In this era, a CFO’s roles, responsibilities, and challenges are ever-evolving and the hassle for better performance is intensifying by the day. Evidently, financial reporting is an area that has immense prospects for growth.
Financial reporting is a systematic procedure involving closing books, reconciliation, consolidation, analysis, and reporting. Even a small error could lead to increased auditor scrutiny and troubled investors.
Financial reporting has been the main task of the finance department. The basis for today’s most prosperous companies is reliable and efficient financial reporting. The methods have to be sustainable and efficient fortransitioning businesses into the future.
For the corporate giants operating worldwide, financial reporting is equivalent to climbing the Everest every quarter. Reconciling data with utmost precision from numerous businesses is way too complex as they function in diverse time zones, currencies, even on different systems at times, and sometimes even the simplest concepts of ‘revenue’ vs. ‘net sales’ have serious implications.
- Data Integrity
Data integrity is every CFO’s top. It is essential that the figures be reliablebecause they serve the purpose of providing the stakeholders with valuable insight into the reports.
In the last few decades, CFO’s have spent significantly on platforms and automation tools that can integrate systems and relevant information with accuracy and consistency.
- Cloud Computing
The cloud is a vital component for securely supplying real-time business intelligence. It improves the accuracy and accessibility of financial reporting information, in serving customer’s business needs and to power the backend infrastructure.
Cloud computing empowers businesses to be flexible and helps in taking better decisions while increasing productivity. New data visualization and cloud-based reporting technologies can reduce reporting costs as processes are automated and use fewer resources. Multiple source systems can be consolidated into one central cloud repository that enables the financial leaders to get a single integrated view for comprehensive financial reporting.
- Speed and Accessibility of Data
CFOs should be able to access information promptly. Using modern business intelligence solutions like the robust BI solutions can present relevant data via dashboards which can be accessed though even cellular devices.
- Data Handling and Security Risk Management
In today’s time where data mishandling and cybercrimes are common, a CFO must prioritize data protection to avoid misuse of data. Inadequately protected data can be costly.
CFOs prefer solutions that have multi-layered data security with sufficient control measures internally as well as externally. Enterprise-grade software that hasa security-aware development approach, operational management techniques, and threat mitigation techniques are suited best.
- Accurate and Actionable Data
Another important priority for a CFO is data accuracy. Financial reporting precision is challenging in today’s time when the volume of data is enormous.
Data consistency can be ensured by an integrated and cross-team approach to reporting. CFOs communicate with the field sellers, IT staff, data analysts, and key personnel to understand their requirements and organize information silos. Such cross-team collaboration enables a business to get actionable insights from the data which can further be used to improve financial reporting.
- Speed And Efficiency
CFOs require accurate data quickly to make critical business decisions. User-friendly mobile technology which has in-memory computing can give access to data and financial reporting to deliver both speed and efficiency. CFOs often encourage employees by providing them with the right tools to collaborate and access correct and timely information.
- Intelligent Forecasting
Predictive analytics is used to foresee areas of concern and opportunities for growth. For instance, demand fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, and many other factors that affect decision making.
The true power of the latest machine learning technologies lies in its capacity to anticipate business trends. It has taken over the time-consuming data crunching and provides useful insight.
Apart from these seven pointers discussed above, the CFO has a range of other things to monitor. An organization with on-going financial reporting improvements is one that thrives in the face of a constantly changing business environment.
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