CGMA Report - The new mandate for finance professionals in supporting long-term business success

Many organisations are working to transform their finance functions to take a broader and often leading role in contributing more to their organisation’s success. This transformation may include finance conducting their core accounting and reporting activities more efficiently, increasing collaboration with the wider business to provide better and more insightful management information, and performing a more influential role in management.

CIMA and the AICPA commissioned the CIMA Centre of Excellence at the University of Bath School of Management to undertake a global survey, especially for this report, to establish whether finance professionals are expected to take on such a broader role. The research looks at what the constraints might be to the role of finance being transformed in this way and gaining a broader and more leading mandate from the business. Finally it assesses the impact on the skills required for the management accountant.

Critically this report also provides insight on the level of responsibilities and mandate finance has in the best performing organisations, to allow readers to gain a perspective of what best practice might look like.

The report includes steps and actions for the management accountant to gain the broader mandate to better support and add value to the business.