English 
Vietnamese Changes in industry and global market provide an opportunity for CFOs to re-evaluate the capabilities and responsibilities of the finance function, align new models and processes to the business, set stages and SMART objectives for more accurate planning, budgeting and forecasting, as well as improve strategic decision making for growth. In the last post, we discussed about four evolving roles of the modern CFOs, which are changed from traditional tasks of financial governance and control to a more strategic and entrepreneurship role in the organisation. But no matter what the roles are, the ultimate goal of CFOs is delivering the most effective decision that will lead the organisation into the future.
In order to achieve their goals, CFOs must have a clear understanding about the finance department’s capabilities of both fundamental and advanced financial reporting functions. Can the organisation produce correct results? Are they confident with the results’ accuracy? Can they explain the pros and cons of the results? Can they forecast their financial position correctly and reasonably? Can they use their financial information to drive strategic solutions effectively? As the financial rules and regulations are changing overtime, they put more pressure onto the CFOs and financial department’s responsibilities since they have to meet new requirements and deadlines of all financial activities.
Therefore, to lift up the heavy pressure placing on CFOs and the finance team, the tools and resources available to support them should be changed or upgraded into more modernised technologies. In addition, organisation needs to build a go-forward approach and place its finance team on an evolutionary scale following four categories below to make the process easier:
FundamentalsJust do it |
Master the core responsibilities of the finance office, encompass routine tasks whose timely and accurate completion is essential to the operation of the company |
Operational efficiencyDo it well |
Streamline the process of closing the books to eliminate drama, increase accuracy, improve speed, and increase transparency and auditability. |
Financial performanceDo it better company-wide |
The standards of measurement for all aspects of business performance are typically financial measurements, i.e. time and money. By implementing systems for standardising and benchmarking performance company-wide, the finance office puts the entire firm on a path to continuous improvement. |
Strategic growthDo it to accelerate growth |
At this level, the primary issues evolve beyond simply controlling costs and focus on delivering value and sustaining growth. |
From 4 identified phases above, experts have examined and suggested suitable technologies for each stage of development that focus on helping CFOs push their organisation forward and develop new finance function to add strategic value to the business:
- Fundamentals: Flexible, fully-integrated ERP solutions, which include all financial management capabilities to support audit and risk management processes.
- Operational efficiency: Advanced solutions that focus on reporting, consolidation and close management throughout all systems in the organisation.
- Financial performance: Reliable EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) solutions that can help you to turn all information into assets to the company.
- Strategic growth: Advanced analytic and integration to effectively enforce business strategy, improve organisational visibility to support the decision-making process.
By leveraging these new technologies, CFOs and the finance team now can be able to determine the company’s finance team position on the evolutionary scale and find out how to move forward. This will, eventually, help CFOs specify the next steps to take for growth.
In the next post, we will discuss about planning and budgeting and how it can help organisation to success. Or your can find out more the full report: "How to make technology a catalyst for high-performance finance".
