Fast-Track to Future-Ready Finance Operations

From insights to action, the path to extraordinary value starts here.
Elevate every
decision with
intelligent
finance
operations

Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 2
Yet operations maturity is key for
CFOs to change how work gets done
and make finance more predictive and
proactive.
Improving operations is
complex
Intelligent Operations | Finance View
of Chief Finance Officers (CFOs)
say they’re best positioned to drive
organizational resilience, but just
73%
say this has been their most
impactful initiative delivered to
the business in the last two years.
7%

Our research and experience reveals there are four levels of
maturity:
Reaching “future-
ready” can translate
into tech-savvy
ways to discover
new streams of
revenue growth.
Operations is on the move
Each level is grounded in and enabled by progressively more
sophisticated technology, talent, processes and data insights.
Predictive
Stable
Future-ready
Efficient

1.7x
higher efficiency
levels for future-ready
organizations.1
Advantages of being
future-ready
1 Future-ready organizations exhibited 6.4 pp higher profitability and 13.1 percent greater efficiency, on average
Source: Accenture Research and Oxford Economics Intelligent Operations Survey, 2020
2.8x
boost in corporate
profitability for
future-ready
organizations.1
More profitable
More efficient

But CFO’s believe
organizations have
work to do to reach
future-readiness
5%
of finance leaders say
they have reached the
threshold of future-
ready operations and
35%
expect to be
there in the next
three years.
Intelligent Operations | Finance View Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 5

There are three ways for CFOs to accelerate
operations maturity:
03
02
01
Know how
to leapfrog
maturity levels
Know the
key steps
Know the
ultimate goal

Know the
ultimate
goal
01

Become a strategic
partner to the business
The first step is to think about the finance operating
model as two connected parts: core operations and
strategic operations.
Optimizing core functions, by applying digital
technologies, like automation and artificial intelligence
(AI), frees finance up to double down on strategic
operations—providing the data and insights to:
• enable dynamic scenario planning
• increase forecast accuracy
• make more informed business decisions

01 Know the ultimate goal
Realign ways of working
Digitizing the core, allows talent to focus on strategic
operations. This requires different skills—everything
from working alongside machines to analyzing data
and communicating with business stakeholders.
51%
of finance leaders say that
reskilling existing talent and
attracting specialized talent is a
challenge to realigning their
finance operations.

01 Know the ultimate goal
A medical device manufacturer transformed its fragmented
finance operations into an intelligent operating model by
integrating platforms with digital technologies such as AI and
robotic process automation (RPA).
This freed up the amount of time finance professionals
spent on transactional tasks from 89% 17%, while
increasing the time spent on strategic initiatives from
11% to 37%.
The company has achieved greater efficiencies, control and
visibility across its global operations. Balance sheet integrity
also improved, which helped the company:
• reduce intercompany balances by US $224M
• increase working capital by US $77M
• save US $12.3M

Know the
key steps
02

A world of possibilities exist for CFOs to make data the
heart of the organization by:
• breaking down silos
• elevating data quality
• modernizing data platforms
• managing and governing data holistically
Create connected
finance experiences
with data
02 Know the key steps
of finance leaders reported
that data is in wide use or at
scale in their organization
today.
66%

Take digitization to the next level
Expand Invest
the use of automation to free up the
workforce for value-added activities
such as advanced financial modeling
that forecasts future risk.
in AI and use it for forward-looking, predictive
insights such as assessing leading indicators of
demand. Cognitive capabilities can help business
leaders make more informed and timely decisions
by providing them with better insights through
hyper-personalized reports.

Cloud infrastructure provides flexible and secure computing
power to efficiently and cost-effectively scale investments in
data and digital technologies.
There are also tremendous opportunities for CFOs to lean
into cloud investments such as a shared data platform for
business units to come together—pivoting skills and
activities to function as a connected, intelligent enterprise.
Put cloud technology
at the heart of finance
of finance leaders say
that their organization has
applied cloud at scale.
78%

NH Hotel Group (NH) improved productivity and visibility into its
financial performance by moving to an intelligent finance operating
model that integrates innovative technologies, such as RPA and AI,
with automation and talent.
For example, a new cash application advisor trained a machine to
think like an agent to match payments to the correct invoices—
increasing the number of monthly payments it can match to
invoices from 4,000 to 16,000 (representing more than US
$50M) and dropping the average handling time of transactions
across multiple languages by 60%.
Automation, AI and a lean organization structure
have already improved productivity by 45%.
This new approach to finance has become the foundation for
continued growth.

Intelligent Operations | Finance View 16
Know how
to leapfrog
maturity
levels
03

Think about relationship building in two ways:
• across the enterprise to gain a holistic view of data,
processes, talent and technology
• with partners that provide advanced technology
capabilities in areas such as automation, analytics,
AI, cloud and blockchain
Smash the internal silos
and continue building strong
ecosystem relationships
of finance leaders say that ecosystem
relationships improved over the last
three years and
55%
believe the pandemic pushed
the organization to focus more
on these relationships.
42%
03 Know how to leapfrog maturity levels

03 Know how to leapfrog maturity levels
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is collaborating with an ecosystem
partner to support finance operations for its COVAX Facility, a
multilateral initiative co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health
Organization (WHO), with the aim of accelerating equitable
access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
To enhance the agility and rigor of Gavi’s operations, a partner
is helping define the right operating model and standardizing
processes for working across alliance partners, manufacturers,
governments and other organizations.
As the initiative progresses, Gavi will be able to adjust
and scale capacity as demand changes. It will also allow
COVAX participants and partners to plan and manage
operations with greater efficiency and accountability.

CFOs have always understood
the importance of operational
resilience. The expansion of their
role creates opportunity for them
to take the lead in advancing
finance operations towards future-
readiness.
Progress here, can start a ripple
effect of change that spreads
across the entire enterprise.
The choice
to change

Learn more at: Accenture.com/FutureReadyFinance
Become Take
Use Put Smash
a strategic
partner
to the
business
the digitization
of finance
to the next
level
data to
create
connected
finance
experiences
cloud
infrastructure
at the heart
of finance
the internal
silos and
continue
building
ecosystem
relationships
Now is the time to make your move to intelligent operations. Here’s how:

Appendix
Four levels of operations maturity:
Predictive
Concentrate mostly
on core process
improvements and on
improving quality and
compliance controls.
Stable
Future-ready
Efficient
More productive, they
incorporate tested
methods, such as Lean
Six Sigma and process
standardization and
deploy automation
technologies.
Focus on how automation
can support and augment
human ingenuity. They
deploy technologies and
leading practices with
that goal in mind.
See increased efficiency
and profitability, improved
stakeholder experiences and
better business outcomes.
They are more agile and
resilient than others.

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