Finance leaders’ appetite for digital innovation stems from aspirations to keep their organisations competitive — and improve their career prospects.
That’s one takeaway from a report that software company Datarails compiled from the responses of 270 US CFOs.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and financial planning and analysis (FP&A) software are viewed as strategic imperatives to drive digital transformation, according to the report, 2024 CFO Sentiments: How AI Is Changing Finance Departments.
For their companies, 34% of finance leaders are investing in finance software as a priority, viewing it as a crucial part of digital transformation, the report said. Other reasons include a need to improve collaboration (28%), prioritisation of consolidation and automation processes (16%), and to gain specific business value (22%).
Leaders are also looking to technology as a tool to improve decision-making, which has prompted a restored interest in FP&A software, the report said, with 56% viewing this software as necessary to formulate precise financial forecasts with actionable insights.
“While in 2023 just 19% of finance leaders cited … FP&A solutions as a ‘must have’, this year 61% have made the plunge and purchased FP&A software,” the report said. CFOs have prioritised tax software, with close to three-quarters of finance leaders making a purchase in this area, followed by accounting or enterprise resource planning systems.
More than 90% of CFOs believe that AI knowledge will be intrinsic to increasing their market value, and 97% said they hope to become a CEO, the report said. To help them progress, CFOs agree (39%) or strongly agree (23%) that AI skills are crucial to boosting their market value.
Fifty-two per cent of respondents said they feel confident they could take on the CEO role.
Emerging technologies are becoming increasingly important to career development and company progression for leaders, with 85% actively advancing their knowledge with AI.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.
