New Study Reveals Key Attributes of High-Performing Finance Teams

88 Percent of Finance Leaders Believe Business Agility Will Drive Future Success 

SAN FRANCISCO, March 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FinancialForce, the leading cloud ERP vendor on the Salesforce Platform, published its State of Finance report today. The report, based on insights derived from 1,000 finance and accounting professionals across industries and company sizes, reveals that finance teams that become business partners and embrace next-gen technologies - cloud, integrated platforms, mobile, AI - are best positioned for success; those that don't adapt leave their businesses vulnerable to competition. The report is produced in partnership with third-party market research firm Lab42.

The report found finance teams are focused on more than just accounting today, and have evolved to become a key player supporting business growth. Currently, a supermajority of finance leaders (85.6 percent) see their teams as having an important role in helping their organizations avoid disruption in the new services economy, and nearly all (93.1 percent) say finance plays an important role in giving the business a competitive edge.

As finance departments evolve, so too must the ways they generate revenue and measure success. Revenue Recognition guidelines have placed a heightened value on software, and a majority of business leaders approaching full compliance (85.1 percent) agree that software will factor heavily in helping them cross the compliance finish line. Nine of 10, businesses with high-performing finance teams (89.8 percent) generate revenue from services. The importance of services is expected to grow significantly; in fact, the majority of respondents (57.3 percent) report that services will be more important one year from now than they are today.

In today's business landscape, flexibility and an embrace of innovative technologies separate modern business leaders from the pack. Finance leaders overwhelmingly agree (88 percent) that the agility to change or add business models increases the chance of ongoing success. Three in four (75 percent) respondents believe it's important to have access to their financial systems from mobile devices, while 80 percent say it's important to have access from the cloud-signaling an accelerating demise for older, on-premise systems. Finance professionals who haven't migrated to cloud-based systems must upgrade and innovate quickly to remain competitive and be able to provide real-time strategic insights to improve revenue.