2. Finance Transformation Perspective
Accenture
CFO Now
research:
They told us:
• The scale and pace of decision-
making are vastly different than
for their predecessors
• Where their predecessors
made $100M decisions monthly,
or even quarterly, today’s CFOs
make $1B decisions weekly,
in some cases, daily
• The overarching differentiator
is the technology advantage
• 60% of traditional finance tasks
are now automated, freeing up finance
functions to focus on
more strategic tasks
Surveyed
1,300seniorfinanceexecs
The role of the CFO
has changed
However
• Only 1 in 5 CFOs use operational
data to identify new value, or
include macroeconomic data
in their forecasts
• Less than a third of CFOs combine
operational and macroeconomic
data with internal data to create
new insights
• More than 7 in 10 CFOs believe their
company will need to completely
rethink processes
and operating models to be
more resilient in the face of
impending disruption
Interviewed
40senior financeexecs
Analyzed
245S&P500companies
Finance Transformation Perspective
3. Finance Transformation Perspective
CFO as
accountant
architect of business value
economic guardian
catalyst of digital strategy
architect of business value
economic guardian
catalyst of digital strategy
The changing role of the Chief Finance Officer
Finance Transformation Perspective
5. Finance Transformation Perspective
Economicguardianship–continuously
improving theefficiencyandeffectiveness
ofthe financefunction–isa
coreresponsibilityforCFOs.
Accenture + Workday offer CFOs the
opportunity to fundamentally redesign
their financial data model (or chart of
accounts), break down silos once and
for all and capture the most value
and insight from their data. of CFOs are using
the cloud to provide
new insights
23%
CFO as economic guardian
Cloud architectures deliver breakthrough
speed
The massive computing power of the cloud
allows businesses to process huge amounts
of data from sources scattered across the
enterprise–at breakthrough speed, reducing
scenario-modelling, data inputs, and
predictive forecasting from days to minutes.
Cloud architectures offer a whole new world
of possibilities to CFOs, allowing for much
faster decision-making. Yet according to our
CFO Now research,
just 23% are using the cloud to provide new
insights.
Only
6. Finance Transformation Perspective
In this context, Accenture and Workday can help drive several important
outcomes and benefits:
Robust data model
Move from transaction processing
to business advisor
CFO as economic guardian
The rigid segmented chart of accounts, which limited the
data that fundamentally can be tracked within the general
ledger, can now be a thing of the past.
Workday’s Foundation Data Model enables Finance to
create a robust financial data model that allows a rich set
of up to 140 different attributes/dimensions that can be
tracked for all financial transactions.
Plus, the Foundation Data Model is flexible and
future-proofed. Finance can add or change values
or dimensions as organizations evolve over time.
The in-memory object model at the core of Workday’s
architecture processes, reconciles, allocates and analyzes
data in real-time.
At any given moment, Finance has real-time insight
on cash, liquidity, and working capital – improving efficiency
and reducing operational costs. Executives can spend less
time on processing transactions and more time advising
business partners.
7. Finance Transformation Perspective
In this context, Accenture and Workday can help drive several important
outcomes and benefits:
Improved control and compliance Analytics-driven decision-making
CFO as economic guardian
Workday’s Business Process and Security Frameworks
provide a robust set of technologies. These enable users to
design process flows that align with their current business
processes, and also implement control points within the
business process flow. Combined with Workday’s ‘always-on
audit’ ensures transparency, visibility, accountability and
compliance with corporate policies and control frameworks.
Finance teams can now focus on higher-level activities
such as planning, forecasting and what-if analysis, augmented
with AI and machine learning. So rather
than just answering questions about 'what happened’
they can answer 'why' and 'how' questions.
Workday’s Prism Analytics technology enables organizations to
combine their Finance and HR data
with other, non-Workday data to take the analysis one
step further, and so provide end-to-end visibility from front-office
systems to mid- and back-office solutions.
This allows CFOs and other managers to see the direct impacts
of front-office business decisions.
9. Finance Transformation Perspective
EffectiveCFOs serveas amultiplier of
business valuebecausetheyoperateatthe
nexusofwhathappensacrossthe
organizationandthebroaderecosystem.
In this role, and leveraging this privileged
vantage point, CFOs need to focus on
creating business value across the
enterprise.
CFOs are present at every stage in the
value chain. Now they have the
opportunity to form a ‘spider’s web’ of
personal ‘influence’ throughout
the function and the business.
CFO as architect of business value
Are CFOs being purposeful
enough in this area?
Managing this web of collaborative
interconnectivity is important. The good
news is that the CFO Now study found that 86% of
CFOs have increased the frequency and scope of
collaboration across the C-suite.
This contrasts with Accenture's CFO Now study,
conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
which revealed that 75% of senior
executives said that different business functions
such as R&D, engineering, production,
marketing, operations and
sales competed rather than collaborated
on digitization efforts, reducing the value from
their transformation programs.
of CFOs have increased
the frequency and scope
of collaboration across the
C-suite.
Accenture CFO Now research
86%
10. Finance Transformation Perspective
Toeffectively drive
business value–visibility andtimelines
areimportant.
Workday helps Finance engage with
the business through
several key capabilities:
CFO as architect
of business value
Focus on data
Workday is more than just a Finance system replacement program.
It is focused on business transformation and data-driven transformation.
A primary objective of these deployments is to focus on the Foundation Data
Model by stepping back and thinking through how CFOs want to manage their
business – firstly, without the limitations of old, such as
a small set of data that is tracked within the financial ledger, and secondly, with
the agility to adapt to operational changes in hours
and days, not weeks and months.
This transformation enables Finance to support the business by not
only tracking data, but also using additional metrics to analyze items such as
product or customer profitability, cashflow, ESGs.
Finance Transformation Perspective
11. Finance Transformation Perspective
Workday’s Foundation
Data Model provides
clarity and transparency
as the basis for open
dialogue using a
common language
across the business.
Focus on leadership
The focus on data enables Finance to not
only complete the core business of
finance, but also support business peers
on decision-making with insightful and
sophisticated perspectives and
knowledge.
Focus on ownership
With a seamless, built-for-the-cloud user
experience across devices and
a scalable platform for growth,
CFOs can take personal ownership
to harmonize technology and
data platforms.
Toeffectively drive
business value–visibility andtimelines
areimportant.
Workday helps Finance engage with
the business through
several key capabilities:
Finance Transformation Perspective
CFO as architect
of business value
13. Finance Transformation Perspective
Building on theCFO’s heritage asa
first-mover–
in everything fromsharedservices, to
ERP,frombusiness intelligence
applicationstothe cloud–CFOs are
well-positionedtobring thefullpower
ofthe Financefunctiontostrategic
initiativesacrosstheorganization.
The role is critical for ensuring
ROI on new digital business models
and helping align the organization on
new regulatory requirements and
market demands.
Unlock greater value from
digital investments
Working as the central hub, Finance can
use technology to connect to the rest of
the company – linking critical data
sources and workflows across HR,
operations, supply chain, sales,
marketing, and more, eliminating
inefficiencies and disjointed views, and
driving company-wide
innovation and transformation.
Some advanced CFOs are using
internal and external data and
proprietary algorithmic models
to better understand the leading
indicators of demand before they
show up in the company’s P&L.
This can be done by leveraging
advanced financial modeling
to identify future risks and
opportunities, and by using variations
in external data such
as consumer search trends, coupled
with internal data, to more accurately
forecast future demand and minimize
outages.
From number cruncher to
catalyst of digital strategy
14. Finance Transformation Perspective
Digital corebuilt forthecloud –
formanycompanies, Workdayprovides the
data-drivendigitalbackbonethatiscriticalto
remaining competitivein an
ever-changing world– whetherthrough
evolution orrevolution.
It is designed to deliver end-to-end
visibility, increased efficiency, and
enhanced collaboration across business
processes.
CFO as catalyst of digital strategy
Deployed by Accenture, Workday provides a
user-friendly experience
for people, from bookkeepers to CFOs,
enabling all native capabilities – from the
highly intuitive web-interface through the full
range of web services.
• Projects enables investments, initiatives
and ideas to be captured, tracked and
measured
• Drive promotes collaboration and
supports sharing of data within
the system
• Workteams allows organizations to
set up self-managing, multi-discipline,
cross-functional teams.
15. Finance Transformation Perspective
The full value of cloud: not yet unleashed
While88% ofCFOsin ourCFO Nowresearchintroducednew metrics tobetterleverage the financefunction’sinfluenceon theenterprise,
few haveunleashedthefull value of cloudarchitecture.
Our research has identified that there
is still huge, untapped potential to:
• Provide new insights, faster
• Identify new value sources
• Manage risk through data security
• Identify future risks and opportunities
• Optimize talent
• Include macroeconomic data in forecasts
• Advance the role of the CFO further still
Enabling cost efficiencies 32%
Meeting budget targets/achieving growth 27%
Improving accuracies of reporting 23%
Providing new depths of insights 23%
Identifying new value 16%
Current usage of the cloud in the
Finance organization:
From number cruncher to catalyst of digital strategy
16. Finance Transformation Perspective
The aspiration exists, however 75% of the CFOs interviewed as part
of a 2020 Accenture CXO pulse survey
believe their company is on a course
to fundamentally redesign how people work
and reinvent their culture to support new
behaviors and mindsets.
Accenture is uniquely able to help
CFOs change their organizations
and increase value.
The full value of cloud: not yet unleashed
17. Finance Transformation Perspective
Accenture+Workdaycanhelp CFOs
embraceandcapitalizeontheir new and
expandedroleas:
Our CFO Now research and analysis
shows that Finance leaders who fully
embody their new roles and operate
effectively at breakthrough speeds
can expect to almost double their
EBITDA CAGR over the next couple
of years and increase their revenue
CAGR by 10%.
Simply put, breakthrough speed
for breakout value.
Economic guardian
Architect of enterprise-wide
business value
Catalyst of digital strategy
Finance Transformation Perspective
18. Finance Transformation Perspective
Finance Transformation Perspective
Deep Kular
Managing Director – Global Workday Financials
Leader at Accenture
deep.kular@accenture.com
Contact
19. Finance Transformation Perspective
About this research
Accenture has been tracking the changing roles and responsibilities of
CFOs for nearly 20 years. Our research –
now in its seventh iteration – is based on online surveys with more
than 1,300 senior finance leaders from around the globe, carried out
between April and June 2020. It also draws on a smaller survey of 177
respondents between February and March 2020. We also conducted
40 qualitative interviews with CFOs. We selected interviewees on the
basis that they worked for global, billion-dollar enterprises that
reflected worldwide sectors and geographies. Accenture also modeled
the applications of differentiated speed—predictive, data-driven
decision-making via deployment of digital technologies and zero-
basing of workloads on 245 S&P 500 companies, across 10 industries,
to quantify
the impact on revenue and EBITDA from 2020 to 2022.
References
“Intelligent Finance Operations:
The CFO’s most powerful asset,”
Accenture, December 16, 2020.
Accenture, “CxO Pulse Survey,”
June/July 2020.
“Together Makes Better: How
to out-collaborate the crisis,” Accenture,
June 2020
20. Finance Transformation Perspective
About Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading
capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries,
we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and
Operations services — all powered by the world’s largest network of
Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our
699,000 people deliver
on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day,
serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power
of change to create value and shared success for our clients,
people, shareholders, partners and communities.
Visit us at accenture.com.
Disclaimer
This presentation is intended for general
informational purposes only and does
not take into account the reader’s specific
circumstances and may not reflect the most
current developments. Accenture disclaims, to
the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any
and all liability for the accuracy and completeness
of the information in this presentation and for any
acts or omissions made based on such
information. Accenture does not provide legal,
regulatory, audit,
or tax advice. Readers are responsible for
obtaining such advice from their own legal
counsel or other licensed professionals.
Helping CFOs achieve breakthrough
speed for breakout value