As Finance prepares for year-end and you’re making budgets for next year, you likely have a lot of priorities you’re thinking about while you’re making strategic decisions that’ll have your company poised for success in 2023.
In an era of economic uncertainty, your peers are also honing in on areas they see as crucial to boosting their bottom line and thriving going forward.
General priorities of your peers
To make sure you’re on the same page as other CFOs, here are the top 10 priorities of finance leaders like you right now, according to the 2022 Global Finance Trends Survey from Protiviti.
- Security and privacy of data. In an age of data breaches, ransomware and constant scams from criminals trying to steal confidential info, security is the top priority for finance leaders right now. It’s key to work closely with your CIO and your IT department to make sure you have the necessary protections in place for your data, and a security strategy in place that ties to your business objectives. It’s also important to train Finance pros on recognizing and avoiding the latest scams targeting companies, since criminals are getting more sophisticated every day.
- Profitability reporting and analysis. To make the best business decisions going forward, you and your peers need concrete data about your financial performance. Investing in tools like business intelligence software and financial automation solutions can help you and your team have the numbers you need at your fingertips when making revenue projections.
- Blockchain/smart contracts. Once thought of as a fringe technology mostly used by investors in bitcoin, blockchain is evolving. Not only are more people interested in bitcoin in general, but the technology behind bitcoin transactions can be applied to other transactions between buyers and sellers, boosting their security while still allowing them to be traced easily and eliminating the need for a third-party intermediary (as well as the paperwork involved). More Finance execs are exploring how this tech can apply to their businesses. To stay ahead of the game, you may want to see where you can apply blockchain technology going forward.
- Cloud-based applications. More companies are taking various processes to the cloud to boost efficiency and streamline operations. While there are security risks you must keep in mind before using cloud solutions (as well as cost concerns), they can help streamline the daily and weekly tasks your Finance team must handle – and the functions of other departments, too.
- Financial planning and analysis. The same automated solutions you can use for profitability reporting are also helpful for company financial planning, giving you the data you need to create realistic budgets for 2023.
- Changing expectations and demands of internal customers. The landscape of the workforce has changed because of the pandemic, and employees now have different expectations of their employers. Remote work, flexible schedules and different compensation demands all have to be considered going forward as you’re competing with your peers to retain and recruit the best employees.
- Leadership within the company. As the Great Resignation continues, it’s tough for execs to make succession plans, since many promising employees are jumping ship for greener pastures. That’s why it’s crucial to identify those with leadership potential ASAP and offer them opportunities to develop those skills through training and additional responsibilities within their roles.
- Process mining. With process mining, companies use the data they’ve gathered about processes throughout their company to discover any issues that are negatively impacting efficiency, then figure out workable solutions based on their needs and existing workflows. This is essential to improving performance and value across the organization.
- Automation. Finance automation is top of mind for most finance execs – particularly automating A/P processes like expense reimbursement, vendor onboarding/payment and invoice processing. Although the implementation process can take some work – and it may be costly up front – the return on investment is clear for companies large and small.
- The changing roles of human resources, leadership and development, and recruiting. Because of the high costs of turnover, CFOs must be more hands-on when working with HR to meet the needs of their workforce and to develop a hiring strategy that makes their company stand out from the pack.
Pressing priorities
The Protiviti survey also asked about CFOs immediate top 10 priorities over the next 12 months. For this question, the emphasis shifted slightly.
- Automation
- Challenges with regulations
- Financial planning and analysis
- Cloud-based applications
- Mobile finance applications
- Process improvement
- New or impending accounting and disclosure requirements
- Environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics and measurement
- Changing demands and expectations of internal customers
- Blockchain/smart contracts
While many of these areas rank among Finance leaders’ top overall priorities, for the short-term, your peers are also concerned about ever-changing laws, accounting requirements and updates to ESG policies, which are becoming more important as investors prioritize sustainability and diversity.
We’ll keep you posted on key reg changes and updates going forward.