We have mapped out our Accountability Chart, but we are struggling to assign single ownership of our weekly cash collection metric on the Scorecard. Both our account managers who handle client relationships and our finance team who sends the invoices claim they cannot own the number alone. Who gets the seat on this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Every single number on your Scorecard must have exactly one owner. If two people own a number, nobody owns it. This is a fundamental rule of running a healthy business on data.

To resolve this conflict, look at your Accountability Chart and determine who has ultimate accountability for the cash actually hitting the bank account. While account managers maintain the relationship, the finance seat is typically responsible for accounts receivable and collections. Therefore, the head of finance must own the cash collection metric on the leadership team Scorecard.

The fact that they depend on account managers to resolve client disputes does not change this. The owner of the metric is responsible for highlighting when the number is off track, driving the solution, and calling out dependencies. If the finance leader cannot get the support they need from the account managers, that is an operational issue to bring to the Level 10 Meeting™ for IDS®.

If you split ownership, you create a culture of finger-pointing where both sides claim they did their part while the bank account remains empty. Put one name next to the number. That person is not necessarily doing all the work, but they are the single point of accountability for the result.