Why Finance &
Accounting
Organizations
Aren't as
Future-Ready
as They Think
Survey results collected by Capstone
Insights in collaboration with BlackLine
Based on recent research, F&A professionals report confidence in
their ability to grow, adapt, and meet the rapidly changing needs of
the business.
52%
report a high degree of
confidence in both their
current and future F&A
capabilities
16%
are concerned
about current F&A
processes
13%
are concerned
about future F&A
capabilities
Good news, right?
But they might be a
little too confident.
Survey results show that the
promise of finance's
cloud-connected, artificial
intelligence (AI)-driven future is
drastically disconnected from the
current day-to-day reality for most
F&A professionals.
To be truly prepared for the future,
organizations need to put
spreadsheets to rest, seek input
from employees who have intimate
knowledge about what works and
what doesn't in their current F&A
processes, and improve internal
communication around the art of
the possible within F&A.
Too many teams are
up to their elbows
in spreadsheets.
Error-prone, manual processes
inhibit an organization's ability
to adapt.
63%
of respondents report
extensive spreadsheet use in
their monthly close process.
F&A professionals recognize that these manual processes
put them at a disadvantage.
"My organization's F&A processes are best in class."
26%
from
spreadsheet-only
organizations agree
or strongly agree
56%
from SaaS-only
organizations agree
or strongly agree
Spreadsheet users also report less confidence in their data.
"I completely trust the accuracy of my company's financial data."
57%
from
spreadsheet-only
organizations agree
or strongly agree
77%
from SaaS-only
organizations agree or
strongly agree
Contributors and the
C-suite see things
differently.
There's a sharp contrast between the
perceptions reported by F&A leaders and
the perceptions of their teams.
Making it all look easy
Since rank-and-file team members have hands-on experience pulling data and
building reports, they're more aware of the flaws and shortcomings of F&A
processes—even if it all looks seamless to the C-suite.
72%
of SVP+
respondents called their
organizations' systems
easy to use
Only
39%
of individual
contributors called their
organizations' systems
easy to use
Keeping an eye out for errors
Staff's pride of ownership in the data and a lack of clarity from upper
management around how that data will be utilized may contribute to errors
in reporting.
59%
of SVP+
respondents agreed or
strongly agreed that
their organizations
routinely made decisions
based on incorrect or
incomplete data
20%
of individual
contributors agreed
or strongly agreed that
their organizations
routinely made
decisions based
on incorrect or
incomplete data
Improved internal
communications could
unlock potential.
Increasing employees' familiarity
with F&A processes can improve
performance and better prepare
organizations for the future.
Teams who are "very familiar" with their organization's processes were more
likely to report that their F&A processes were easy and intuitive to use.
49%
of respondents
who are "familiar" with
processes agreed that
the processes were easy
and intuitive to use
61%
of respondents
who are "very familiar"
agreed that the
processes were easy
and intuitive to use
This may reflect a training gap or the impact of siloed workflows.
Many companies struggle to communicate the art of the
possible with technology to their F&A teams.
Many are piloting AI and robotic process automation (RPA) in advance
of larger rollouts, but their teams aren't always aware.
These innovations can help reduce errors, increase efficiency, and bring
organizations closer to the tech-driven future that F&A professionals envision.
Team members who have deep familiarity with
their organization's processes were nearly
30% more likely
to report AI or RPA usage.
Read the full report to dig deeper into the data,
see additional insights, and measure your
organization against survey respondents.
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