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By Matthew Quinn
Middle market finance chiefs are finding themselves increasingly important within their businesses, but not necessarily getting the tools to get the job done, a new survey shows.
A global study of nearly 450 CFOs at companies with annual revenues under $500 million by IBM found that three-quarters have an advisory or decision-making role on the entire company agenda, as opposed to having no role or being an informer.
Much like their colleagues are larger companies, 75 percent of respondents cited the need for faster decision-making and pressure to reduce costs as their top challenges. The study found that the CFOs believe that external pressures (economic, industry, regulatory) will increase over the next three years. And, as a result, more than half believe they have to make major changes to respond.
But despite this heightened role, CFOs are still bogged down in rather mundane tasks. Over 40 percent of companies produce financial metrics manually, the study found. Additionally, the finance department as a whole spends over 50 percent of its time on transactional activities.
Things don't get any better when it comes to planning and reporting. Half of those surveyed say their companies lack a common planning platform and 36 percent lack a common reporting platform. This is surely a major factor in the fact that nearly 60 percent are not satisfied with their operational planning and forecasting analytical capabilities.
And maybe worst of all, 47 percent said they are poor to average at anticipating external forces.
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