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What the best CFOs are doing differently
In organisations that are making real progress, CFOs are grounding modernisation in a clear vision tied directly to business strategy.
They are honest about where finance can create the most impact and concentrate their efforts there.
One common theme across these leaders, according to the report, is a relentless push for simplification: streamlining processes, reducing manual work and removing unnecessary internal friction.
Another hallmark of successful modernisation outlined is the way these CFOs build their teams. They bring together finance talent with analytics and operational expertise, breaking down traditional boundaries so that decisions can be made quickly and with better information.
Critically, they don’t separate technology, data and people decisions, but treat them as interconnected pieces of one transformation.
Where the impact is showing
The report says the results of the modernisation are becoming tangible. Leading finance teams are closing their books over 40% faster and completing budgeting cycles in a fraction of the time.
Forecast accuracy is also improving significantly, with what demanded weeks of coordination now happening continuously.
AI is reported to be accelerating these shifts. Predictive and generative AI are enabling forecast accuracy of about 95% in some organisations and reducing planning times from weeks to hours.
As a result, finance teams are spending much more of their time on forward-looking analysis instead of gathering data, which is where CFOs want their talent focused.