The Future of Finance Function
•Als PPTX, PDF herunterladen•
2 gefällt mir•1,320 views
The Future of Finance Function 2016 survey sponsored by Aptitude Software. An insight into the changing role of the CFO and what can be done to ease the transition.
Empfohlen
Empfohlen
Weitere ähnliche Inhalte
Was ist angesagt?
Was ist angesagt? (20)
Andere mochten auch
Andere mochten auch (17)
Ähnlich wie The Future of Finance Function
Ähnlich wie The Future of Finance Function (20)
Kürzlich hochgeladen
Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)
The Future of Finance Function
- 1. The Future of the Finance Function Survey 2016 Sponsored by
- 2. For full report please click: Future of Finance Function 2016 Sponsored by
- 3. The Future of the Finance Function Survey 2016 Survey Participants: 762 Senior Finance Position: 77% Industries: 23
- 4. The Future of the Finance Function Survey 2016 Geography of respondents Number of Employees % % Figure 1. Figure 2.
- 5. As finance professionals we are facing some of the most demanding and challenging conditions for decades namely: striving to be better business partners nurturing new finance talent to meet the exceptional demands of the digital economy guiding innovation standardising and automating core finance processes and linking them to back office systems learning how to manage and analyse the burgeoning volume and variety of data
- 6. Our study highlights that wherever finance professionals happen to be situated in the world, and no matter what industries they serve, we all share the same ambitions and hurdles. But the survey also points to the way forward. So the key question is: how far have finance professional progressed along that modern finance journey? This presentation will look at how much the role of the CFO has really changed; more broadly how the finance function is responding to the challenges of the digital economy and; finally what steps finance professionals need to take in order to make progress along the Modern Finance journey.
- 7. The changing role of the CFO is over-hyped
- 8. 81% of senior finance professionals believe CFOs will be more influential in decision making BUT one third of CFOs are still making decisions based on 'gut feel' The Future of the Finance Function, the great contradiction….
- 9. 81% of senior finance professionals believe CFOs will be responsible for corporate data BUT almost two thirds admit they are struggling to master the variety and volume of new business data The Future of the Finance Function, the great contradiction….
- 10. 75% of senior finance professionals believe CFOs will play a greater role in innovation BUT two thirds currently admit they have too little time to spend on innovation and process improvement The Future of the Finance Function, the great contradiction….
- 11. 72% of senior finance professionals believe more CFOs will be responsible for technology BUT one third of CFOs are currently struggling to make the best use of technology The Future of the Finance Function, the great contradiction….
- 12. 77% of senior finance professionals believe the finance function will consist of fewer but more highly skilled members but 52% feel threatened by the automation and de-skilling of accounting processes The Future of the Finance Function, the great contradiction….
- 13. CFOs are over-stretched They are too bogged down in traditional accounting disciplines and this leaves precious little time for satisfying the demands of their new role or for nurturing their finance teams.
- 14. Two thirds, 68% say they don’t have time for process improvement and innovation More than half, 51% say that they don’t spend enough time on business partnering and there is little time for pet projects. Only 42%, of CFOs believe the finance function is perceived more positively by other business functions Only 48%, of CFOs believe they are more actively involved in strategy development Where is the CFO’s time going?.... 52% The percentage of CFOs that believe they spend too much time on…. Leaving not enough time for even the basics…… 42% 32% Half of CFOs, 50% believe they spend less time than they need on performance management than they ought to
- 15. In many cases, CFOs are ‘treading water’, unable to live up to the new expectations of the modern finance function because of a lack of time. Process improvement and innovation, strategy development, performance management and business partnering are all under- served. They need to start investing in their people to help them!
- 16. Finance functions who say that they invest strongly in their people are further down the line in the ‘Modern Finance’ journey than those who do not invest strongly in their people
- 17. Investing in people is essential to progressing along the finance journey… … but less time in the hands of CFOs and their finance function means that people development is suffering. The relentless march of progress, in the finance function and the roles of its senior members, has brought about a change in the requirements of finance staff at every level. Managing a team of traditional accounting staff is no longer the reality for most finance leaders. If CFOs are required to be strategists, business partners, innovators, technology evangelists and financial stewards, they need a wider arsenal of skills beyond the traditional accounting and management remit.
- 18. 76% Invest strongly 43% Do not invest strongly 33% More ….. almost twice as likely to be engaged in creating business value 69% Invest strongly 25% Do not invest strongly 3x More ….. almost three times more likely to be actively involved in strategy development CFOs whose finance teams invest strongly in their development are…. 2x More
- 19. 66% Invest strongly 27% Do not invest strongly 33% More …..two and a half times more likely to be perceived more positively by other business functions 69% Invest strongly 25% Do not invest strongly 2x More ….. almost twice as likely to be more actively engaged in business decision- making 2.5x More CFOs who invest strongly in their people are….
- 20. 76% Invest strongly 43% Do not invest strongly …..twice as likely to spend more time on business analysis and less on accounting 2x More CFOs whose finance teams invest strongly in their development are….
- 21. 33% More 3x More CFOs are struggling to recruit the skills required …. 2x More
- 22. 33% of CFOs say they make decisions based on ‘gut feel’ rather than data, these organizations are more than twice as likely to respond too late to market change Organizations who regularly find themselves making decisions based on ‘gut feel’ do so because they struggle to make the best use of technology with under ¼ of CFOs agreeing they make best use of technology Unsurprisingly organizations that rely on ‘gut feel’ are half as likely to be able to forecast accurately Crucially these organizations are half as likely review their strategy and their workforce are also half as likely to understand their organizational strategy Although CFOs appear to be able to make decisions in the same timeframe regardless of whether they rely on management information or ‘gut feel’
- 23. CFOs underestimate the importance of process standardisation, automation and linking front office to back office systems, yet those that have fully achieved these goals 1. Are more likely to have liberated time 2. Are more likely to make quicker and more timely decisions 3. Are perceived more positively by other business functions. 4. have a better view of organizational performance and forecast more accurately.
- 24. Standardisation and Automation Trump Everything Else
- 25. The Importance of Standardisation
- 26. The Importance of Standardisation Automation Standardisation Linking Front Office & Back Office Systems Spend less time on transaction processing 30 36 26 Spend more time on innovation & process improvement 21 40 32 Are more actively involved in strategy development 26 40 33 Spend more time on business analysis and less on accounting 25 42 33 Make the best use of technology 58 58 46 Make quicker decisions 35 23 29 Are less likely to rely on gut feel 19 26 17 Forecast more accurately 25 22 27
- 27. Standardisation Automation Front to Back Those that have completed the standardisation journey….
- 28. 1. Standardisation 2. Automation 3. Front to Back What is the most impactful approach….
- 29. When the impact of process standardisation, automation and linking front to back office systems were compared, it was found that process standardisation had the biggest impact of all, leading in six out of the eight criteria we measured. Once standardised, the impact of automation was to accelerate decision making.
- 30. And finally… Linking front office customer-facing systems to back office systems ensured that organisations forecast more accurately. Having information harvested from the sharp end of the business and merging it with financial information gave the deepest and most useful insights abut how the business was performing.
- 31. Thank you
Hinweis der Redaktion
- (Good)
- (Good)
- The survey was completed by more than 760 senior finance professionals from across the globe, in 23 industries, making it one of the largest and most authoritative studies of its kind in 2016 and it didn’t disappoint in terms of its findings. (good)
- As finance professionals we are facing some of the most demanding and challenging conditions for decades – what I call the modern finance journey - namely: • striving to be better business partners • nurturing new finance talent to meet the exceptional demands of the digital economy • guiding imaginative strategies and innovation • standardising and automating core finance processes and linking them to back office systems • learning how to manage and analyse the burgeoning volume and variety of data. Our study highlights that wherever finance professionals happen to be situated in the world and no matter what industries they serve, we all share the same ambitions and hurdles. But the survey also points to the way forward. So the key question is how far have finance professional progressed along that modern finance journey. In this webinar we will look at how much the role of the cfo has really changed; more broadly how the finance function is responding to the challenges of the digital economy and; finally what steps finance professionals need to take in order to make progress along the Modern Finance journey (need new slide for info)
- Thousands of column inches are devoted daily to the changing role of the CFO. These changes have been foisted on them by rapidly changing consumer behaviour, new technology-infused business models and an ever-changing competitive landscape. While many have travelled a long way on the modern finance journey, our research shows that there is a significant gap between perception and what is happening on the ground. There are significant contradictions between where CFO’s want to be and where they actually are. (include more info on this slide)
- 81% of senior finance professionals believe CFOs will be more influential in decision making BUT one third of CFOs are still making decisions based on 'gut feel‘ That is not to say that there isn’t a place for professional judgement and experience but within a complex financial role, decisions must stand up to scrutiny, during and after the event, and should be grounded, substantially, in hard evidence. When the balance between hunch and hard data is off, credibility is lost and finance leaders risk leaving themselves and their organisations exposed to reputational and financial risk. (good)
- 81% of senior finance professionals believe CFOs will be responsible for corporate data BUT almost two thirds admit they are struggling to master the variety and volume of new business data Data volumes are roughly doubling every two years. In fact so profound is the potential impact of so called Big Data that the World Economic Forum considers it to be a new class of economic asset, akin to human capital and natural resources such as oil and gold. It’s not so much the volume of data that is causing issues but the variety of new data. Increasingly, the ability to harness ‘unstructured’ data such as commentary and other text-based information in social media, tweets, emails, blogs and websites is adding to the richness enabling deeper insights than ever before. But few CFOs today are well positioned to take advantage of the profit opportunities afforded by data – something that comes through strongly in the survey. The inability to master the variety and volume of new business data is a serious threat to the future finance function. (good)
- 75% of senior finance professionals believe CFOs will play a greater role in innovation BUT two thirds currently admit they have too little time to spend on innovation and process improvement And (good)
- The modern CFO, who is increasingly trusted with making technology decisions, has to walk a tightrope between overseeing investment in emerging technologies to deliver new services to customers and leveraging new technologies to support the business on the inside. But this unique positioning also gives CFOs exceptional visibility into technology advancements and how they can be used to accelerate change, especially around the way that the modern finance function supports other decision makers, functions and stakeholders. (good)
- The right technology investment can liberate time. Automation and standardisation frees up well qualified personnel for retraining into higher value roles. CFOs know this is happening. 77% of senior finance professionals believe the finance function will consist of fewer but more highly skilled members. Yet over half say that automation and de-skilling of the accounting process is a threat to the future finance function. (good)
- Put bluntly, CFOs are over-stretched, they are too bogged down in traditional accounting disciplines and this leaves precious little time for satisfying the demands of their new role or for nurturing their finance teams. (put more info on slide)
- Our research finds that CFOs are over-stretched. Over 50% of senior finance executives surveyed consider they spend too much time on transaction processing, 42% feel they spend too much time on management accounting and 32% feel statutory reporting takes up too much of their time. In many cases CFOs are ‘treading water’, unable to live up to the new expectations of the modern finance function because of a lack of time. Process improvement and innovation, strategy development, performance management and business partnering are all under-served. So it is no wonder that only 42% of CFOs believe that the finance function is perceived more positively by other business functions over the last 3 years. Put bluntly, if organisations are looking to their CFO and finance executives to lead the way in innovative process improvements, identify opportunities for growth, improve profitability and sharpen efficiencies, then they need the time to do it. The headline writers will have us believe everything has already changed, but the survey indicates there is a long way to go to catch up with the hype. (good) Need a slide after this with info introducing to ‘investing in their people’
- Investing in people is essential to progressing along the finance journey, but less time in the hands of CFOs and their finance function means that people development is suffering… The relentless march of progress, in the finance function and the roles of its senior members, has brought about a change in the requirements of finance staff at every level. Managing a team of traditional accounting staff is no longer the reality for most finance leaders,. If CFOs are required to be strategists, business partners, innovators, technology evangelists and financial stewards, they need a wider arsenal of skills beyond the traditional accounting and management remit. Soft skills ranked highest among the skills senior finance executives believe will be more in demand in three years’ time, followed closely by superior analytical capability, technology and process skills, and entrepreneurial skills. Unsurprisingly, technical accounting was last on the survey list. But while the buck may stop there, the skills development must filter down to their team. Automation and business intelligence systems have subsumed many finance tasks that were previously done by entry-level staff, and the process is no-where near to completion. Fewer staff doing higher-skilled jobs will be the norm, and it’s imperative that these employees are developed. Our research very clearly shows that where senior finance executives invest strongly in their people, they are further down the line in the ‘Modern Finance’ journey compared to executives who do not. For example; They are almost twice as likely to be more engaged in helping the business create value. They are almost three times as likely to be more actively involved in strategy development. They are two and a half times more likely to be perceived more positively by other business functions. They are almost twice as likely to be more actively involved in business decision-making.
- good
- good
- good
- Finding data-savvy professionals with the business experience or insights needed to frame the right hypotheses, validate them, and then apply those findings to address specific business challenges or opportunities, will be key to success. But our research indicates that this is a also a major concern. For example, 45% of those surveyed felt they did not plan adequately for the succession of their finance leaders and the same number couldn’t find the finance skills internally when they were needed. Only 36% of the senior finance executives surveyed said professional accounting bodies are producing people with the skills they need. Patently, the skills gap is not going to be easy to fix. (good)
- (good)
- (good)
- Perhaps the most startling part of this year’s research is that CFOs underestimate the importance of process standardisation, automation and linking front office to back office systems. Survey respondents top three most selected priorities were strategic advice to the board, business partnering and reporting more quickly and accurately to internal stakeholders. Standardisation and automation of core financial processes came fourth and fifth respectively, whilst linking ‘front office’ customer facing processes to ‘back office’ functions was last on a list of eight! Yet senior finance professionals who invested in process standardization and automation were more likely to have liberated time spent on transaction processing, statutory and management reporting in favour of more value-added initiatives. (include notes on slide)
- For example, when we compared organisations that said they had fully standardized with those that had yet to start of the standardization journey we found that they have considerably more time to spend on; performance management, innovation and process improvement, They also make quicker decisions based on comprehensive and accurate management information, are perceived more positively by other business functions and have a better view of organisational performance and forecast more accurately.
- Fascinatingly, when we compared the impact of process standardisation, automation and linking front to back office systems, we found that process standardisation had the biggest impact of all, leading in six out of the eight criteria we measured. Once standardised, the impact of automation was to accelerate decision making. And, finally, linking front office customer-facing systems to back office systems ensured that organisations forecast more accurately. In other words, having information harvested from the sharp end of the business and merging it with financial information gave the deepest and most useful insights abut how the business was performing.
- And what’s the quickest way to a standardised approach? Probably the cloud.