Just like the CFO’s role, the role of the accountant is shifting. Not only are the numbers of accountants dwindling, but their duties, responsibilities and career trajectories also contribute to the shortage in both public and private accounting sectors.
The remedy to this issue is believed by many to lie in future tech, with the CFO playing a crucial role in identifying and implementing these technologies within their businesses. Over the past few years, nearly every organization and finance team has undergone some type of financial transformation. Combined with the AI tech market becoming somewhat oversaturated, this process and subsequent steps present a new set of challenges for finance leaders.
However, according to new data from FloQast, CFOs are embracing this challenge without the need for AI. In FloQast’s latest report, it found only 28% of CFOs said AI is a critical component of financial transformation.
AI’s Deflating Hype
Despite challenges around labor and data, 38% of CFOs and 35% of accountants are optimistic about the future of AI in their roles. Alongside this, both groups appear hesitant about the practicality of AI making significant changes, whether positive or negative, to their work processes anytime soon.
Financial transformation
Financial transformation, a somewhat ambiguous term, is defined by FloQast surveyors as “reshaping, rethinking and modernizing financial processes to empower companies to unleash employee potential, establish more efficient systems, create a better company culture and make better business decisions.”
While the process is important for both CFOs and accountants, the latter group appears slightly more focused and willing to use technology. In all categories of financial transformation, accountants show higher engagement compared to CFOs. They are more likely to focus on initiatives in areas such as business applications, intelligent information, centralized data and automated processes.
The largest differential in focus is within the centralization of data. More than half (51%) of accountants say this is a focus of their current financial transformation initiative, compared to less than 4 in 10 (38%) of CFOs.
Data Problems
The approach to collecting and using data varies between accountants and CFOs. Accountants are 2.6 times more likely than CFOs to report a lack of data visibility. Additionally, FloQast researchers note that accountants feel their organizational data is siloed and they lack the time to find and utilize it.
This situation puts CFOs, who are often time-crunched themselves, in a tough spot. CFOs are 1.6 times more likely to report that data accessibility requires too much manual effort, indicating that data is not readily available for finance chiefs to distribute to their teams.
The perception of data sources and quality differs between CFOs and accountants. According to the data, 20% of CFOs say they lack sufficient data visibility, a concern only 8% of accountants share. Moreover, 25% of CFOs report their data is siloed in different departments or systems, compared to just 17% of accountants.
CFOs also struggle more with time constraints compared to accountants. Over double the number of CFOs (25%) report they don’t have enough time to perform more valuable work.
FloQast’s Embracing Financial Transformation report surveyed 385 people working in accounting and finance in April and May 2024. Survey participants resided in North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.