CFO trends and priorities for 2024 and beyond

There’s an appetite for innovation, fresh perspectives, and game-changing technology that will change the Office of the CFO. As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, understanding CFOs’ priorities is crucial for navigating the future of finance.

Explore how next-gen finance fosters strategic business partnerships, the essential steps for embracing these advancements, and the resources you need to stay ahead.

Next-gen finance is helping CFOs be strategic business partners

You may have heard the term next-gen finance, but what does it mean for CFOs and how can it help you become a strategic business partner?

Broadly speaking, next-gen finance reflects a commitment to moving away from the way things have always been done in favor of a new approach that prioritizes hyper precision, ultra-adaptability, and dramatic performance.

To achieve this, CFOs are prioritizing finance technology, in the form of next-gen finance platforms, that store and validate data, streamline and speed up processes, and allow them to partner with the business to make strategic decisions with improved insights.

The value of next-gen finance is that it allows CFOs to anticipate what’s next – for their roles, for their business, and for their industry. So, with this in mind, let’s discuss what’s next for finance in 5-10 years, and the role that next-gen finance technology will play in this evolution.

Hear from three CFOs who’ve embraced next-gen finance platforms on how they can better partner with their business.

Where will finance be in the next 5-10 years?

When we asked CFOs where they see finance going in the next 5-10 years, they all agreed on the importance of acting as data stewards.

But what does the role of data steward entail? Data stewards own and manage all organizational data, including financial and operational insights, which helps them make decisions with more confidence.

Looking ahead, we anticipate that finance’s responsibilities will extend to include both data and decisions, bridging the gap between a company’s numbers and the narrative they reveal.

Dresner Advisory Services reinforces this idea by emphasizing that the next generation of finance leaders must be hyper-decisive, by relying on readily available data and analytics content.

Explore predictions for the next generation of finance in the CFO Crystal Ball, where three C-suite executives share their thoughts.

Top 3 CFO priorities for embracing next-gen finance

Now that you know why CFOs are prioritizing financial performance platforms and what to expect in the future of finance, let’s discuss the top three priorities for CFOs embracing a next-gen mindset.

1. Making the right investment in next-gen finance

Finance teams want to drive value and be a strategic partner to the business, but hyper precision, ultra-adaptability, dramatic performance are almost impossible to achieve without finance technology on your side. So, embracing next-gen finance starts with researching next-gen finance platforms and understanding the value they can offer your business.

A Financial Performance Platform, like Prophix One,[EC1] has the capabilities necessary to help you embrace next-gen finance, including:

• An advanced solution for business management
• Collaboration, distinguishing itself from personal productivity tools like spreadsheets
• Operating on a non-transactional basis, unlike traditional accounting systems or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software
• Automating finance department processes effectively
• Historical analysis and future forecasting capabilities
• Seamless interaction between applications, integrating budgets, plans, and forecasts for comprehensive reporting on results

To ensure you make the best investment for your business, let’s discuss three things to consider when investing in a next-gen Financial Performance Platform, like Prophix One.

3 things to consider when looking to invest in next-gen finance

The best course of action when searching for next-gen finance technology is to weigh the benefits of FP&A software, also referred to as a financial performance platform, against the current state of your finance processes. Consider questions like:

• How much time and money do you invest in maintaining and updating your current system?
  • Hint: If you spend a lot of time correcting errors and updating files to ensure data accuracy – it’s time to consider FP&A software.
• How easy is your current system to use, and how much time do you have to spend training new users?
  • Hint: If you’ve had to develop your own internal training procedures, and still struggle to get everyone on board, your team would benefit from FP&A software.
• How is data pulled into your current system? Is it a manual process that requires extensive data entry?
  • Hint: If you’re spending any time manually entering and validating data, automating your processes with FP&A software will be a gamechanger.
• Is your current system flexible? Can it scale with your growth?
  • Hint: You shouldn’t have to think twice about scaling your business because of the limitations of your current finance system. FP&A software is flexible and well-suited to fast-growing companies.
• Are there limitations to your current system’s security? Are you able to easily produce audit-ready reports?
  • Hint: Excel and most spreadsheet-based systems have limited security. With FP&A software, you can assign user-based access and produce audit-ready reports with the click of a button.

Once you have a better understanding of your current process and opportunities for improvement, it’s helpful to seek out advice from industry analysts like Gartner, Dresner Advisory Services, and BPM Partners. These industry analysts can help you narrow down the key capabilities you should look for in next-gen finance platforms, like:

• Reduces manual processes to accelerate reporting and analysis
• Mantém um site intuitivo Data integration Interface
• Leverages AI-powered automation
• Fornece Insight preciso e em tempo real em um painel acessível e fácil de usar

Read our blog on four priorities to consider when buying FP&A software based on industry analyst reviews and reports.

And finally, it’s always recommended to see what users of the software you’re interested in have to say. Users can provide the most honest assessment of functionality and how it will impact your day-to-day activities.

2. Building a next-gen finance organization

With a better idea of the type of next-gen finance platform you’d like to invest in, it’s time to focus on the other aspects that go into building a next-gen finance organization. CFOs agree there are three things you should prioritize when building a next-gen finance organization:

Automated processes

By far, one of the most beneficial aspects of a next-gen organization is automated processes. Automation can make outdated, tough to track, and time-consuming activities easier, freeing up your team to focus on strategic tasks that drive the business forward.

Intuitive data integration

Another benefit of a next-gen finance organization is that you can establish a single version of the truth by integrating data from across your company. FP&A software allows you to quickly add and manage data integrations without being forced to call on IT. And these integrations are easy to set up with no complex coding or third-party solutions. By combining your financial and operational data, you can get a holistic view of your organizational performance, empowering you to make confident decisions faster.

Insights em tempo real

By combining automation and intuitive data integration, it's easy to get real-time insights that offer immediate visibility into key performance metrics and trends, empowering your team to make informed decisions and proactively drive business growth.

3. Aligning key processes with technology

We’ve explored what the future of finance might look like, how to find the right finance technology for you, and how to build a next-gen finance organization. Next, let’s go one level deeper and learn how to align your key processes with a next-gen finance platform.

Financial close

Aligning your financial close with next-gen technology like Prophix One, a Financial Performance Platform, can improve the efficiency and accuracy of your processes. By automating repetitive tasks such as account reconciliation, inter-company eliminations, and currency translations, Prophix One helps shrink your close windows, enabling faster and more predictable closings.

With Prophix One, automated data imports mean you’re always working with up-to-date information, reducing the risk of errors.

In addition, Prophix One has built-in auditability features to simplify compliance by providing detailed, customizable audit reports, drastically reducing the resources needed for both internal and external audits.

Orçamento e planejamento

By moving beyond disconnected spreadsheets and broken formulas, Prophix One's in-memory processing allows for quick and precise multi-dimensional planning and analysis.

Centralized security and calculations streamline data entry, saving time and ensuring users access only relevant information. Prophix One simplifies data collection, versioning, and consolidation, making the FP&A process more efficient and cost-effective.

Promoting real-time collaboration, Prophix One also automates budget distribution and tracks all changes in an audit trail for complete transparency. Task owners and multiple approvers can manage timelines easily with built-in reminders, keeping the entire team engaged and aligned.

Reporting e Análise

By automating the creation, maintenance, updates, and distribution of financial reports, Prophix One ensures you have timely and accurate information at your fingertips, freeing up valuable time for deeper data analysis.

Prophix One Dashboards can also help you identify and visualize data trends, outliers, and patterns, transforming your data into actionable insights. Customizable dashboards also allow you to view critical metrics, favorites, and workflow tasks all in one place, providing context and measuring performance effortlessly.

And with its robust ad-hoc analysis capabilities, Prophix One enables you to build and modify analytics quickly, drilling up or down to view specific details and pivoting perspectives as needed. This real-time access to reliable financial insights streamlines decision-making, empowering you to act confidently based on accurate data.

Conclusion: Get the resources you need to take the next step

In conclusion, the evolving role of CFOs in 2024 hinges on embracing next-gen finance technology. By strategically investing in next-gen finance platforms, building forward-thinking finance organizations, and aligning key processes with cutting-edge technology, CFOs can prioritize acting as strategic partners to their businesses.

As we look to the next 5-10 years, staying ahead of these trends will not only ensure agility and efficiency but also drive sustainable growth and innovation. The next generation of finance is here—are you ready to lead it?

Get all the resources you need to embrace next-gen finance here.