5 Trends Every CFO Should Consider to Stay Ahead of The Game

 We can't think of anything that would be more important than staying ahead of the curve when it comes to your company's financials.

That is why we have put together a list of five trends that every CFO should be aware of, and how you can use them to make sure your company remains strong and competitive.

Adopt Digital Skills

When it comes to the future of finance, it's time to get digital.

The last few years have seen a lot of innovation in the field, but now it's time for finance to catch up. CFOs need to take a step back and think about how these changes are impacting their business before they can take steps forward.

As organizations continue a path toward digital transformation, finance talent management strategies must evolve more quickly. CFOs need to revise competency models to address the digital shifts impacting their business, which will inform how they recruit, develop, retain and provide career growth for staff.

AI Revolution

In an increasingly digitized world, AI is becoming a key tool for finance professionals to help drive efficiency and customer experience. With machine learning and artificial intelligence comes the ability to build more accurate models and make better decisions based on data than humans can make by themselves. Accounting technology has advanced significantly over the past few years, but with the increased use of machine learning comes a need for CFOs to think more critically about how they use technology in finance workflows.

Robotic Process Automation

If you’re a CFO, you know that the process of accounting for your company is complicated. RPA is putting internal controls at risk.

Roboticprocess automation (RPA) is already spurring widespread adoption in finance. It’s important that finance leaders do not allow themselves to be blinded by the many benefits. In some cases, RPA robots have been used without the knowledge of internal control teams, causing unknown reporting risks.

Finance teams must balance the governance of RPA and other digital technologies with efficiency. They must think about how they can track RPA use cases for their impact on controls and think about what are the right internal controls for RPA.

The Fourth Era of ERP

The fourth era of enterprise resource planning (ERP) is here, and finance leaders are going to have to change how they work in order to keep pace.

Finance leaders need to think about how their team will operate in a real-time planning, budgeting, and closing environment. They also need to consider the kind of data they will need access to in order to make decisions quickly and effectively.

They also need to make sure that they are prepared for any new challenges that come up as well as the potential opportunities that will arise from these changes.

Demand for Decision-Ready Data

Organizations often handle data in a rigid way that does not help the business decide. Finance leaders must make trade-offs in governance standards to make their data more useful in decision-making. The increased demand for data is shifting the balance of power between finance and other business functions, who often want to see more actionable information before they invest time and money.

This requires a pragmatic mindset where governance principles can be loosened, where data can reside with its owner, and where highly governed data is presented alongside more intuitive sources.

Conclusion

There are a lot of trends to consider when it comes to CFOs. Trends such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and even the rise of machine learning have all been making waves in finance.

In a world where technology is disrupting every aspect of business, it's essential that you keep up with what's happening around you—and make sure your company keeps up with it too!