Three steps to future-proofed forecasting and financial consolidation

CFOs are busier than ever these days. Expectations for your role as a finance leader are on the rise, and changing customer behavior, talent scarcity, and shifting industry practices mean the responsibilities of your team are also increasing.

But do you and your team have the right skills to meet this demand?

According to the results of our recent finance leader research, the answer is often “no.” 45% of respondents highlighted the need for staff upskilling to generate the insights required for accurate forecasting.

The increasing demand for accurate and reliable forecasting in finance and accounting, along with the complexity of the data being collected, has created the need for innovative technologies. In particular, AI-driven initiatives have become increasingly essential, as acknowledged by nearly half the respondents in our recent survey.

In a previous blog, we explored some of the barriers to forecast accuracy and discussed how you can strategically tackle them. In this post we’ll discuss the need for a shift in your strategic approach to technology adoption to ensure that your team can benefit from the promises of automation.

Why is it time for a change?

A reliance on spreadsheets has always made you vulnerable to errors, but in today’s world, miscalculations can prove to be particularly costly. According to Gartner, 18% of accountants make financial errors at least daily, with a third making at least a few financial blunders every week, and over half (59%) making several per month.

The impact of these errors on the validity and accuracy of strategic decisions can have negative consequences on business performance.

By leveraging innovative, user-friendly, and configurable solutions with readily available data, CFOs can empower their teams to reduce errors, meet the evolving needs of the organization, and drive sustainable growth.

Let’s look at three key steps to achieving this:

    1. Bridge the gap between old and new with automation

It’s no secret that finance and accounting love and rely on Excel throughout their close and consolidation process. While spreadsheets can offer flexibility and the ability to model ad-hoc scenarios, they lack governance and control. Yet, modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools that aim to assist with this still leave gaps in your processes and systems, making it either inefficient or impossible to complete consolidation tasks without using spreadsheets.

What if you could take the best of what spreadsheets offer with you on the road to digital transformation?

Leading finance executives are doing just that, by integrating their systems and equipping spreadsheets with controls, automations, and safeguards akin to traditional consolidation platforms. This approach means finance teams can leverage the familiarity and flexibility of native-Excel while maintaining operational efficiency, accuracy, and compliance.

Instead of eliminating spreadsheets, you can use them as a window into consolidation source data, allowing your team to respond quickly to internal and external demands. This method reduces development costs and brings down consolidation solution costs significantly.

    2. Transition to modern, intuitive systems

Your team needs new tools to be more effective, and these tools require specialized skills to implement and operate.

Historically, more than half of corporations have utilized finance-specific IT teams to automate and optimize financial processes. This approach requires significant resources and can distract your staff from strategic activities. Ideally, everyone should be able to use new technology without reliance on IT teams to keep things moving.

Forward-thinking finance leaders are seeking user-friendly solutions that can be implemented in weeks, not months. These solutions are cost-effective and free up staff bandwidth for analytical work needed to gain a competitive advantage.

    3. Customize quickly with flexible processes

New technology should be configurable, with pre-built templates and dashboards that can be modified to reflect what’s most important to you and your team.

Traditional finance operations relied on rigid processes due to technical limitations and data processing constraints. However, these processes cannot accommodate the rapidly changing needs of modern businesses. In order to respond quickly to board and stakeholder requests, CFOs need solutions that enable overnight adjustments to business models, data adjustments that flow directly into your financial reports, and the ability to integrate new acquisitions within days.

Finance leaders are increasingly adopting flexible workflows and automations over traditional IT managed processes, allowing them to adapt quickly to new realities. This agile infrastructure provides efficiency, transparency, and control, even in unprecedented scenarios.

Earning technology acceptance in the finance team

Earning technology acceptance within the finance team is essential for fostering a data-driven culture and overcoming organizational inertia. By connecting information and workflows across the business, the entire organization can align behind unified plans to achieve strategic priorities.

This involves linking finance into all aspects of the business, such as operations, sales, workforce, marketing, supply chain, and IT, ensuring everyone works with accurate information.

The result is faster analysis with better-informed insights that enable CFOs to anticipate market trends and make decisions with confidence. This efficiency allows finance leaders like you to spend more time focusing on growth opportunities and driving long-term success for your team and organization.

** We surveyed 1,000 finance leaders across various industries in association with Wakefield Research in 2023.