O futuro da função financeira

Este é o primeiro de uma série de artigos sobre o futuro da função financeira.

Funções financeiras enfrentam pressão constante para evoluir em resposta ao ambiente de negócios em constante mudança. Embora essa evolução não tenha um ponto final, os CFOs prospectivos precisam entender o que é um valor de valor bem-sucedido Função de finanças parecerá em dez anos.

Drawing upon our experience and our exchanges with leading CFOs, we have developed a near-term vision for the Future of Finance . (Veja a exposição.) Como seu papel abrangente, as finanças se tornarão o Custodian of Performance. A função está posicionada de maneira exclusiva para orientar o desempenho em nível empresarial, incluindo o fornecimento de orientações sobre como a organização aloca recursos valiosos. Para cumprir essa função, a função financeira deve mudar como ela funciona e opera de quatro maneiras principais. Evolução. Esse papel se estende além do que acadêmicos e profissionais normalmente descrevem como

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We believe that this vision not only serves as an inspiration, but also helps finance functions in setting clear targets for their near-term evolution.

The Overarching Role: Custodian of Performance

As business models become more complex, a company needs a “custodian of performance” to steer performance holistically and objectively in the best interest of the entire organization. This role extends beyond what academics and practitioners typically describe as Gerenciamento de desempenho - Como previsão, planejamento, orçamento, rastreamento de KPIs e relatórios. Vemos esses elementos como apenas facilitadores básicos para os custodiantes cumprirem seu papel.

O custodiante dirige o desempenho para alcançar o objetivo da empresa. A Roche, por exemplo, articulou seu objetivo corporativo como "fazer agora o que os pacientes precisam a seguir". Idealmente, cada decisão implica em fazer a troca ideal de recursos-entre as unidades de negócios, entre unidades e funções de negócios e entre funções-para cumprir esse objetivo. O custodiante procura resolver esse problema multidimensional da alocação de recursos holisticamente. Embora o foco no objetivo corporativo aumente a complexidade da tomada de decisão, o pagamento em termos de impacto nos negócios é significativo. Por exemplo, a sustentabilidade e o impacto social tornaram -se considerações cada vez mais importantes. Os CFOs podem integrar esses tópicos - geralmente chamados de fatores ambientais, sociais e de governança (ESG) - na direção de desempenho. Isso se estende muito além dos requisitos de divulgação e das expectativas dos investidores de que os CFOs normalmente consideram em conexão com ESG. Em suas aplicações iniciais do digital, as empresas buscam reduzir o trabalho manual, padronizando, otimizando e automatizando quase totalmente seus principais processos financeiros de ponta a ponta. Ao mesmo tempo, eles melhoram a disponibilidade e acessibilidade dos dados. A maioria das empresas já embarcou nesta fase da jornada.

To steer performance based on the corporate purpose, CFOs need to broaden their perspective beyond traditional financials. For example, sustainability and societal impact have become increasingly important considerations. CFOs can integrate these topics—often referred to as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors—into performance steering. This extends well beyond the disclosure requirements and investor expectations that CFOs have typically considered in connection with ESG.

The Four Enablers

Four enablers support the finance function as the custodian of performance.

Hybrid Finance Function

It is clear that digitization is fundamentally disrupting finance. In their initial applications of digital, companies seek to reduce manual work by standardizing, optimizing, and almost fully automating their main finance processes from end to end. At the same time, they improve the availability and accessibility of data. Most companies have already embarked on this stage of the journey.

Depois de dominar a primeira etapa, as organizações financeiras devem avançar em direção a "financiamento híbrido" - uma simbiose de especialistas em finanças e o ecossistema digital que inclui inteligência artificial, aprendizado de máquina e análise avançada. Ao integrar funcionários financeiros e recursos digitais, a função financeira pode usar o ecossistema digital não apenas para promover a eficiência, mas também para executar tarefas de agregação de valor. Em nossa visão, a agenda de cada CFO deve incluir a evolução da digitalização focada na eficiência para o financiamento híbrido. Isso não implica trabalho repetitivo ou regras claras.  

Examples of how hybrid finance delivers value include:

• Providing initial hypotheses on the appropriate actions to take based on data-driven insights and pinpointing important questions to ask.
• Performing independent tasks (such as hedging) that do not entail repetitive work or clear rules.
• Conducting complex simulations relating to, for example, the interrelationships among cash, taxes, and the balance sheet.  

Finanças híbridas também cria novas funções na função financeira, pois os funcionários financeiros precisam administrar o ecossistema digital e executar “verificações de sanidade” para garantir a qualidade de, por exemplo, previsões e simulações. A otimização e digitalização de ponta a ponta dos processos dão origem a uma organização em rede que forma um sistema vivo. Nesta organização, as tarefas manuais restantes são totalmente transferidas para serviços de negócios globais, bem como para recursos compartilhados, como especialistas em automação, gerentes de projeto ou proprietários de processos de negócios. Os limites entre funções e unidades de negócios diminuem ainda mais. O trabalho se torna funcionalmente agnóstico, menos focado em entregas específicas e executado de maneira mais dinamicamente e iterativa.

Organization as a Living System

The finance function needs a fundamentally new operating model to support the custodian of performance. The end-to-end optimization and digitization of processes give rise to a networked organization that forms a living system. In this organization, the remaining manual tasks are fully transferred to global business services as well as to shared resources, such as automation experts, project managers, or business process owners. The boundaries between functions and business units further diminish. Work becomes functionally agnostic, less focused on specific deliverables, and performed more dynamically and iteratively.

Uma organização eficaz e inclusiva consiste em três elementos:

• Bundles of cross-functional support that pool data, tools, and systems to fully own end-to-end processes and their outcomes.
• Expert functions (such as tax, treasury, and HR) that support the cross-functional bundles—for example, in discussing the options or legal restrictions that need be considered.
• Business partners that support the business leaders and other leaders (from the corporate level to local affiliates) by not only providing an appropriate answer, but also asking the right questions.

Responsibilities Beyond Core Topics

The networked organization makes it possible for the finance function to extend its responsibilities into adjacent topics previously managed by other support functions. This enhances the finance function’s ability to steer performance holistically and promote optimal outcomes.

Among the expanded responsibilities, we see four topics as especially important:

• Building a bridge to regulators and government authorities to actively optimize regulations and tariffs.
• Serving as an incubator of finance applications or supporting new business models with financial expertise.
• Taking an active role in co-creating a company’s technology agenda, ensuring that business needs are addressed.
• Working with new types of stakeholders (such as kick-starter funding platforms) to develop new approaches to raising capital.

criptomoedas exemplificam as oportunidades relacionadas à tecnologia e abordagens inovadoras de financiamento. (Consulte “As funções financeiras devem liderar a adoção de criptomoedas.”)

Recursos avançados

Careers and ways of collaboration should evolve and become more diverse to support the finance function’s role as the custodian of performance as well as the other enablers. Every finance employee will need a differentiating expertise—such as in a business domain, finance topic, or know-how relating to the intersection of business and finance or IT and finance. Finance employees will increasingly serve as the connection between technical analysis developers and results-oriented businesspeople, facilitating their interactions and translating their terminology.

As a result, finance know-how will remain essential, and the ability to continuously improve technical and digital skills will gain importance, even as transactional tasks diminish or become automated. Analytics, mathematics, and technical skills will become commonplace, so that finance specialists can also serve as data scientists or developers of the digital ecosystem. For successful workers, self-driven learning will form the basis for personal evolution and impact.

In this environment, career paths will become less predetermined and predictable. This means that every finance position can be a springboard to a more dynamic career. Local finance roles in country organizations will move closer to the business units, creating the need for a broader set of skills. Additionally, expectations for leadership skills will change, as enterprise-level thinking becomes the basis for setting priorities and determining optimal outcomes.

The ways that employees collaborate should fundamentally change as well. Hierarchical departments and organizational silos should be replaced by purpose-driven finance teams. A strong mindset shift is required to lay the foundation for teams that are flexible and self-empowered while still being accountable. New remote setups open the way toward defining a unique, fit-for-purpose environment that balances remote work with proximity to the business units and enables people to perform certain roles from anywhere in the world.

Finance functions must be able to continuously evolve in response to the dynamic business environment. In the near term, successful finance functions will become custodians of performance, applying the corporate purpose to holistically steer performance across the organization. To fulfill this role, it is essential to integrate human work and the digital ecosystem, as well as to develop a networked organization that allows the finance function to take on new responsibilities. Advanced capabilities and new ways of working are fundamental enablers of the transformation. Companies that embark on the journey to this vision will reap the rewards of stronger steering through whatever turbulence lies ahead.