The FINANCIAL — Nearly 68 percent of finance and business executives believe the CFO is a strong evangelist for the transformational potential of technology, but only a fifth (20 percent), think finance organizations have adopted leading-edge technology, according to a new study by Accenture and Oracle.
23 percent of the 300 senior non-finance executives surveyed said the ability of finance to provide a current view of performance against budget “falls below expectations,” and even 42 percent of the 975 finance executives surveyed see room for improvement. Still, finance professionals are increasingly seen as proactive collaborators, with 80 percent overall judging finance to be “excellent” or “above average” in its ability to collaborate with the rest of the business.
Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of finance executives believe cloud, mobile technology and social media will change how finance is structured and run, according to the findings in the new report. Furthermore, the study shows that finance functions are investing in new technologies.
Twenty-eight percent of finance respondents already use cloud technology to support budgeting, planning and forecasting, according to the survey, and another 34 percent plan to move those functions into the cloud within the next year. Additionally, more than two-thirds have either already adopted a cloud-based system in some part of their organizations for core financials (24 percent) or they are charting a road map to do so (45 percent), according to Accenture.
Although about 30 percent of finance and line of business executives indicate that their processes are still paper-based, there is a trend toward automating and digitizing processes. Nearly 50 percent now use mobile apps and 53 percent leverage web-based systems to manage business processes.
The report reveals finance functions are also making progress in addressing the skills gaps they encounter as new responsibilities require more tech-savvy staff. To fulfill the need for new skills and analytics capabilities to execute the modern finance mandate, nearly half of respondents have seen an increase in the number of finance analysts hired since 2011. Nevertheless, when asked to identify the barriers to adopting new technologies, 38 percent of respondents cited the lack of internal skills. Only 5 percent cited the lack of senior management support as a barrier, according to Accenture.
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