EMEA Accountants Are Flying Blind

The vast majority of businesses across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region are flying blind when it comes to managing their finances.

That’s the latest finding from Cashfac Technologies, which published the results of a study on the issue on Thursday (Sept. 24). According to researchers, 90 percent of EMEA companies do not have a transparent view of their cash flow.

And there are multiple reasons for this, the report said. “Complex transactional banking relationships, lacking capabilities of multi-bank solutions and inefficient management of working capital” were all pinpointed as key causes for a lack of cash flow visibility, reports by The C Suite said.

Cashfac analysts narrowed their focus on hundreds of the top 1,000 revenue-ranked businesses across the EMEA region, which may lead to greater concerns that a lack of cash flow management capabilities are not simply a problem for small and medium-sized firms.

[bctt tweet=”Lack of cash flow visibility is not simply a problem for small and medium-sized firms.”]

“Due to the complexities and shortcomings of managing multiple banking relationships regionally, our research found that many EMEA corporates lack a line of sight into their cash positions,” said East & Partners Principal Analyst Paul Dowling.

East & Partners conducted the research on behalf of Cashfac for its EMEA Operational Cash Index, according to reports.

The analyst also noted that businesses in the region are likely aware that they have a financial visibility problem.

“Interestingly, a number of interviewees were hesitant in rating the accuracy of their cash flow,” Dowling added. “This is doubtless a result of their known inability to have clear line of sight to the organization’s entire enterprise cash positions and being somewhat wary of confirming this.”

Cashfac Managing Director of Global Business Alastair McGill said that the research findings suggest banks in the region need to step up their game with their corporate customers and that there are already signs of this happening. “The satisfaction gap that exists between bank-provided systems and their clients’ expectations can definitely be closed,” he stated. “After a drought of innovation and investment in bank-provided cash management tools, we are just starting to see the market leaders establish competitive new offerings.”

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