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Mcdonald’s Finance

To feed and foster communities through financial excellence that enables delicious feel-good moments while building the world's most trusted restaurant brand

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To feed and foster communities through financial excellence that enables delicious feel-good moments while building the world's most trusted restaurant brand

Strengths

  • BRAND: Globally recognized brand with 40,000+ locations worldwide
  • CASH: Strong free cash flow generation exceeding $4.5B annually
  • SCALE: Economies of scale creating significant cost advantages
  • DIGITAL: Digital sales exceeding $23B annually across top markets
  • RESILIENCE: Proven ability to navigate economic downturns

Weaknesses

  • SYSTEMS: Legacy financial systems limiting real-time analytics
  • COMPLEXITY: Complex global tax structure increasing compliance costs
  • FORECASTING: Inconsistent forecasting accuracy across markets
  • TALENT: Gaps in specialized financial analytics talent
  • REPORTING: Extended financial close cycles limiting agility

Opportunities

  • AUTOMATION: Implement advanced financial automation technologies
  • ANALYTICS: Expand predictive financial analytics capabilities
  • ESG: Strengthen ESG financial reporting for investor confidence
  • DIVERSIFICATION: Strategic investment in high-growth markets
  • PARTNERSHIPS: Financial technology partnerships to enhance systems

Threats

  • INFLATION: Persistent global inflation impacting margins
  • COMPETITION: Increasing QSR competition for market share
  • REGULATION: Evolving global financial reporting requirements
  • CYBERSECURITY: Financial data security vulnerabilities
  • CURRENCY: Foreign exchange volatility affecting global earnings

Key Priorities

  • MODERNIZE: Upgrade core financial systems and analytics
  • TALENT: Attract and develop specialized financial analytics talent
  • AUTOMATION: Implement advanced financial automation solutions
  • ESG: Strengthen ESG financial reporting and sustainability metrics
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To feed and foster communities through financial excellence that enables delicious feel-good moments while building the world's most trusted restaurant brand

MODERNIZE FINANCE

Transform financial systems for real-time insights

  • PLATFORM: Implement cloud-based financial platform across 80% of global markets by Q3 with 99.5% uptime
  • AUTOMATION: Automate 75% of manual financial processes, reducing processing time by 40% and errors by 60%
  • ANALYTICS: Deploy financial analytics dashboards for all business units with 90% adoption rate
  • INTEGRATION: Connect 100% of financial systems to central data lake with real-time synchronization
TALENT EXCELLENCE

Build world-class financial analytics capabilities

  • HIRING: Recruit 25 specialized financial analytics professionals with 90% retention after 12 months
  • UPSKILLING: Train 95% of finance team on advanced analytics and AI with 85% certification rate
  • DEVELOPMENT: Create personalized development plans for 100% of finance leadership team members
  • CULTURE: Achieve 85% engagement score in finance organization through data-driven culture initiatives
AUTOMATE PROCESSES

Drive efficiency through intelligent automation

  • RPA: Implement 35 robotic process automation solutions reducing 10,000+ manual hours quarterly
  • AI: Deploy AI-powered forecasting models improving accuracy by 30% across all major markets
  • WORKFLOW: Digitize 100% of financial approval workflows reducing cycle times by 60%
  • REPORTING: Automate 90% of financial reporting with straight-through processing
ESG LEADERSHIP

Pioneer financial transparency in sustainability

  • FRAMEWORK: Implement comprehensive ESG financial reporting framework across 100% of operations
  • METRICS: Create 15 financial KPIs tied directly to sustainability goals with quarterly tracking
  • DISCLOSURE: Achieve top quartile ranking in financial ESG disclosure transparency ratings
  • INVESTMENT: Allocate $250M to sustainability initiatives with clear ROI measurements
METRICS
  • Global comparable sales growth: 5% for 2025
  • Free cash flow: $5.2B with 10% year-over-year growth
  • Operating margin: 47% by end of fiscal year
VALUES
  • Serve with integrity
  • Responsible stewardship
  • Data-driven decision making
  • Operational excellence
  • Financial transparency
Mcdonald’s logo
Align the learnings

Mcdonald’s Finance Retrospective

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To feed and foster communities through financial excellence that enables delicious feel-good moments while building the world's most trusted restaurant brand

What Went Well

  • SALES: Global comparable sales increased 1.9%, exceeding projections
  • DIGITAL: Digital sales grew to 40% of systemwide sales in top markets
  • MARGIN: Restaurant operating margin improved 220 basis points
  • EXPANSION: Added 523 net new restaurants globally during the quarter
  • CAPITAL: Successfully executed $5B share repurchase program

Not So Well

  • COSTS: Continued inflationary pressures impacting food and paper costs
  • INTERNATIONAL: China market performance below expectations by 3.4%
  • STAFFING: Labor challenges persisting in key markets affecting service
  • TECHNOLOGY: Digital platform integration delays affecting efficiency
  • FORECAST: Missed internal forecasts for operating income by 2.1%

Learnings

  • PRICING: Strategic pricing decisions critical in inflationary context
  • AGILITY: Financial planning needs greater flexibility for market shifts
  • INTEGRATION: Need tighter integration between finance and operations
  • ANALYTICS: Predictive analytics could improve forecasting accuracy
  • VISIBILITY: Enhanced real-time financial visibility would aid decisions

Action Items

  • IMPLEMENT: Deploy new financial forecasting platform by end of Q3
  • OPTIMIZE: Review and optimize global tax structure to improve margins
  • ACCELERATE: Speed financial close process to under 5 business days
  • DEVELOP: Create comprehensive financial analytics training program
  • ENHANCE: Implement advanced AI-driven risk management framework
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To feed and foster communities through financial excellence that enables delicious feel-good moments while building the world's most trusted restaurant brand

Strengths

  • DATA: Massive transaction data from global operations
  • INVESTMENT: Demonstrated willingness to invest in technology
  • LEADERSHIP: Executive commitment to digital transformation
  • INFRASTRUCTURE: Established global digital infrastructure
  • PARTNERSHIPS: Strategic technology partnerships in place

Weaknesses

  • INTEGRATION: Siloed AI initiatives across financial functions
  • SKILLS: Limited AI/ML expertise within finance organization
  • GOVERNANCE: Inconsistent data governance frameworks
  • ADOPTION: Varying levels of AI adoption across markets
  • LEGACY: Outdated systems limiting AI implementation

Opportunities

  • FORECASTING: AI-powered financial forecasting models
  • AUTOMATION: End-to-end automation of financial processes
  • INSIGHTS: Real-time financial insights for decision making
  • RISK: Advanced AI-driven risk management frameworks
  • EFFICIENCY: Cost reduction through AI-enabled optimization

Threats

  • EXPERTISE: Competition for limited AI talent in finance
  • ETHICS: Emerging ethical considerations in AI applications
  • REGULATION: Evolving regulatory landscape for AI in finance
  • DISRUPTION: AI disrupting traditional financial roles
  • INVESTMENT: Significant capital needed for AI transformation

Key Priorities

  • TALENT: Develop specialized AI capabilities within finance
  • INTEGRATION: Create unified AI strategy across finance functions
  • AUTOMATION: Prioritize high-value AI use cases for implementation
  • GOVERNANCE: Establish robust data and AI governance frameworks