finance. Divisions, divisions or subsidiaries are independent of each other, do not level profits, and establish a certain competitive relationship. These two forms of financial management system are in the shape of "pagoda" and gradually extend downward, so they are also called "M" financial management system. The system is suitable for enterprise groups and large or extra-large enterprises with diversified projects or varieties and diversified product markets.
(ii) Financial institutions of the Division and their prosecutorial power
The business division is an intermediate management organization that manages the business of a certain industry or a certain market area on behalf of the parent company. Under the Ministry, some subsidiaries or manufacturers have business contacts. The branch itself does not have the legal person qualification, but it is often regarded as a first-class profit center in finance, accounting independently and taking responsibility for its own profits and losses. Decentralize the power and responsibility of industry scale and strategic management to the middle layer of business departments, and the management load of headquarters will be greatly reduced. From the financial point of view, the establishment of the business division and its financial institutions makes the financial organization and management activities of the headquarters more strategic. Based on the needs of industry or regional strategic management, the headquarters often adopts the system of "centralized decision-making and decentralized management", that is, it implements a highly centralized mode in decision-making on major issues, and also implements strict capital control and budget control in finance, but adopts a more flexible management mode in production and operation. Within the framework of the group's strategy and policies, the headquarters generally does not directly interfere with the daily management of the division.
The financial institution of the Division is the core department to strengthen the management and control of the Division, which has dual identities: on the one hand, as the dispatched institution of the financial department of the parent company (different from other functional departments), it implements the financial strategy, various financial policies and basic financial systems of the headquarters, plans the scale and structure of the Division's funds, organizes the fund dispatch and participates in the financial decision-making of the Division; On the other hand, it is also the financial organization, leadership, management and control organization of subsidiaries or factories under the Division. In this way, in terms of functional positioning, the financial institutions of the Division mainly include the following aspects:
(1) Be responsible for preparing, reporting and organizing the implementation of the strategic budget of the Division;
(2) Implement the financial strategy, financial policy and basic financial system of the group headquarters;
(3) Control the financial operation flow of subsidiaries or factories under the Division;
(4) Strengthen the management performance evaluation of subsidiaries and factories according to the performance measurement standard of headquarters;
(5) Plan and control the transfer and distribution of funds between subsidiaries or factories within the scope of the Division.
The financial institutions of the Division accept the direct leadership and control of the Group's financial headquarters in business, and their financial managers are directly appointed by the headquarters; Administratively, it is directly subordinate to the Division Minister, and must assist the Division Minister to achieve the responsibility goal of operation and management from the financial point of view. The design of the financial department of the subsidiary or factory of the Division and the appointment and removal of the financial manager shall be decided by the headquarters or arranged by the subsidiary itself. The financial department of a subsidiary or factory can maintain relative independence and implement decentralized management of the financial institutions of the division, but it must accept the inspection, supervision and assessment of the financial institutions of the division.
Taking American General Motors Company as an example, this paper introduces the financial management system of the group company.
(1) General Motors Corporation of the United States adopts the division system.
General Motors is the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. 1908 was founded in Detroit, USA. Its founder is william durant, who merged the then Oldsmobile Motor Company, Cadillac Motor Company, Oakland Motor Company, Chevrolet Motor Company and Buick Motor Company to form the General Motors Company.
Due to the scattered investment and neglect of management, the company quickly fell into crisis. 1923 After Durant's successor Alfred Si Long Jr. took over the company, he carried out a comprehensive reorganization and rectification of the company, and established a management system that separated decision-making from administrative management and combined decentralized operation with coordinated control, making the whole General Motors Company a unified command and an organic whole with dynamic departments. Under the leadership of Si Long, the rectification and development of General Motors has achieved great success, and it has become a typical example of implementing the division system.
After that, GM's market share increased from 65,438+09,265,438+02% to 49% of 65,438+0. Since then, it has been ranked first among the global automobile manufacturing companies, with an output of more than 8 million vehicles in 65,438+09,997, accounting for one-sixth of the global automobile production. Now GM has launched 150 different types of cars around the world.
(2) The basic functions of financial management institutions at all levels under the GM financial management system.
1. Finance Department of the Group Company-the first-level financial management institution of the head office. In order to give full play to the role of "M" organization, it is necessary to establish a company headquarters composed of several powerful senior managers and a large number of staff and assistants. Therefore, our position on the finance department of the group company is to play the role of supervision, control, consultant and bank for all business departments and provide services for the implementation of the group's business strategy. That is, on the basis of financial budget, supervise and control the division's finance, and realize its basic functions such as financial budget, fund management, financial analysis, cost management, asset management, internal banking, various policy research and accounting. In line with these functions, the Finance Department of the Group Company has set up financial management institutions such as financial budget, fund management, cost management, asset tax management, financial settlement center (internal bank), accounting and internal audit. They are interrelated and interdependent, and jointly engage in standardizing the financial management of the whole group and the accounting work of the division.
2. The Finance Department directly under the Division is the secondary financial management organization of General Motors. Our work orientation for the financial departments directly under each division is to supervise, control and evaluate the production and business activities of the division. The most important thing is to concentrate on asset supervision and cost monitoring, and provide detailed and specific financial and related information to the management of the group company and its subordinate business divisions in a timely and accurate manner. In terms of institutional setup, we believe that we must abandon the idea of "emphasizing accounting over management" and require each business department to set up a financial management group and an accounting group respectively. In order to give full play to the core role of financial management in enterprise management and realize the "combination of management and calculation". Financial management of money-through the management of enterprise value operation to achieve the management of material entities; Accounting-only by confirming, measuring, recording and reporting the information of enterprise value operation can financial management play a central role in enterprise management and truly benefit from management.
3. The financial accounting group of grass-roots functional units (posts)-the three-level financial management organization of the general manager. The "grass-roots functional units" here refer to the business functional departments such as production, supply and sales under various institutions. The establishment of financial management institutions at the same level is mainly to do a good job in cost accounting and management and to communicate the relationship between finance and business. Therefore, according to its function, we provide the formulation or revision of various control indicators (such as material consumption quota; Procurement fund limit; Material, work in process, finished product and inventory quota; Standard cost) parameters, do a good job in the original financial records and difference feedback of related business activities.
Cost management is an important aspect of enterprise management. If we don't pay attention to cost management, we will lose good economic benefits. Some middle-level leaders engaged in technical R&D do not pay attention to the collection of cost information and have not established corresponding cost accounts. However, due to the uneven quality of personnel, they can't reach the predetermined goal, and may even provide wrong information-the wrong information in management practice is worse than no information. Therefore, we suggest that the basic work of cost accounting should be done well by establishing and perfecting the ledger management system. Fresh college graduates can exercise in financial institutions at this level (with experienced accounting guidance, of course). In this way, on the one hand, they can fully understand the relevant business processes; On the other hand, their ability and quality can also be assessed in the process of exercise, and those with good quality can be deployed to suitable management positions in time. Let this level of financial management institutions become the cradle for group companies to train senior financial managers.
(3) The specific positioning of the financial management capabilities of the group headquarters and various business divisions under the centralized and decentralized system of the head office.
1. Features of the management system combining centralization and decentralization
The main purpose of group management is to take benefit as the center and pursue the maximization of capital. The merged system is intended to focus on the business purpose of the group, concentrate the major decision-making power within the group on the parent company, and give the subsidiaries the right to operate independently.
(1) system, the group has formulated a unified internal management system, defined the financial authority and income distribution method, and all subsidiaries have followed it and supplemented it according to their own characteristics.
(2) In management, the advantages of the parent company are utilized to centrally manage some rights. At present, enterprises can not only rely on bank loans, but also raise funds from shareholders through listed companies or from the society by issuing short-term commercial bills and long-term and short-term bonds, and absorb foreign capital through overseas enterprises. Theoretically speaking, under the premise of meeting the capital demand, there is a parameter with the lowest risk and the lowest financing cost in the group, and the acquisition of this parameter can completely rely on the huge information resources of the parent company. Therefore, the group should concentrate on raising funds. At the same time, subsidiaries in the group purchase fixed assets due to business management needs, and assets are idle due to production changes. Centralized purchasing power of fixed assets is conducive to adjusting surplus and deficiency within the group and eliminating extravagance and waste. Investment is the channel to expand diversified business within the group, but the group should avoid duplication and self-competition. It should invest reasonably according to its own financial resources and conduct a unified feasibility study, so as to learn the most favorable project among many investment projects.
(3) In operation, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of subsidiaries in production and operation. Under the premise of observing the unified system of the group, each subsidiary can independently make various production and operation decisions around the purpose of the group's operation. In order to avoid coordination mistakes and clarify responsibilities, the parent company should give a clear answer within the specified time, otherwise the subsidiary company has the right to dispose of it by itself.
2. Division of financial management authority under centralized and decentralized systems
The reform of enterprise organizational structure and management system involves deep-seated redistribution of rights. Regarding the organic combination of centralization and decentralization of financial management system, we believe that the following principles should be followed in the specific division of financial management rights:
(1) Centralized financing and financing rights
Fund raising is the starting point of fund operation of group companies. In order to reduce the internal financing risk of the general group and seek the lowest financing cost, we can consider unified financing by the group company and paid use by all business departments. If bank loans are needed, the total loan amount can be handled by the headquarters of the group company, the loan procedures are handled by each business department, and the interest expenses are paid by each business department according to regulations; If it is necessary to issue short-term commercial bills, the group company should also fully consider the capital occupation within the group, and pay attention to leaving enough funds on the maturity date, so as not to affect GM's reputation because the bills cannot be cashed at maturity; If it is necessary to use overseas corps to raise foreign capital, the parent company should go through relevant procedures in accordance with the current national policies, strictly review the terms of the loan contract, pay attention to the factors of exchange rate and interest rate changes, and prevent losses. In order to ensure the rational use of funds, we suggest that the group company should also follow up and review the cash use of the division in time. For example, each business department can be required to submit a "cash flow statement" to the group headquarters within a specified time. This table dynamically describes the cash flow of business activities, investment activities, wealth management activities, the net increase and decrease of cash flow in the current period, the increase and decrease of cash flow balance at the beginning and the end of the period, which is also convenient for the group headquarters to analyze the reasonable capital stock of each division in time and allocate it in time. This is also for the financial management of various business departments in a certain sense. After all, capital occupation has to bear a certain cost. In addition, it must also be stipulated that it is strictly forbidden to borrow between business divisions within the group, so as not to disturb the operation order of funds within the group. If it is really a temporary need and needs to borrow funds, an application can be made by fax, and it can be implemented only after it is approved by the group headquarters.
(2) Centralized investment right
Investment is risky, so the Group must be cautious in its foreign investment, especially under the macro background of the current economic downturn. To this end, we require the management to follow the principles of efficiency, risk dispersion, safety, integrity and rationality when making investment decisions. Investment decisions are made by the group company in a unified way. Moreover, the foreign investment of the group headquarters and the division must be legal, that is, through the procedures of project establishment, feasibility study, demonstration and decision-making. In the decision-making process, in addition to the relevant staff, financial personnel must also participate. Therefore, financial personnel should take the initiative to organize and coordinate relevant professionals, conduct relevant feasibility analysis through careful investigation and understanding, and write financial reports by predicting the possible market change trend and its risk probability, investment construction period, investment payback period and investment return rate in the next few years, and submit them to the top decision-making level of the group for decision-making reference. The ultimate goal of investment is to obtain certain income. In order to ensure the realization of investment benefits, disperse and reduce investment risks, all foreign investments within the group can be subject to quota management, and the investment decision-making power exceeding the quota belongs to the parent company. Once the investment project is approved, the financial department shall assist the relevant departments to correct it. Projects whose investment benefits can't reach the expected purpose should be cleaned up and solved in time, and the responsibilities of relevant personnel should be investigated. At the same time, it is necessary to improve investment management and establish an operable financial assessment index system according to its own characteristics to avoid financial risks.
(3) Centralized guarantee and capital distribution right
Funds must be used safely, so the group headquarters must strengthen the safety management of the use of funds within the group. In particular, it is necessary to strictly supervise the disbursement of large amounts of funds, establish examination and approval procedures, and strictly implement them. Because, the financial situation of the division will directly affect the preservation and appreciation of the investment of the group company. At the same time, if the profitability of the division is reduced due to the blockage of funds, it will also reduce the return on investment of the group company. Therefore, when paying for production, operation and capital projects, all business divisions must go through the formalities of reporting to the Finance Department of the Group for approval. In order to implement the fund distribution right of the group company, the general group fund settlement center was established, and the accounts of all secondary financial institutions in various professional banks were cancelled. All funds within the group shall be managed by the company in a centralized and unified manner, and all internal units shall settle and collect money through the fund settlement center; Each secondary unit opens an internal settlement account in the fund settlement center for paid occupation of funds; Unify all financial revenues and expenditures, including operating income, and all units make unified settlement through the fund settlement center. Considering that the guarantee bears joint and several liability for compensation, if the guarantee is careless, it may not only lead to credit risk, but also bring property losses. Therefore, on the issue of guarantee, group companies must be very cautious. All business divisions shall not provide external guarantees in the name of the Group, and even mutual guarantees among business divisions within the Group must be approved in writing by the Finance Department of the Group.
(4) the right to distribute concentrated income.
Income distribution affects the interests of all parties, which is a sensitive topic and the focus of dealing with the economic interests between enterprise groups, countries and business divisions. Therefore, it is necessary to unify the income distribution system within the group, taking into account the development of the group and the interests of all parties, and the group headquarters should exercise the income distribution right uniformly. On the one hand, each division must timely and truly reflect its financial status and operating results, and the income distribution must comply with the provisions of national laws and regulations; On the other hand, on the basis of coordinating the time span and space span of income distribution within the group, we should adhere to the balance of interests distribution rights among all parties within the group, and distribute according to contribution and income on the basis of eliminating mutual occupation and crowding. The distribution of the subsidiary's income belongs to the distribution according to the provisions clearly stipulated by laws and regulations, and the remaining part is determined by the parent company based on the principle of combining long-term interests with actual interests. In principle, the profits retained by subsidiaries can be distributed by themselves, but they must be reported to the parent company for the record.
(5) Centralized invoice purchase and management.
Invoice management is also an important part of financial management. Invoice management is chaotic, on the one hand, it may have tax impact; On the other hand, it may lead to management corruption. To this end, the group company must concentrate on the right to purchase (receive) invoices. Group Finance Department is responsible for purchasing and receiving invoices; Agree to be exempt from tax. Invoices required by each department shall be collected from the Group Finance Department in time.
(6) the right to purchase fixed assets in a centralized way.
Each subsidiary must explain the reasons for purchasing fixed assets, apply to the parent company, and purchase them after approval. The funds of subsidiaries shall not be used for capital expenditures by themselves.
(7) Decentralize management autonomy.
The manager of the Division is responsible for the production, operation and management of the Division. Including fully responsible for organizing the implementation of the annual business plan, deciding on production and sales, studying and considering the surrounding market environment, understanding and paying attention to the business situation and strategic measures of the same industry, and reporting the production, operation and management to the group company within the specified time.
(8) Decentralized human resource management.
The group headquarters is only responsible for hiring the company manager, that is, the "top leader" of each business department. All division managers are solely responsible for the appointment of other managers. Even if the division decides to hire or dismiss someone, the group company shall not interfere in principle. However, the chief financial officer of this department can only be appointed or removed after obtaining the approval of the Group Finance Department. He belongs to the personnel sent by the group finance department, and his salary is approved by the group finance department and linked to the benefit assessment of his business department. During the year-end assessment, the Finance Department of the Group is responsible for the performance assessment of the dispatched financial supervisors on the basis of listening to the report of the Division.
(9) Decentralize the pricing power of import and export commodities.
Considering that some of the company's products are exported to overseas markets such as Southeast Asia, and the businesses operated by different business divisions are different, we suggest that the group headquarters can appropriately delegate power. Especially since China has joined the WTO, it is necessary to encourage all business departments to explore overseas markets. However, we must ensure the quality of goods, maintain the image of the group and improve economic benefits.
(10) Appropriately delegate the authority for examination and approval of expenses.
Expenses are all kinds of consumption formed in the process of production and operation, which may occur at any time in the daily operation of enterprises. In order to facilitate the production and operation of each division, the strategy of "macro-control and micro-invigorating" can be implemented. Therefore, the so-called "moderate decentralization" means that all business departments should follow the unified financial system of the group company, and its scope can only be limited to this year's budget. In the specific operation, all kinds of reasonable expenses used in the company's operation and management must be audited by the financial directors of each division before reimbursement. In order to communicate information in time and implement effective control, the group company can implement the "monthly financial meeting" system. Presided over by the head of the finance department, responsible for summarizing and arranging the financial work of the group company. The local financial supervisor must attend, and the contents of the regular meeting can be written and faxed in different places.
3. Implement an internal management system combining centralization and decentralization.
(1) Leaders attach importance to it.
Group leaders should change to the management concept of emphasizing management and being kind to customers, make it clear that the ultimate goal of management is to strengthen the management strength of the enterprise itself, and realize that management goals can only be achieved by renewing their own concepts and strengthening management. And the core of every management is financial management.
(2) Establish an effective financial institution, equipped with excellent chief financial officer.
Each company within the group shall set up financial institutions to manage and supervise the use of funds of the enterprise and participate in the operation. The financial department of the parent company should participate in the drafting of the overall business plan within the group and the audit of major business projects. It should not only provide timely accounting services for subsidiaries, but also have the right to manage the financial activities of subsidiaries in a planned, organized and purposeful manner, have the right to propose the appointment and removal of financial directors of subsidiaries, and have the responsibility to equip subsidiaries with reasonable and necessary accounting personnel.
The standards of the financial leaders of each company are: good ideological quality, high professional level, strong working ability, strong professionalism, profound understanding and implementation of various rules and regulations, insight into enterprise financial trends, organization and mobilization of the masses, strong internal and external coordination and adaptability, providing accurate financial information and wise decision-making suggestions for enterprise leaders, enthusiasm for accountants and subordinate financial institutions, and directing them to work in an orderly manner, that is,
(3) Strengthen the training of financial personnel and cultivate qualified financial team.
The deepening reform of enterprises and the fact of internal management mechanism are reflected in accounting work, and group management puts forward higher requirements for accountants. Within the group, it is necessary to provide opportunities for accountants to learn and improve, so that they can master modern accounting knowledge and means. By organizing accountants to participate in short-term training courses and on-the-job training, we can mobilize accountants to improve their theoretical research and cultivate a team of accountants with high comprehensive quality, both ability and political integrity and serious and practical work.
(4) Strengthen supervision and inspection.
The Group should strengthen the supervision and inspection of its subsidiaries. In addition to requiring all subsidiaries to submit various statements on time, it should also regularly or irregularly evaluate, supervise and help their operating conditions and financial work. This work can be undertaken by the financial department, or an internal audit department can be set up separately.
In a word, the internal financial management system of the group company combining centralization and decentralization should be a new financial management system established after fully analyzing the centralized financial management system and decentralized financial management system. We should fully consider the current talent quality and the actual situation of business management, proceed from reality, fully avoid the disadvantages of centralization and decentralization, and organically combine their respective advantages. Its characteristic is to integrate centralization and decentralization, and to mobilize the enthusiasm of all links as much as possible in line with the principle of grasping the big and letting go of the small.
As for the type, it depends on everyone's specific situation and management habits. I can't help you much. I'm still in charge.