Insight
Explore what high-performing finance organizations are doing differently to drive revenue growth and profitability.
Don’t gamble on the future. Act now.
CFOs face a host of forces that have opened up opportunities for finance to take a leadership role in the enterprise like never before. Demands on finance can seem daunting, yet with the right operating model, tools and talent, finance can rise to a strategic leadership role.
This 2019 survey from KPMG International provides key insights on finance’s priorities, challenges and capabilities. The good news is that success is achievable. Indeed, finance functions at *high-performing companies have not only been able to adapt to this new environment, but to thrive in it.
A group of high-performing companies significantly outperform their peers, harnessing extreme automation and analytics to drive better business performance. Findings from the report include:
- 78% of all companies surveyed believe that AI will enable existing finance staff to take on more value-added and strategic roles.
- Respondents were evenly split (50%) on whether intelligent automation would create or eliminate jobs.
- 47% of high performing Finance and Accounting professionals list investing in D&A to provide enterprise-wide insights as a top initiative.
- 52% of high performing companies are very active in overhauling their finance service delivery model.
- High performers enjoy a success rate of 50% or more on almost all initiatives while the others have a typical success rate of 25% or less.
Download the executive summary report and read further insights by topic below.
With the right operating model, tools and talent, the finance organization can rise to a strategic leadership role.
- Automation
- Data & Analytics
- Organization
- Talent
Automation
Forward thinking finance organizations are looking to intelligent automation (IA) to empower finance to deliver more value with less effort. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of all companies surveyed believe that IA will enable existing finance staff to take on more value-added and strategic roles. This will allow them to respond quickly to the needs of the business and truly shift from traditional processing to strategic partnering. The winners in finance will reimagine their operating model and develop a long-term strategy to harness extreme automation.
Investing in IA to improve finance effectiveness
To learn more about how to harness intelligent automation, read our paper:
Data & Analytics
As finance seeks to position itself as a trusted business partner, perhaps its most critical competency is to enable better decision making across the enterprise by providing accurate, timely, and high-quality data analysis. However, at most organizations, data quality is the single greatest challenge to improving analytics capabilities, followed closely by integration difficulties with legacy systems. Finance especially struggles at using data and analytics with only a 25% success rate. Dealing with the avalanche of data by solving the “basics” is the first step on the path to enhanced analytics.
Investing in D&A to provide enterprise-wide insights
To learn more about how to build capabilities in data and analytics, read our paper:
Organization
While success in executing finance’s most important initiatives is elusive at many organizations, it is more than possible to prosper in achieving next-generation priorities. High-performing companies significantly outperform their peers across all initiatives.
The survey found high performers enjoy a success rate of 50% or more on almost all initiatives while the others have a typical success rate of 25% or less. These organizations are far more successful in executing on their most important imperatives, employing advanced automation and analytics technologies to provide critical insights to inform business decisions, and becoming a force for innovation within their enterprises.
Optimizing the finance service delivery model to increase agility
To learn more about how to build a leading finance organization, read our paper:
Talent
As tasks once performed by humans are increasingly performed by machines, the required capabilities, skills, and roles will differ in fundamental ways from those of the past. This has profound implications for the ways finance organizations must source and develop their people. While respondents were evenly split (50%) on whether intelligent automation would create or eliminate jobs, few have been able to adapt their skill bases to the realities of a more automated workplace.
Investing in and enhancing finance talent and skills
To learn more about building a future-first workforce, read our paper:
*High-performing organizations are defined as ranking in the top 16 percent on a combined measure of revenue and profitability growth.
For a deeper dive into survey results, read the full report.
Learn the priorities, challenges and capabilities of more than 850 senior finance and management executives across industries and geographies.
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