Many organizations today are faced with a more difficult challenge in financial reporting and budgeting while in the face of an unpredictable business environment. From preparing cash-flow estimates to brace for the future to impaired budget planning, not having access to the financial data needed for an ongoing analysis means companies may find it difficult to plan ahead.
Here are some common challenges that organizations are facing today when it comes to financial reporting and budgeting.
The Lack of Data Makes for Inefficient Reporting
For CFOs to make informed business decisions, access to the right data and reporting is crucial to make an in-depth analysis of the current business landscape. Without the data they need, CFOs will find it challenging to uncover insights that can help them evaluate the company’s financial performance.
Today’s CFOs and financial teams are under increasing pressure to make their reporting as comprehensive as possible. Audit teams and other advisory boards may also require access to any report related to budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning.
Finance departments also need to be transparent about their purchases, which may include the cost of investing in new technologies and other resources required by their teams. On the other hand, the C-Suite is focused on the ROI of these investments. The disconnect happens when finance teams build financial reports focused on costs without considering actionable insights that help C-Suites need to identify areas for improvement or opportunity. For the most part, finance teams end up explaining these reports and not sharing crucial insights and findings for the company and what it can do to secure its future.
To mitigate these issues, CFOs should find the most efficient financial planning and budgeting software that can help them organize their data and run their financial reporting automatically so they can focus on uncovering opportunities instead. This moves resources from the reporting function to the analysis function without sacrificing the quality of good reporting.
Changing Regulatory Requirements
Deloitte reports that financial leaders are primarily concerned about new and problematic regulations, which always seems to come in as soon as finance teams have just adjusted to the previous one. Further updates to financial laws can cause big problems for CFOs as this can impact their financial reporting and analysis and turning processes upside down.
As a result, streamlining reports can be a challenge, as reorganization is crucial to update the process according to new financial standards and policies.
CFOs in public companies have to answer to stock and shareholder regulations. Private companies must respond to banks and other sources of financial support. CFOs and financial teams have to manage through these changes consistently, and the margin for error is very small, especially when finances are at stake.
Complex Environments & New Technologies
ERP systems can be a challenge as they are expensive and may take forever to set up. Today, many organizations still use on-premise ERP and reporting technologies and causing financial reporting problems for CFOs.
Some organizations are focused too much on keeping outdated technology out of fear of having to deal with complex systems and new technologies. As a result, finance teams are left to deal with band-aid solutions that only provide temporary fixes to more significant problems across the organization’s financial reporting and budgeting process.
According to KPMG, 70% of CEOS believe their CFOs should invest in more cloud-based financial systems.
Moving your ERP to the cloud and investing in cloud-based FP&A technology to supplement your ERP system like Performance Canvas can help you provide your finance teams with the most updated software that can give them access to data, analytics, and insights in one platform for better transparency and more accurate reporting.
The Challenge of Managing Data
The implications of wrong and inaccurate data can seep through your financial reporting and analysis and make any report, no matter how comprehensive, useless.
When finance teams have access to the right data, it can empower them with the proper insight to help improve company processes and increase profit.
But when figures are wrong and entered incorrectly, this can lead to a slew of issues that can cause major problems down the line. An FP&A software like Performance Canvas can help you outline a system that increases accuracy and reduces errors.
It helps you manage permission levels and access rights to ensure anyone who can access reports are more accountable. With Performance Canvas, you can trust your reporting and your data, so you never have to worry about coming up short when it comes to delivering the insights your company needs to be successful.
Performance Canvas: Better Financial Reporting & Budgeting
If your organization is struggling with all these core problems in financial reporting and budgeting, Performance Canvas Financials is a single platform that can provide you with all the solutions you need to manage your financial data with ease. With fast deployment and secure data management and collaboration features on the cloud, you can streamline your financial reporting and analysis process in no time so you can always deliver accurate reporting and powerful insights no matter where you are.
Get in touch with Performance Canvas today.
