Corporate Treasurers Lack The Tools To Make An Impact

Corporate finance professionals, money managers and treasurers are taking on a more prominent role within the enterprise. But according to new analysis from CFO Research on behalf of SAP, corporate treasurers don’t have the technological tools they need to make a significant impact on their corporations’ balance sheets.

A September 2015 survey, released Monday (Nov. 2), found that big data is a major cause of friction for corporate financial professionals. “Smart finance departments recognize that the volume of data, including unique data, will only continue to grow, and advanced technologies are needed to wade through it and derive useful insights,” concluded SAP Line-of-Business Finance global head and general manager Thack Brown.

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Fewer than half (44 percent) of the money managers surveyed agreed that their functions can yield meaningful, impactful corporate reporting and analysis. Further, 79 percent said they agree their businesses should “develop or acquire capabilities in advanced analytics to meet the speed of information being introduced by digitization and automation,” according to reports.

The survey found that various aspects of the corporation are now becoming the responsibility of the finance department, including IT, risk management, HR, and mergers and acquisitions.

“The finance function is gaining more responsibility within organizations as the pace of business becomes faster and more volatile due to the shifting global economy, new financial regulations, changing government policy and greater customer demand,” the report’s authors wrote.

Researchers also found that 85 percent of respondents said that in the next five years, their businesses’ success will depend “on their ability to adapt to the rapid pace of change and greater business complexity.”

A similar number (84 percent) said their companies must learn how to utilize data to make faster decisions and issue real-time financial reports.

 

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