GAUGING THE MARKET
Darren Cran , COO of AccountsIQ
the organisation and are typically seen as the minimum deliverable requirement . It ’ s important that as much effort and expense are saved on performing these duties as possible , because the CFO of today and tomorrow must spend much of their energy on utilising financial data to influence strategic decision-making at the highest level .
But this is easier said than done when the business trades in different currencies , when the finance team is required to consolidate accounts across multiple entities and when even regular month-end reconciliation is an almost permanent process . These tasks can be complex , manual and mundane , which affects not only the performance of the business but can also leave a fresh and willing team demoralised and demotivated after repeated exposure .
Somehow , somewhere , the CFO needs to reclaim the time and energy that is expended on repetitive tasks , so that the value-added component of the role can be undertaken .
In the current economic outlook , the CFO needs to identify strategic and nonstrategic spending and develop a granular view of cost drivers . Often , assumptions on strategically important spending are mistaken or are inherited from previous working practices that no longer match business priorities . It ’ s crucial that there is a joined-up approach from across the C-suite , so finance leaders can uncover areas to gain efficiencies .
Turning the finance team on its head
It ’ s true that delivering a consistently high-level of financial reporting that can impact business strategy requires time and skill . Two things the industry , for the most part , are short of . Mark Hoban , Chair of the UK Financial Services Skills Commission ( FSSC ) termed this not just a skills shortage , but an ‘ existential skills crisis ’ no less .
Finance leaders must find a way to invert the pyramid within the traditional finance function . Currently , most of the time is spent collecting data and not enough time is afforded to analyse it and generate insights . By automating mundane tasks , finance teams can take advantage of cloud-based software tools which provide timely and accurate data . Technology in this sense provides CFOs with a complete
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