Judging process for the Finance for the Future Awards 2020

The judging process comprises three stages: due diligence, assessments and judging.

Due diligence

Your entry will go through a simple due diligence process, to check that the information meets the award criteria. Three years of financial statements that you are required to send with your entry, except for individuals applying in the ‘Driving change’ category, will also be reviewed by a finance manager. If your organisation is less than three years old, please send relevant documents since its creation.

If your application does not meet the award criteria, you may be eliminated from the assessment and judging process.

Assessments

An assessment will be scheduled if your entry passes due diligence. This will be approximately 30 minutes, and an opportunity for one assessor to gain a deeper understanding of your entry and talk to the key participants (including members of the finance team) involved in the project. Presentations are not required.

The assessment meetings will take place via audio or video conference calls on set dates still to be confirmed.

The finalists for the 2020 awards will be announced in August.

Judging

All finalists will present to a panel of judges, followed by questions, in London. When the date is confirmed, please hold this date in the diaries of relevant participants. International finalists unable to travel to London will be invited to present via video conference call.

What are they looking for?

Here are some tips from a judge:

• Involve the CFO. This goes a long way to impressing the judges.
• Show how your project delivers real change and encourages others to adopt similar behaviours. This is why the link between the project sponsor and the finance department is an essential ingredient: proving financial credibility is an important way to inspire action.
• Provide good evidence. These Awards aren't about CSR programmes. Sustainability should be integrated into the organisation's business model. We want to see sustainability within the mainstream thought process to unlock value for the future.
• Be clear. Say what the issue was, what you did and what the outcome was. Be consistent and logical.
• Work with others. Give examples of how the finance team have worked collaboratively with other functions to achieve your results.
• Be unique, tell your story. We want to see your energy, passion and finance expertise shining through.

The judging panel includes senior representatives of the partner organisations, past winners and experts in their field. They are: yet to be confirmed and will follow.