MENLO PARK, Calif.,
Oct. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Global
consulting firm Protiviti has released the findings of its annual
Finance Trends Survey, which reveal CFOs and senior finance
executives are facing a growing list of responsibilities and
demands from internal stakeholders as the pandemic has
stress-tested the finance labor model in real time. More than 1,000
finance leaders participated in the global survey conducted in July
and August 2020.
On October 28, 1:00 pm EDT, Protiviti will host a free one-hour
webinar to discuss the most important survey takeaways.
According to the study, the pandemic has served as a wake-up
call to finance departments that were not already investing – or
not investing enough – in cloud infrastructure as they struggled to
shift to the remote and fragmented work environment. The study
finds they did not have enough of their processes and data based in
the cloud to support a seamless transition to remote work. Of those
respondents who are CFOs and VPs of finance, 72% ranked cloud-based
applications as a top priority to address over the next 12 months,
and 17% ranked cloud-based applications as the most important
finance priority for their organizations to address – a jump from
8% of respondents who indicated so in the 2019 survey.
"Having the right technology infrastructure and cloud
capabilities is now considered a baseline in order to operate
effectively and efficiently and will continue to be as
organizations move into a hybrid work environment," said
Chris Wright, a managing director
and global leader of the firm's Business Performance Improvement
practice. "COVID-19 disruptions underscored the critical nature of
a truly digital finance workforce and companies without advanced
technologies and digital processes faced a difficult transition to
remote work. We're now seeing an increasing number of boards and
CEOs tap their finance leaders for guidance about whether their
organization is allocating enough resources to their technology
infrastructure."
In addition, the survey identifies a shift toward CFOs embracing
a new 'future labor model,' leveraging a blend of internal staff
with external experts and services to better perform various
finance activities. CFOs are increasingly outsourcing processes to
managed services providers in order to equip their finance
departments with the resources they need to be nimble and meet
their growing responsibilities. According to CFOs and vice
presidents of finance who participated in the survey, 18% of their
finance organizations are relying on managed services providers and
29% are leveraging staff augmentation to support greater speed and
agility for financial planning and analysis.
"As organizations face unprecedented disruption, we are seeing
finance departments increasingly turn to external partners to help
deploy advanced technologies and provide in-depth expertise to meet
the growing needs of their internal stakeholders amid a challenging
and often disconnected environment," said Wright. "CFOs will
continue to play an integral role in developing a future labor
model and ensuring their departments have the right talent and
skills in-house, combined with the support of external service
providers."
Top Five Priorities for CFOs and VPs of Finance
Survey
respondents were asked to rate 17 finance areas on a 10-point
scale, considering the importance to improve knowledge and
capabilities in each of them over the next 12 months. Of those, the
top five priority areas for finance organizations to improve were
identified as the following:
- Security and privacy of data
- Enhance data analytics
- Changing demands and expectations of internal customers
- Cloud-based applications
- Challenges with regulations
The Protiviti survey report, titled "Finance Priorities in the
COVID Era: Digital Dominance and Flexible Labor Models," is based
on a survey of 1,057 finance leaders worldwide, including CFOs, VPs
of finance, directors and managers at both public and private
companies across a range of industries.
Survey Resources Available
Key findings of the 2020
Finance Trends Survey are available for digital exploration on the
survey's web site – click here to access. Also available on
the site is a PDF of the full survey report for complimentary
download, in addition to an infographic and audio and video
commentaries from Protiviti experts. On October 28 at 1:00 p.m.
EDT, Protiviti will host a free one-hour webinar to discuss
the most important survey takeaways and share finance leaders'
thoughts about the future, featuring Protiviti Managing Directors
Andrea Spinelli, Ken Thomas and Wright. To join the webinar,
please register here.
About Protiviti
Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a
global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective
insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to
help leaders confidently face the future. Protiviti and its
independent and locally owned Member Firms provide clients with
consulting and managed solutions in finance, technology,
operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit
through its network of more than 85 offices in over 25
countries.
Named to the 2020 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work
For® list, Protiviti has served more than 60
percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune
Global 500 companies. The firm also works with smaller,
growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as
with government agencies. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Robert Half (NYSE: RHI). Founded in 1948, Robert
Half is a member of the S&P 500 index.
Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public
accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements
or offer attestation services.
Editor's note: photos and an infographic, available in PDF and
JPEG formats, upon request.
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SOURCE Protiviti