Though many hoped 2021 would be a year of full recovery from COVID, the reality has been more complex. Progress is being made, as vaccination rates slowly tick upwards and public sentiment improves, but we are still far from the complete economic recovery and return to normality many suggested would happen. In a sign of the cautious mood, this month, Goldman Sachs revised down its growth outlook for 2022 from 4.2% to 3.8%, due to the Omicron variant of COVID. Competent management accounting teams are critical for responding to this changing environment in a way that instills confidence and helps organizations build strategies for the new paradigm.

In fact there is room for optimism given the new emphasis business leaders are placing on agility for the short-term and anticipatory thinking for the long-term. This represents a pivot in thought and action, perhaps one that was long overdue. At IMA, we have been championing the need for finance and accounting professionals to move beyond the compliance mindset to engage as full business partners and as future-focused strategic planners who use data to anticipate the future. It is this future-focused orientation that makes management accountants so valuable to their organizations, and I believe 2022 is the year when their skills will be best utilized and recognized.

If I had one prediction to make for 2022, it is that there will be more uncertainty and risk. Automation will continue to be deployed in the hope of mitigating some of the risk. A recent Bloomberg article cited a Federal Reserve survey in which one-third of CFOs indicated they are exploring or implementing automation as a way of mitigating exposure to COVID related issues among workers. The war for the best talent will continue unabated, as organizations experience labor shortages and ripple effects from the Great Resignation of 2021. PwC reported in an August 2021 survey for CFO Dive that “65% of employees were looking for a new job, and 88% of executives said their company was experiencing higher-than-normal turnover.” Investing in employees and making their organization “the destination of choice” will fall on the CFO’s shoulders.

Part of that investment will involve the need to upskill finance and accounting staff for new value-added activities that can only be accomplished with the aid of technology. Blackline recently conducted a survey of CFOs to discover what skills gaps they identify among their teams. More than a third (38%) of respondents said that not everyone in their finance team has the broad business leadership knowledge or skills required today. A similar number (35%) indicated that not everyone on their finance team has the skills to help with more strategic work (like analysis and planning). Upskilling finance and accounting teams in technology, data analytics, and financial analysis is now a strategic imperative for CFOs.

Another strategic imperative accelerated by COVID is a focus on sustainability for the long-term health of organizations and the planet. COVID taught us that we are all global citizens, and that it is impossible in today’s interconnected society to insulate or to isolate ourselves from global risks and problems like climate issues (which some opine have contributed to our vulnerability to novel viruses like COVID), income inequality, or environmental disasters. CFOs are responding in kind with investment in DE&I initiatives to combat income inequality and work on sustainability reporting standards. These activities are toward the ultimate goal of building sustainable value for our businesses, our stakeholders, and the global community.

Finally, if 2021 delivered one clear message to CFOs, it was that uncertainty is here to stay. This has implications for the way CFOs lead their teams and their organizations into the future. Cultivating resilience and agility must be a priority and soft skills like empathy, active listening, and on-going communication are no longer “nice-to-haves,” but are absolutely critical to unifying organizations.

The advice for CFOs in 2022:

• Invest in upskilling, especially in data analytics. With an uncertain year ahead, the ability to adjust prices, costs and product or service levels at a moment’s notice will depend on data capabilities. Leveraging data and teaming with groups outside of finance (like the data science team) can provide the insights you need to make mission critical decisions. Every finance team member needs to be acquainted with data analytics.
• Adopt and implement a strategy for digital transformation. Digitization went into over-drive as a result of COVID as McKinsey has noted. Technology has proved crucial to facilitating remote working and to providing greater transparency into supply chain issues. CFOs must lead their departments in setting strategy for implementation around the key technologies re-shaping business in general and the finance function in particular: automation (e.g., RPA), data analytics, cloud-based computing, and blockchain.
• Embrace your role in sustainability. The recent COP26 conference on climate issues, where the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation announced an International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to develop a global baseline of sustainability disclosure by June 2022, signals 2022 as the year sustainability reporting is embraced by finance. Management accountants, who are responsible for reporting and disclosure, will be critical to establishing more transparency and building more sustainable operations within their organizations in a way that translates into strategic action.
• Cultivate soft skills to help your employees remain agile: Asking employees to “adapt to continuous change” (the single most important attribute finance teams must have according to a recent EY survey) is not like asking them to perform a cost-benefit or SWOT analysis. There is no playbook for supporting people through change, but I have seen the importance of emotional intelligence and empathy in leading organizations through crisis. Soft skills can sometimes seem superfluous and less important than technical skills, but I would argue they are both equally important and every CFO should work to improve them in 2022.

In 2022, accounting and finance teams will have the opportunity to increase their visibility and their value within organizations. Management accountants will be at the front and center of this trend, and I believe they are more than ready. While many uncertainties and challenges will be faced in 2022, they will be no match for management accountants.

Source: Forbes