Héléna Macquet: “Modernity requires maintenance”

After PwC and EY, Héléna Macquet (EDHEC International BBA 2005, followed by an MSc in Corporate Finance & Banking 2006) turned to Deloitte, which for 15 years has benefited from her expertise in finance transformation. Here she tells us about the upheavals which the consulting sector has gone through at the Big Four since she started her career. 

Can you describe your current position and responsibilities?

I’m a director at Deloitte Consulting in the Paris offices at La Défense. My position involves helping finance departments undergo transformations. I don’t offer them consulting on accounting technicalities but rather on organizational change. I intervene when there’s a merger or acquisition, a change in financial director, regulatory amendments, or when the business needs to change because it’s fallen out of sync with contemporary values. My role is to put in place a strategy, implement new roadmaps and optimise operating methods with digital tools and coaching for talented staff. The spectrum of services is increasingly rich, and after 15 years I’m still very content with the way the profession is evolving.

From your perspective, would you say that finance has evolved from a “transactional” system to a changing ecosystem?

Yes, the responsibilities of finance departments have seen wholesale changes. Whereas they used to be limited to pure accountancy oversight, they have now become the reactor core in businesses, responsible for forecasting, anticipating and facilitating decision-making. The whole number-crunching dimension is almost a thing of the past. Financial directors can now take charge of all support functions, including information systems and legal. They are an essential business partner for the different units, providing coaching and playing a role on the executive committee in choosing strategic direction. 

The digital transformation has brought about changes in modes of consumption both in households and businesses, with a shift towards greater automation, especially in support roles, and greater focus now on higher value-added tasks. This is why the financial director’s portfolio of responsibilities has expanded. They must now accommodate a greater number of very different profiles with cross-departmental complementarities. Soft skills serve to complement hard skills, which is also bringing about changes in financial behaviours.

And so financial consulting activities are also affected …

We work differently now. The ins and outs of balance sheets, income statements and cash flows still need to be mastered, but what I think has fundamentally changed is the way staff teams operate and the skills needed in relation to data over the last 10 years. In the past we didn’t know how to exploit data, we didn’t have results in real time. To get an income statement, we had to wait until the team could produce the figures. The cloud now allows us to manage, classify, standardise and establish sound governance of data, producing an extraordinary source of information for businesses so they can better understand themselves and the market. I work with managers who now have cross-departmental oversight of value chains, from the time an order is placed with the supplier until payment (Procure to Pay or P2P Manager), from the customer’s order to cash payment (Order to Cash or O2C Manager), or even from the moment data is recorded to when it’s reported and analysed (Financial Planning & Analysis or FP&A Manager). This has broken down the silos in companies. We have had to strengthen our skills in all things digital, data and solutions so we can be a force for positive change for our clients. 

Beyond the digital world, talent management has also evolved. I would even say it is now the primary issue our consultants take into account.

Are you seeing changes in the motivations of young graduates since you left EDHEC?

Yes, absolutely. I started out in finance because I loved numbers. I hesitated between auditing and consulting, but the variety of missions I could be involved in through consulting motivated me more. I didn’t yet have any of these digital notions, which went over my head. I didn’t even know what “Big data” and “RPA” meant! During my first 5 years, I acquired a foundation in finance and secured my diploma as a chartered accountant. It was after I became a manager that data arrived, and that tied in with the novelty that I liked about my job. As a young consultant, I was good at listening and observing. Nowadays young graduates both call for and drive change, they need to understand, and above all they are not afraid to speak out when they don’t like something. It’s great: when they have an idea they share it. It’s unfiltered and in real time. With hindsight I realise that there were a lot of things I denied myself. And now I find that the more consultants express themselves, the more at ease they are and the more easily trust can be established.

Is it also the responsibility of the Big Four to accelerate this movement?

Yes, of course. We are modernising, just like our clients. The Big Four are old brands with a certain notoriety that first of all specialized in auditing and later diversified. The consulting dimension became increasingly preponderant, and now EY even wants to split its auditing and consulting services. So considerable efforts are being made to modernise the way we manage talents. There are many initiatives underway aimed at getting young people involved in this revolution. And yes, I mean “revolution”! The power enjoyed by women has also changed. When I entered the professional world, there was no talk of parity. There was a code of ethics, but it wasn’t measured. Nowadays all companies have at least one network working in favour of female leadership. Everything that contributes to well-being and fulfilment is being worked on every day, because modernity requires maintenance.

How do you make sure consulting stays one step ahead of everyday life?

You can’t implement the best system on the market after a two or three-month project phase and then never look back. When we transform services, we also create positions responsible for monitoring the company’s ongoing transformation, keeping an eye out for the latest versions and listening to talented people so they can modify practices and always keep up to speed. The project mode is forever active in businesses today. When we put in place a new solution, we help our clients to make the right choices and implement them, but also support their transition to ensure oversight of smooth operations and allow the new organizational structure to become autonomous. The transformation then continues on an ongoing basis with dedicated staff teams.

So it’s about ensuring the solutions put in place are truly lasting and modular …

Yes, that’s why in finance projects we work with the Information Systems department, the HR department as well as the different business lines. A few years ago, when conducting change we had to convince financiers that the new solutions were well founded, and they used to be resistant to change. Nowadays they are all already convinced by the need for digitalisation. However, we still need to convince the different business lines, sales staff and subsidiary bosses. For them, investing in support functions is not as natural as investing in their business. The Chief Financial Officer therefore plays the important role of rallying the support of Comex members for these transformations. 

As a sponsor of the EDHEC International BBA, what messages will you convey to students on the programme?

They must be proud of themselves, of their education, of what they have learned, and they must express that pride before being proud of their company. It’s not always easy to promote or sell oneself. I’m always eager to hear the life stories of the people I meet. And it is also through negative experiences that we learn the most. 

Next, it’s about authenticity, being yourself, not overdoing it, pretending or being superficial. For a team to work well, there must be trust, with members behaving naturally, in order for there to be harmony at a collective level.

Lastly, I would tell them to get off the beaten path. Consultants have their primary missions, but there are so many other initiatives – charitable, environmental, inclusive, or even involving our own internal processes – and these must be explored! You have to take the plunge and seize opportunities. The more enterprising you are, the more you learn, which is the right path if you want to go far.

This sincerity seems to have become the key selling point … 

Absolutely, this is not drama. We’re not reciting lines, playing out scenes. And clients see right away when it’s not natural, if it’s too commercial. People trust other human beings, they benefit from a service, purchase expertise, and what differentiates between firms with similar expertise is the person involved. If as a manager I was too theatrical, my staff wouldn’t trust me. What’s more, work environments nowadays are ever more stimulating. People have stopped wearing ties, for example. We used to look a little bit like stewards or air hostesses when we visited our clients. Nowadays we are the way we are, we no longer need a disguise.

Since you constantly need to stay one step ahead, would you say that today’s higher education courses are suitable?

I think progress remains to be made on courses in France, which are still out of sync with the Anglo-Saxon model, especially when it comes to digital issues. It takes time to develop a rich and meaningful programme with the right contributors. At Deloitte, there is increasing awareness of the importance of training. 15 years ago, training courses were run by a senior consultant or manager. They did a very good job but simply recited the lessons their old manager had given them. Nowadays technologies are moving so fast that the slides used three years ago are of no use! You need to take the time to seek the help of the right experts, whether internally or through independent companies, to ensure training courses constantly evolve. That said, and to finish on the question of higher education, I’m very happy with the education I received at EDHEC, which prepared me for the corporate world with both theoretical scenarios and practical experience through internships, as well as emphasis on the importance of the international dimension and the high quality of teaching staff and guest speakers.