OFF THE BOOKS professionals the ability to access and interpret data more easily at scale so they can provide the real-time reporting that ’ s needed to manage a business .
Thankfully , the barriers to automation are the lowest they have ever been . Companies can capture real results quickly through inexpensive means . As an example , think about automation ’ s impact on one of the most dreaded finance activities : expense reports . General employees can manage their expenses on the go and finance professionals can approve those expenses without raising a finger .
By eliminating the manual processes , time is immediately freed up . In turn , errors are minimised and productivity is hugely increased . The benefits speak for themselves and automation can then support businesses on their Digital Transformation journeys . It makes it easier and quicker , accelerating the finance department ’ s ability to provide real returns .
Finance pros will be able to spend more time working on valuable strategic endeavours – such as analysing and providing actionable data to the business – that are sure to keep us engaged for years to come .
What behaviour or personality trait do you most value ?
In everything we do as finance professionals , it comes down to integrity , which is closely aligned with trust . We must be good partners to the business and these relationships can take time to build . Through integrity , our partners can see over time that we ’ re doing the right things the right way . They can learn to trust and rely on us because we ’ ve earned it . Even more so , we can establish that we ’ re a finance department that leads and runs with integrity to all of our stakeholders .
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months ?
Overall , the finance career landscape is very different today from when I started
30 years ago . As CFO , that also means my role has changed quite a bit . Coming out of the pandemic , we ’ ve seen that having a healthy work-life balance has to be a main topic of conversation . Burnout is a real concern and especially in departments that are more behind the scenes – balancing the books and determining the strategic direction of the company . For many women or less experienced employees , it can be hard to establish boundaries and really unplug when the workday is over .
As a leader , to address this issue , one change I ’ ve made is to check in on my teams to see how they ’ re doing . Are they ok emotionally ? I make a comfortable space for employees to talk about their mental health and well-being and encourage my peers to do the same . This is something we never would have done years ago , but we must change to fully embrace those who work with us . If we don ’ t adapt how we lead , I believe we ’ ll see issues with burnout continue on a wide scale throughout our organisations . �
Automation is what gives finance professionals the ability to access and interpret data more easily at scale . www . intelligentfin . tech
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