What Finance Leaders Have Learned About the Future of Technology in the World of Work
Over the past five years, finance and accounting departments have witnessed a change in how they are perceived within the business, which is largely the result of a greater reliance on technology. Once a necessary but uninspiring back-office contributor, the finance function of today is data-driven, analytical and a true business partner in the decision-making process.
Finance leaders are more aware than ever that it’s an ever-changing world and unexpected events can occur with far-reaching consequences for individual businesses and the global economy alike. As finance and accounting teams become increasingly flexible and gain prominence as a driving force of the business, leveraging technology and data-driven insights have never been so important.
Where finance and accounting professionals are no strangers to working with new accounting or ERP software, there has been a concern that AI and automation would reduce the need for human involvement, thus creating anxieties over possible redundancies.
However, many finance leaders have proved that there is another way. Creating the perfect finance function is a balancing act between implementing cost and time-saving technologies alongside a talent acquisition strategy focused on incorporating a high level of IT and data analytics literacy.
Recent trends in finance and accounting:
- Replacing scheduled reporting with real-time data
With many finance leaders requiring up-to-date metrics to get a clear view of the company, real-time data has become a more important financial function than traditional scheduled or quarterly reporting. This has also become a rising trend for investor-backed startups whose stakeholders require instant information and frequent performance analytics.
This trend has brought forecasting to the forefront for many finance teams through data-processing technology and platforms. This means businesses are now able to operate with fresh data and act upon the insights it generates quickly. This could have long-lasting effects in disrupting the traditional periodic projections, forecasts and reports.
- Finance and AI
One of the biggest digital disruptions to finance and accounting include AI and finance automation. Cloud-based ERP software has streamlined finance functions for most organizations, but many finance leaders are looking to add additional systems that will automate data-heavy or repetitive tasks.
While this may seem like a way to reduce the size of a finance team, integrating automated functions has allowed many leading companies to allow their employees to refocus their energies on more strategic tasks rather than time-consuming Big Data activities.
The ideal finance department functions of the future:
- Evolving finance talent models
With the fast-paced technologies that are streamlining finance functions and lifecycles, finance leaders are adapting their talent models to match desired future outcomes. This means increased numbers of financial data scientists, financial analysts, and business analysts to provide insight on the available data and to drive decision making, planning, risk assessment and modelling.
In many ways this is a revolutionizing of the finance and accounting department as coding and SQL capabilities become almost as desirable as being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
- Resilience for the future
Economic uncertainty may have been the catalyst for the rapid progression of digitized finance, but it will also be the driving force behind the rise of predictive analytics. Exploring the implications of a wide range of scenarios will mean businesses are better able to manage threat and uncertainty in the future.
Building the ideal finance team that can harness the power of technology along with a forward-thinking attitude will create a stable foundation for any enterprise to ensure its future success.
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