Changing Leadership for an Ever-Changing Business Environment
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role has been redefined. Today, CFOs are more than just the heads of finance. Instead, they are being called on to be operational leaders, planners, and visionaries who must help the CEO and other senior executives lead their organizations through changing times by providing insights on financial matters, embracing non-traditional skills, implementing emerging technologies, and championing purpose and data-driven initiatives.
The business landscape is in a constant state of flux. As change becomes more prevalent, businesses are increasingly affected. This necessitates a swift and adaptive response from CFOs. Many of the fundamental assumptions and methodologies that corporate finance has long relied on are now undergoing radical and transformative change.
Data management is one area undergoing significant change — from various data sources and how information is stored to the way we process and analyze it. This shift underscores the increasing importance of CFOs’ ability to analyze large volumes of data to extract insights, make informed decisions, and communicate financial performance and strategy effectively to their investors. Therefore, having a clear picture of the organization has never been more important to success.
The Truth in the Numbers: CFOs Admit
One common challenge among CFOs is the lack of resources and an IT support system, and therefore, not enough time is spent on strategic planning. According to Sage Intacct, 57% of CFOs say that they spend less than one-quarter of their time on strategic initiatives. This is primarily due to day-to-day concerns and disruptions that interfere with the ability to plan strategically.
Nearly two-thirds of CFOs also admit their finance functions are not yet proactive enough in using data and analytics to identify, prioritize, and address critical issues in the business. But to be proactive, CFOs do agree that data must be structured in a way that makes it easy to analyze and is current or real-time.
Externally, markets are pressuring organizations to be fast and nimbler, which means using technology to create customer-centric business models. Internally, organizations need a modern and robust financial management system that provides quick and insightful analysis and the ability to adapt and adopt modern metrics that reflect rapidly emerging business trends, eliminating the need for additional resources and IT support.
The CFO Role in the Professional Services Industry
The role of the CFO and, subsequently, the financial management system they take ownership of in professional services firms (i.e., law firms, accounting firms, management consulting and marketing firms, and architecture and engineering firms) is crucial for ensuring financial stability and profitability. Here are some key reasons why:
- Billing and Invoicing: Typically, professional services firms bill their clients based on the time spent on each project. In that case, CFOs should choose a financial management system with a robust billing and invoicing module to capture billable hours, expenses, and other project-related costs accurately.
- Budgeting and Forecasting: CFOs of professional services firms must accurately forecast revenue and expenses for future planning. Their financial management system should have a budgeting and forecasting module to help them prepare for staffing, investments, and other costs.
- Cash Flow Management: Professional services firms must manage their cash flow effectively to ensure they can pay their bills and employees on time. Their financial management system should have a cash flow management module to track cash inflows and outflows, account balances, and other financial metrics.
- Project Management: Professional services firms often work on multiple projects simultaneously. Therefore, the financial management system should have a project management module that can easily track project milestones, budgets, and expenses.
- Financial Reporting: CFOs of professional services firms must regularly provide financial reports to their stakeholders. The financial management system should have a robust reporting module to generate accurate and timely financial reports.
How Sage Intacct Is Helping CFOs Provide Insight and Drive Strategic Value
Sage Intacct is a cloud-based financial management system designed to help CFOs provide insight and drive strategic value for their organizations. As a cloud-based solution, Sage Intacct offers a high level of security and scalability, making it ideal for a variety of professional services organizations.
One of Sage Intacct’s primary benefits is that it makes the job of CFOs easier by automating key financial processes and providing real-time access to financial data. With Sage Intacct, CFOs can easily track financial data and metrics, generate reports, and gain insights into their organization’s financial performance.
Sage Intacct also understands different billing scenarios of professional services organizations and the unique challenges their finance team faces, from accurate time tracking to consolidating project data across different locations, entities, and rates. So, whether the organization needs to track and bill for their team’s time or manage and track delivery to their clients, Sage Intacct was built to support the versatility of professional services firms’ demands.
In terms of report creation, Sage Intacct offers a powerful reporting module that automatically aggregates data across multiple systems, which is critical for report creation. This saves time and eliminates the need to extract data from various sources manually. Additionally, the reporting module allows for analysis without exporting data to spreadsheets, which is a significant time-saver for CFOs.
Another key feature of Sage Intacct’s reporting module is its multidimensional analysis capabilities, which enable CFOs to quickly meet ad hoc requests for report creation. This feature allows CFOs to quickly drill down into financial data and analyze it from multiple angles, providing deeper insights into the organization’s financial performance.
Overall, Sage Intacct is a powerful financial management system, ideal for redefined CFOs who want to be tech-savvy and data-driven and reach new potential for their organizations by leading them through a technology-based transformative journey.
Your Guide Forward
Cherry Bekaert is a highly experienced and certified Sage Intacct partner and Value-Added Reseller (VAR). Our team has a proven track record of successfully assisting professional services organizations in integrating, implementing, and providing ongoing support for Sage Intacct. Our approach is highly personalized, with a focus on tailoring our accounting and Sage Intacct solutions to each client’s unique business needs, workforce, and financial reporting requirements. For professional services firms, this includes tailored support for project-centric businesses.
By working closely with our clients, we deliver a financial management solution that seamlessly adapts to their business, enabling them to optimize their financial processes and drive growth. Our commitment to delivering exceptional service makes us a trusted partner for any organization looking to leverage the full potential of Sage Intacct technology.
Related Insights
- Article: Propel Your Organization’s Financials Using the Power of Cherry Bekaert and Sage Intacct
- Case Study: Empowering Financial Excellence and Fostering Student Success with Sage Intacct
- Article: 5 Considerations to Recession Proof Your Finance Technology Stack Using Sage Intacct
- Article: The Power of Sage Intacct Dashboards for Financial Reporting
- Article: Cloud-Based Accounting: Sage Intacct’s Modern Solution for Businesses
