Traditionally, the finance function has been viewed as a transactional processing department that exists only to meet statutory compliance requirements and to provide scorecards on past performances (lag indicators). In today’s rapidly changing operational environment, this is no longer the case.

An effective finance function is now critical to enabling organisational success. The role of today’s finance function has broadened - in addition to meeting statutory requirements, successful finance executives are required to partner with the board and other C-suite members to build and execute on longer-term strategy.

Finance executives are now expected to:

• Meet statutory requirements and be prepared for regulatory change
• Engage and collaborate with the broader organisation to effect strategic decision making
• Manage efficient and effective core financial processes through the use of technology, automation and continual improvement
• Be responsible for the appropriate capture, storage and analysis of organisational data (in real time)
• Have in place appropriate governance and controls throughout the organisation
• Prepare timely, informative reports for a range of management levels (including board, C-suite and operational management) to enable informed decision making
• Provide support and be involved in providing organisations with lead indicators to facilitate decision making.