Rising to the Challenge. Achieving Real-time Visibility across the Organization
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2 About the Author Raef Lawson is Vice President-Research and Professor-in-Residence for the IMA (Institute of Management Accountants). He received his MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University. He holds a variety of professional certifications, including CMA, CFA, and CPA. Prior to joining IMA, Dr. Lawson spent 20 years as a professor in the Department of Accounting and Law at the University at Albany, SUNY, where he also served as department chair. Dr. Lawson can be reached at rlawson@imanet.org or This study is sponsored by NetSuite, the world s leading provider of cloud-based business management software. NetSuite helps companies manage core business processes with a single, fully integrated system covering ERP/financials, CRM, ecommerce, inventory, and more. More than 12,000 companies and divisions of large enterprises use NetSuite to run more effectively without the high costs and inefficiency of on-premise systems. Named by Gartner as the world s fastest-growing top 10 financial management solution company for the last three years, NetSuite netted the 2011 CODiE Award from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) for Best Financial Management Software. Contents 3 Introduction 3 Executive Summary 3 Key Findings 15 Conclusion 16 Appendix: Respondent Demographics Published by Institute of Management Accountants 10 Paragon Drive, Suite 1 Montvale, NJ in the United States of America by Institue of Management Accountants All rights reserved 2 2
3 Introduction Last year IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) conducted a survey of select members that examined the priority issues and challenges faced by finance teams in today s challenging economic and business climate. The most important challenge streamlining process and improving productivity was the subject of our recent Rising to the Challenge: Productivity in Accounting and Finance Organizations research study, This report expands on our prior research and focuses on the two issues identified by our respondents as being next in importance: improving the management reporting cycle and achieving real-time visibility across the organization. Executive Summary Businesses today are operating in an increasingly complex, competitive environment. To cope with these business demands, organizations are increasingly calling on their accounting and finance teams to go beyond their traditional role of information suppliers and to provide analytical insight into the business. Key difficulties in fulfilling this new role include both improving the management reporting cycle and achieving real-time visibility across the organization. Many companies possess disparate information systems, a lack of integration among these systems, and systems that are outdated and cannot meet current business requirements. While most manufacturing-related systems are highly integrated into companies overall ERP systems, other key related areas, such as business intelligence and budgeting and forecasting, typically are not. This lack of integration is also common for systems that support other functional areas, including customer upsell/renewal, marketing, support, and e-commerce. In order for accounting and finance teams to be able to provide analytical insight into the business and to provide real-time visibility into their organizations, companies will need to replace or update their outdated, unintegrated, disparate information systems. By doing so, these teams will have the tools needed to provide the predictive insights and transparency that is now being demanded of them. Key Findings Critical Issues Faced by Accounting and Finance Teams The past year has seen a continuation of challenging conditions around the globe, with economic uncertainty prevalent in Europe, continued political unrest in the Middle East, an anemic recovery in the U.S., and an economic slowdown in the Far East. Has this affected the priorities of the finance function? To answer this question, we surveyed IMA members regarding the importance of 14 possible business concerns facing their organizations (For details regarding survey respondents demographics, see the Appendix). When asked what was the single most critical business concern facing their organization, respondents provided a wide range of responses. These included comments such as: 33
4 Transparency in the financial process communicating with managers and staff when issues arise and before issues arise. Keeping clear communication between departments on all matters, both financial and operational. Real-time management response to market, competitors, and global environment, using information as a competitive advantage. Adding financial clarity to day-to-day operations without causing extra work for nonaccounting department heads that are already overwhelmed. Using cloud computing and technologies to help improve productivity. Streamlining reporting across the organization and gaining a more real-time look at financials/ operations through the implementation of an ERP system. Have the Accounting/Finance area become an integrated business partner with all the other operational areas in the organization, leading to a totally integrated decision-making team that drives the organization. Overcoming a culture where success is now assumed, but urgency needs to occur to continue to fulfill our mission. These concerns and the many other responses received reflect a diversity of concerns consistent with other research conducted by IMA on the changing role of the CFO organization and the increasing responsibilities assumed by the CFO team. What emerges is a picture of accounting and finance organizations that need to continue to deliver excellence in their traditional role while also assuming an enlarged role, often subject to challenging resource constraints. Survey respondents were asked about the importance of 14 specific business concerns. With the exception of one addition this year, these were the same concerns as those contained in our survey conducted last year (See Figure 1). 4 4
5 Figure 1. Importance of Business Concerns Facing Accounting and Finance Organizations mean 2011 mean Streamlining process and improving productivity Improving the management reporting cycle Achieving real-time visibility across your organization Running a global business efficiently Becoming the Transformational CFO Handling financial consolidation efficiently Influencing IT priorities and working more closely with CIO Connecting the finance team with the front office Upgrading your company s ERP/ business systems Improving collaboration in the finance organization Spending less cycles on the period close Accelerating the invoicing process Automating order management Using technologies to help improve productivity (Note: Average ranks based on a scale of 5=Of critical importance, 4=Very important, 3=Important, 2=Slightly important, and 1=Not important). The average rating of importance of the concerns this year was consistent with those from the prior year: Streamlining processes and improving productivity was again the concern rated of highest importance, on average, followed by improving the management reporting cycle and achieving real-time visibility across the organization. The consistency of the survey results attests to the ongoing nature of the concerns finance professionals have in these areas. Our prior study focused on streamlining processes and improving productivity; in this study, we focus on the next two most important issues facing accounting and finance organizations. 55
6 Information Challenges Faced by Organizations In order to successfully compete, businesses need timely, accurate, and insightful information. This information often needs to be supplied in real-time and to provide a view into company performance across the organization. Table 1 lists various challenges companies face in achieving this goal. Table 1. Extent to which Organizations Face Visibility Challenges Mean Rating Accurately projecting the company s finances into the future 3.43 Obtaining real-time visibility across the organization 3.35 Seeing an accurate forecasted revenue picture 3.28 Measuring the success/failure of our strategy 3.26 Analyzing trends in our business 3.12 Managing financial risk 3.11 Changing strategic direction 3.09 Get better visibility and insight into customer transactions and activity 3.02 Accurately seeing actual vs. quota vs. forecast 3.00 Resolving conflicting sources of information 2.99 Understanding which customers/products are profitable 2.98 Trusting the numbers that the system provides 2.97 Managing KPIs in our business 2.96 Effective evaluation of financial opportunities 2.93 Ensuring accounting control in accordance with external financial reporting regulations 2.90 Closing the books and reporting in a timely fashion 2.90 Ensuring strong financial compliance by maintaining a complete audit trail 2.87 Determining real marketing and sales ROI 2.80 Getting a clear picture of bookings, billings, and backlogs 2.57 Efficient acquisition of other companies 2.33 (Note: Table presents average rating of importance, based on a scale of 5=A critical challenge, 4=To a great extent, 3=Somewhat, 2=To a small extent, and 1=Not at all). Technological advances have changed expectations for the accounting and finance team. They are expected to spend less time on recording and verifying the numbers and more time making the data connections and explaining the number implications to the business applying the finance lens on decision making. There is also increased emphasis on moving past explaining historic numbers to providing a forward-looking forecast of an organization s finances, risks, and opportunities. Achieving real-time visibility throughout an organization is assuming much greater importance. 6
7 Key Areas of Challenge Given the current economic environment, it is not surprising that a key priority for companies in achieving real-time visibility is the traditional area of understanding cash flow (See Table 2). However, nearly as many survey respondents identified issues around sales and marketing as being key areas of challenge: Understanding lead and marketing performance and understanding new sales revenue performance are challenges faced by over 40% of respondents. Areas related to traditional finance roles such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll processing are much less likely to be areas of concern for companies. Table 2. Areas in which Organizations Face Challenges Around Visibility Percent Understanding cash flow 47.4% Understanding lead and marketing performance 42.5% Understanding new sales revenue performance 41.9% Understanding customer service performance 37.8% Understanding accounts receivables results 25.8% Understanding account payables results 25.6% Understanding performance of subsidiaries and international division 25.4% Understanding customer renewals and upsell performance 25.1% Understanding payroll, including handling all filings and deposits for federal, state, and local jurisdictions 15.2% These results point again to the increasing expectations placed on the finance function and the challenge of meeting those expectations. No longer is the CFO organization merely expected to be a compiler and reporter of financial information. Instead, the accounting and finance function is increasingly partnering with others throughout the company in order to provide insights that drive enhanced organizational performance. Challenges in Visibility Meeting these raised expectations will require adequate information systems, which many organizations lack. Key challenges among system deficiencies are two related challenges: the presence of disparate systems across the organization and a lack of integration among these systems (See Figure 2). 7
8 Figure 2. Greatest Challenges Around Visibility (% of Respondents) 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Lack of integration Disparate systems across your organization Systems can t keep up with rapid growth Outdated systems to meet new business requirements Global expansion System-related limitation for launching new products rapidly M&A new businesses or BUs are added without adequate systems Compounding the challenge posed by the lack of system integration is the presence of outdated systems unable to meet new business needs and systems that can t keep up with organizational growth. Finally, lack of a data warehouse was cited by a quarter of respondents as one of their greatest challenges in achieving realtime visibility. These challenges of disparate, unintegrated, outdated systems and inaccessible, unorganized data hinder organizations from achieving the visibility into their organizations operations and from making better business decisions. 8
9 Challenge in Integrating Systems The challenge of integrating systems is due in no small part to the means by which companies accomplish this task. As indicated in Table 3, the most commonly used means for integrating systems is through the use of spreadsheets. Table 3. How is Integration Achieved? Through the use of spreadsheets 68.3% Directly integrating applications 53.9% Through middle-ware applications 31.2% Other 2.5% The use of spreadsheets for integrating systems can lead to several problems. Foremost among these as experienced by 76.9% of our survey respondents was the need for excessive manual effort (See Table 4). Other common problems include having multiple versions of the truth, difficulties in maintaining and updating the system, and the lack of timely reporting. Table 4. Problems Encountered as a Result of Using Spreadsheets Excessive manual effort 76.9% Multiple versions of the truth 48.4% Difficulties in maintaining/updating the system 48.1% Lack of timely reporting 45.3% Serious spreadsheet errors 26.5% Excessive costs in run and maintaining system 21.2% These results paint a picture of many companies using disparate systems that are poorly integrated, resulting in challenges in achieving real-time visibility into their organization. Integration of Various Systems Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems can help integrate information across an entire organization. To what extent does this occur? Our results indicate that most firms still have a long way to go before they have truly integrated their information systems. Figure 3 indicates the frequency of integration of various business systems into firms ERP systems. Manufacturing, inventory, and procurement systems are each integrated by about 45% of all survey respondents. As might be expected, given that these are related to activities in a common business process, the means of integrating these systems is very consistent within firms. When looking at just respondents in the manufacturing industry, the percentages are much higher (66%, 62%, and 60%, respectively). Given the increasingly competitive and global nature of many manufacturing industries, it is clear that automation and integration of these systems is essential for companies to maintain their competitiveness and that they are being responsive to this need. 9
10 Figure 3. Integration of Systems with Organizations ERP 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Completely stand-alone Through spreadsheets or flat file transfers Through manually launched integration routines Through automated integration routines An integrated module of our ERP 0% Accounting Manufacturing & inventory Inventory & fulfillment Procurement Financial close and reposting New sales Human resources Customer renewals/upsell Service and support Profitability analysis Internet/e-commerce Professional services Business intelligence Budgeting/forecasting Marketing When it comes to finance and accounting systems, a mixed picture emerges. While traditional accounting and finance activities, including basic accounting and financial close and reporting, are commonly integrated into the system, business intelligence and budgeting and forecasting are much less likely to be integrated. This finding reinforces the conclusion of many prior surveys that find that financial planning and analysis is the number one pain point of finance and accounting professions. Marketing-related systems are the least likely to be integrated. Only 9.5% of systems have integrated their marketing systems, and the system is completely standalone for nearly half of the respondents. Other related systems, including business intelligence, Internet/e-commerce, and customer service and customer renewal/ upsell, are all among the least-integrated systems. This is reflective of the common disconnect between the front office and finance functions. No wonder companies are struggling to obtain the real-time information needed to compete in the marketplace. As might be expected, integration of the various systems varies by firm size. For example, as depicted in Figure 4, only about one third of firms with less than $1 million in revenue have integrated accounting systems. This percentage rapidly rises, with firms with more than $10 million in revenue being almost twice as likely to have integrated systems. 10
11 Figure 4. Integration of Accounting Systems with Organizations ERP by Firm Size 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Completely stand-alone Through spreadsheets or flat file transfers Through manually launched integration routines Through automated integration routines An integrated module of our ERP 0% <$1 Million $1-$10 Million $10-$30 Million $30-$75 Million $75-$200 Million $200-$500 Million $500 Million-$1 Billion $1-$5 Billion $5-$10 Billion > $10 Billion Improving the Management Reporting Cycle Survey respondents were asked to identify which challenges they encountered in improving their management reporting cycle (see Figure 5). The most common challenge, faced by slightly more than half of the respondents, was the timeliness of performance reports and analysis, followed by integrating multiple data sources and the length of time required to close the books. Figure 5 indicates that there is a great deal of consistency with responses from those received in last year s survey. 11
12 Figure 5. Challenges for Improving the Management Reporting Cycle % % 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Timeliness of performance reports and analysis Integrating multiple data sources Length of time required to close books Cash flow reporting Reporting at the customer and product/service level Reporting on sales orders and revenue Reporting on the subsidaries and geography results Compying with government rules and regulations We have no challenges in this area Other Note: Complying with government rules and regulations was not an option in the prior (2011) survey. Survey respondents were further asked to identify which of the challenges was most pressing. The responses were consistent with the overall frequency of the various challenges. Time Required to Close Books As noted above, a commonly identified challenge facing organizations is the length of time required to close the books. As indicated in Figure 6, the most common length of time required to close is five days, while the median time to close is seven days. 12
13 While some organizations close their books very rapidly, 12% of companies require more than three weeks (15 business days) to do so. Worse still, a significant number of companies are still working on closing their books at the end of the following month. No wonder companies are struggling to achieve visibility across their organizations and to provide timely, actionable information. Figure 6. Business Days Required to Perform a Monthly Close Percent (Right Scale) Cummulative Total (Left Scale) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% > 40 Capabilities of Business Performance Information Systems In order to achieve real-time visibility across the organization, companies information systems need to deliver the necessary information in a timely manner and in a readily usable format. Table 5 lists some features that can help provide these capabilities. 13
14 Table 5. Capabilities of Current Business Performance Information System Drill-down capabilities to customer, employee, and transactional details 48.6% Ad-hoc reporting capabilities 47.9% Key performance indicators and reporting on key variances and periodon-period 39.6% trends organization, including sales, finance, etc. 29.1% Search-based analytics 28.2% Personalized dashboards 26.4% Real-time business intelligence 21.9% What-if financial modeling capabilities 17.3% Anytime, anywhere accessibility 17.0% Real-time performance across subsidiaries and geographies 11.5% Mobile device accessibility 11.4% As indicated in Table 5, most companies systems lack such features. The most commonly available is the ability to drill down to customers, employees, and transactional details, with 48.6% of companies possessing this capability. Many companies lack capabilities such as key performance indicators and reporting on key variances and period-on-period trends, visibility across the organization, search-based analytics, and real-time business intelligence that enable informed business decision making. Despite the discouraging current state of business information systems, the future looks brighter. Many of our survey respondents (41.5%) have implemented integrated business systems or plan to do so (see Table 6). Another large percentage (40.7%) have added business intelligence software and replaced siloed business systems (32.9%) or plan to do so. Table 6. Technology Investments Implemented or Planning to Implement Integrating disconnected business systems 41.5% Adding business intelligence software 40.7% Adding data warehouse 33.4% Replacing siloed business systems (finance, CRM, etc.) with a single business suite/database 32.9% Consolidating global finance systems 25.2% Moving current financial systems to cloud computing 15.6% Moving subsidiaries and non-hq divisions to the cloud 4.8% 14
15 Conclusion Businesses today are operating in an increasingly complex, competitive environment. To cope with these business demands, organizations are increasingly calling on their accounting and finance teams to go beyond their traditional role of information suppliers and to provide analytical insight into the business. Our findings indicate that finance professionals are running into difficulty fulfilling this new role: In addition to streamlining processes and improving productivity, achieving real-time visibility across their organizations and improving the management reporting cycle were identified as the most pressing obstacles. Organizations also confront challenges in converting data into actionable information. Forecasting is a challenge, both with regard to revenues and company finances in general. Using data to measure the success or failure of company strategy, to analyze business trends, and to manage financial risk also present challenges. Improved information systems will be needed for the finance function to meet its expanding role. Many companies currently possess disparate systems across the organization, a lack of integration among these systems, and systems that are outdated and cannot meet current business requirements. The use of spreadsheets, while common, can lead to a variety of issues, including excessive manual effort, multiple versions of the truth, and difficulties in maintaining the system. While most manufacturing-related systems are highly integrated into companies overall ERP systems, the same is not generally true of systems in other functional areas. In accounting, traditional financial accounting systems are commonly integrated while business intelligence, budgeting, and forecasting are not. This lack of integration is also common for systems that support other functional areas, including marketing, customer support, customer upsell/renewal, and e-commerce. While the level of integration of these systems increases with firm size, there is a general lack of integration regardless of company size. As noted above, accounting and finance teams are increasingly being called on to provide analytical insight into the business and to provide real-time visibility into their organizations. In order to do so, many firms will have to replace or update their outdated, unintegrated, or disparate information systems. By doing so, these teams will have the tools needed to provide the predictive insights and transparency that will add to the value of their companies. 15
16 Appendix. Respondent Demographics This survey was sent to 46,995 IMA members; it was returned by 1,501 members, for a 3.2% response rate. The following summarizes the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Table A1. Industry of Respondents Manufacturing 35.1% Business Services 19.4% Government/Nonprofit 10.8% Finance 10.1% Wholesale/Distribution 7.6% Construction and Contracting 4.9% Healthcare 4.7% High Tech/Software 3.8% Retail/e-commerce 3.6% Figure A1. Respondents Management Levels Top Management 18.9% Senior Management Middle Management 41.2% 15.2% Lower Management/Entry Level 24.7% 16
17 Figure A2. Annual Revenues (or budget if a nonprofit or governmental entity) in U.S. dollars Less than $1 Million $1-$10 Million 10.5% 5.2% $10 -$30 Million 12.3% $30-$75 Million 11.8% $75-$200 Million 10.4% 5.8% $200-$500 Million $500 Million-$1 Billion 7.5% 13.2% $1 Billion-$5 Billion $5 Billion to $10 Billion More than $10 Billion 9.7% 13.6% Figure A3. Number of Employees Less than % 17.8% % 14.8% ,001-10,000 More than10, % 9.3% 9.5% 17
18 Figure A4. Location of Primary Business Unit North America 0.7% 5.3% 15.1% 1.3% South America 7.8% Europe Middle East Africa 69.8% Asia/Pacific Figure A5. Type of Organization Publicly traded 5.5% 2.3% Privately held 8.5% Nonprofit Government Agency 31.8% Other 51.9% 18
19 About IMA IMA, the association of accountants and financial professionals in business, is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) program, continuing education, networking, and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global network of more than 65,000 members in 120 countries and 200 local chapter communities. IMA provides localized services through its offices in Montvale, N.J., USA; Zurich, Switzerland; Dubai, UAE; and Beijing, China. For more information about IMA, please visit 19
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