Board Director for Financial Systems and Data Governance

Evidence of relevant experience

Candidates should have led or governed substantial finance-system or reporting-data change in a complex organisation. They must demonstrate the ability to challenge both technology optimism and finance requirements that create unnecessary complexity. Applications should discuss a programme where data or process readiness changed the implementation decision.

Questions for investment and delivery

Assess whether the proposed system supports a clear operating model and consistent definitions. Challenge assumptions about data quality, migration and local adaptation. Ask who owns decisions about master data, reporting rules and access, and how exceptions will be governed after the programme team leaves.

Review management's approach to testing, reconciliation and continuity during transition. A successful technical migration does not establish that financial information is complete or useful. Seek evidence from real reporting cycles and user tasks, including the handling of unusual transactions and failed interfaces.

Oversight beyond launch

Examine whether expected benefits arise from better processes and decisions or merely from replacing software. Review the persistence of manual workarounds, the cost of maintaining customisation and the control implications of privileged access. Management should distinguish a temporary stabilisation issue from a design weakness requiring further action.

The director will contribute to reserved investment decisions and assurance oversight, not approve configurations or direct project staff. Appropriate specialists should advise on technical, accounting and data-protection requirements. Appointment and committee responsibilities depend on the actual entity's governance arrangements and independence assessment.

A dependable information foundation

The board should gain clearer visibility of information risk and a more credible basis for approving change. Success means leaders understand the limits of current data, the evidence needed for transition and the accountability for maintaining quality afterwards. The director's contribution should reduce the risk that an expensive implementation produces faster reports whose underlying reliability remains uncertain or whose complexity prevents ordinary management from using them well.