As organisations take steps to inspire a data-driven, performance-focused culture, finance teams are redefining their mission. In fact, according to Accenture, CFOs are overwhelmingly using the opportunity to drive organisation-wide operational transformation.
- 77% of CFOs believe it is within their purview to drive business-wide operational transformation.
- 81% of CFOs see identifying and targeting areas of new value across the business as one of their main responsibilities.
- Gartner predicts that, by 2024, 70% of all new FP&A projects will have an extended scope beyond the finance department.
For finance leaders who are innovating their planning processes, here are 5 key factors to consider as part of the evaluation:
Unified, Extensible Platform
At the core of xP&A strategy is the alignment of granular operational plans with financial forecasting and performance through a unified, extensible platform and data model. For xP&A transformation to be successful, finance teams must be able to focus on adding value by providing knowledge, acting on insights and guiding operational decisions across the organisation.
Built-In Financial Data Quality
High-quality and accurate management reporting is critical to empowering finance teams and their business partners to develop insights and guide key decisions that drive performance. To support xP&A strategies, organisations require a platform with built-in capabilities to check, confirm, certify and lock data for complete confidence in data quality and processes.
Built-In Financial Intelligence
As a holistic planning approach centred around finance, an effective xP&A platform starts with built-in financial intelligence. Having built-in financial intelligence speeds the implementation process, reduces costs and ensures the accuracy of the results produced by the solution.
Financial Signalling
Organisations must break the traditional month-end reporting cycle and drive continuous performance through daily and weekly financial signals. Finance leaders and their teams must gain access to “right-time” insights and break organisational reliance on the month-end reporting cycle.
Auto AI
No matter where an organisation is in the finance transformation journey, it’s critical to consider artificial intelligence (AI) as part of an effective xP&A strategy. Auto AI is a game-changer that allows finance and operations teams to drive an effective xP&A strategy as it breaks down the traditional high barriers to entry of advanced analytics for finance teams, enabling organisations to leverage internal and external data to create insights for decision-making.
