This report, drafted in partnership with ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), asks the question, “What are the key influences shaping the future role of the CFO and tomorrow’s finance enterprise?”

"Tomorrow's finance enterprise" explores the key influences impacting the future CFO function, and what determines its likely success in a world of significant change. Previous reports from IMA and ACCA have dealt with talent, career paths, and the changing nature of the CFO role, technology, and big data. This report concludes that there are five issues shaping the destiny of finance:

Volatility and risk shape the future

• Enterprise strategy supported by smarter finance delivery
• Value driven and data centric
• New technology frontiers
• The quality of talent

Key Insights

• Economic uncertainty, volatility, risk, and ambiguity are the critical challenges facing businesses today.
• How businesses create growth in the future, and the processes that drive wealth, will change. Intangibles such as data (and the information that can be gleaned from analyzing this), branding, intellectual property, and talent are the catalyst for growth in many businesses.
• Finance leaders have a critical responsibility for making sure that the enterprise is investing in the processes and technologies that will create wealth and leverage these assets.
• The very nature of business leadership is changing in the face of a complex and multifaceted operating landscape – from the increasing speed of technological change, the proliferation of consumer choice, rapidly shifting business models, new emerging markets, and nascent industries.
• The CFO role is becoming harder and more difficult to prepare for, and so we have to change the way we do things: we can no longer do the same things and expect different results.

Source: imanet