The vast majority – 98% – of the surveyed financial directors admitted that their companies are conducting or planning digitization in the financial area, according to the 2022 Central Europe CFO Survey report, prepared by the consulting company Deloitte.
Almost all respondents confirmed that their companies are either preparing or have already started implementing changes related to digitization. These processes, however, require training of the staff in the use of new technologies. 51% of respondents admitted that such activities will take place within the next six months, and 27% said that they are planned in the future, it said.
“Over the past two years, it has been noticed how many opportunities and benefits are brought by the automation and digitization of these processes, which until recently required the physical involvement of employees. Digitization today is much more than just a technological strategy: it is a business strategy that is becoming more and more important for long-term success of the company. Failure to take the next steps on this path may result in companies losing their competitive advantage and, consequently, market share. No wonder that the issue of digital transformation is becoming more and more important from the point of view of companies’ strategy,” said the partner , technology consulting leader, Deloitte Daniel Martyniuk.
According to 33% of respondents, digitization is a manifestation of the implementation of corporate strategies. 21% of CFOs said the digital transformation was driven by efforts to reduce the company’s operating costs. The percentage of people who indicated the need to improve the efficiency of process implementation as the most important reason for digital changes (which is considered a key factor for Polish financial directors) is similar. The drive to digitize is also the result of the popularization of remote work: 12% of responses related to the need to improve the management of people working outside the office. Every tenth respondent indicated the process of replacing computer systems used in companies as the main reason for the digital transformation, emphasized.
According to 1/3 of financial directors participating in the survey, the digital transformation will have the greatest impact on accounting procedures. Tools such as advanced analytics, process automation and the dissemination of cloud solutions in the area of data set management are to improve them to the greatest extent.
For 41% of respondents, the time saving resulting from greater automation of time-consuming accounting processes is considered the greatest advantage of this phenomenon. 22% of respondents indicated the possibility of performing additional tasks that affect the company’s value. For 18% of directors, automation itself is considered the most important. digitization, while 17% of responses related to the possibility of collecting more reliable data.
A quarter of respondents said that digitization would translate the most into planning and analysis, as the time so far spent on accounting will be available for analysis leading to more accurate conclusions. 23% of responses related to the impact of digitization on controlling, and 18% related to reporting.
“The financial directors who participated in our study are still at an early stage of introducing the digital transformation. Necessary changes in companies were introduced by only 20% of respondents, and the rest are in the process or are planning to implement them. CFO to properly control the digital image of the organization. , should move from the role of the supervisor of accounting and financial processes to more frequent and more intensive cooperation with business leaders,” summed up a partner in the Tax Advisory Department, Business Tax team leader, CFO Program leader, Deloitte Robert Nowak.
The 2022 Central Europe CFO Survey was conducted between October and December 2021 on a group of 588 financial directors (Chief Financial Officer, CFO) from 15 Central European countries.
Source: Deloitte and ISBnews
