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CFO Tech Outlook | Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Resilient financial functions are crucial for business continuity. From safeguarding critical finance operations to reevaluating dependencies, this guide outlines strategies to ensure the resilience of financial departments in the face of emergencies.
FREMONT, CA: Corporate resilience emphasises continuing with the business, even in the face of an emergency. In numerous ways, the concept of departmental resilience is vital for the continuity plan of any business model.
A financial department is one of the most vital parts of any organisation. It comprises transaction management and the regulation of cash flow to vendor management and subsequent expenses. Without the presence of a dependable cash flow, an organisation cannot function in its optimal state. A timely routine and the correct technology are important, especially in the light of extraordinary events, to ascertain that a business has all of the essential systems in place to remain operational.
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A crisis could cause panic. Mitigating this panicked state and adapting to normal business conditions necessitates hard work. An organisation might have to suddenly ensure the security of a supply chain or switch the working methodologies of employees, such as remote or hybrid operating modes. Legacy systems would require digitisation to make sure they are visible and accessible from everywhere.
An effective business continuity plan necessitates detailed planning, and the financial department is the right place to begin.
The Importance of Resilient Financial Functions
An improved resilient financial system results in better and healthy cash flow, regardless of the pressure and stress brought about by the market. It implies coming back from incidents that impact the budget and continuing to work within the organisation as intended.
Considering how the business environment has evolved over the years, it is prominent why implementing resilience provides a company with a competitive advantage over its competitors. As the market continues to be unpredictable, the introduction of new technologies drastically changes the approach toward work and globalisation only complicates the market more.
In the event of setbacks, such as the underwhelming response to a product launch, the increased cost of a project than predicted, or even a downturn in revenue, the possession of a business continuity plan refers to the capability of getting operations to run within an organisation as quickly as possible, after the incident. Business continuity generally refers to nearly any department in an organisation and is not specific to finance. It is considered to be a blueprint for the creation of sustainable business operations, irrespective of any accidents or setbacks.
To counteract the unknown, financial companies should review their operations and cash flow. There is a helpful guide that financial leaders can follow to keep their functions going smoothly, even in times of crisis.
Begin with the Correct Mindset: Financial leaders should start by visualising their ideal financial functions. They need to aim to achieve that, by getting past new challenges that will get introduced in the process. Most financial departments get very comfortable with the routine they follow, and subsequently become rigid and find it difficult to change.
Once this change is established, internal functioning has to be assessed periodically.
Team members can brainstorm new ideas for building resilience and overcoming weaknesses. Siloed departments within an organisation pose another obstacle to financial resilience. Financial managers and other employees in different departments should be encouraged to interact with each other which goes beyond sharing information. Insights can be created together by integrating skills, which will go far in achieving financial goals.
Critical Finance Functions Have to be Safeguarded: Accessibility to financial data and transactions has to be maintained for necessary employees, and protecting the capabilities to process transactions must be prioritised.
Review Routines Regarding Invoice Management: Companies have to ensure that their invoice management routines are secure. Incoming purchase invoices that are present in PDF or print format will become an obstacle in the process of remote working. If the office mailbox cannot be physically visited, normal tasks will turn into an issue.
Reevaluate the Dependance on Third-parties: Numerous businesses depend on external service providers for invoice scanning and OCR. The concept of manual handling in itself is a risk, irrespective of the geographical location and the identity of the company providing the services. Processes are expected to be vulnerable in case service providers do not deliver on their promises. Risk exposure can be reduced by decreasing the dependence on third parties.
By incorporating e-invoices, the need for scanning and analogue data management can be eliminated.
Document End-to-end Processes Clearly: The hybrid working model has been popularised over the past few years. Now business operations are moving away from single office locations into remote offices, and as a result, it is becoming increasingly important for financial departments to clearly define their end-to-end processes. The processing of transactions and requests, roles and responsibilities, and the management of approval workflows, have to be elaborated upon. Documented processes should have test runs performed on them to check for potential deviations once work starts.
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