The Finance Function must evolve to meet the demands of a modern, fast-paced business. As a result, it must move away from the traditional accounting and finance models and focus on increasing value. This can only happen through automation, which can save time and money. Automation helps finance teams automate repetitive tasks and eliminate error correction.
Finance functions are expected to be a critical part of a company’s success, and they must show their value to the business. They must be able to identify opportunities for bottom-line growth, as well as act as the flag bearers of good governance, financial discipline, and best practices. However, many finance functions struggle to demonstrate their value, and aren’t sure how to measure this value. In addition, they often feel they are struggling to align with the business and reduce costs, while maintaining effective cost management.
Fortunately, there are ways to help finance functions stay competitive and transform while still delivering the highest level of service. The goal of finance transformation is to help finance teams anticipate and respond to changes in the business, and to ensure that teams contribute to strategic goals. Achieving this goal requires an agile approach to finance transformation, a mindset that requires a commitment to continuous improvement.
In order to achieve this, finance teams need to be more efficient, ensuring that they spend less time on analysis and gathering data. Moreover, it’s important to improve the quality of data in order to improve decision-making across the enterprise. These steps will reduce costs and improve efficiency. By focusing on these three areas, finance teams will be able to focus on making better decisions for the company.
Ultimately, the future success of a finance team relies on the right technology, talent, and skill sets. If these factors aren’t in place, it will be difficult to fully leverage the potential of new technologies and data. As a CFO, it’s important to start preparing for the future of the finance function. This article will explore the future of finance functions and provide insights into how to make these changes happen in your organization.
Future finance teams will be equipped with unprecedented amounts of information. This will enable finance teams to support management throughout the organization. They will also be able to use analytics, forecast performance, and manage risks. In fact, 57 percent of group CFOs believe that the delivery of data is a critical capability for a finance team in the future.
As a leader of the finance function, you must focus on identifying which activities are centralized and which require more flexibility. Standardization of lower-risk activities and reducing those with high disruption risk should be your top priorities. At the same time, you should focus on providing more decision-making tools and principle-based recommendations. However, it’s crucial to not make decisions in a vacuum. Using Gartner research as a guideline will help you determine the best way to deliver a finance function that works for your company.
