Just less than half of financial professionals think bosses’ business decisions are based on gut feelings, as many feel undervalued by the organisations they work in
Are the spreadsheets scattered across your boss's desk just an illusion? A report out today by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and professional services firm KPMG has found that almost 40 per cent financial professionals believe that most business decisions are made primarily on gut feeling rather than cold, hard facts.
In the survey of 1,100 accountants from around the world, many also indicated that they were struggling to ditch their bean counter reputation, with over 56 per cent saying their organisation's finance professionals are viewed chiefly as data gatekeepers or providers of basic financial analysis.
“The benefits of using concrete data sources, particularly external ones, are manifold,” said Jamie Lyon, head of corporate sector at ACCA. “However gaining buy-in from the top of the business is essential to unlocking their true value.
“If management do not trust the data on which performance insight is based, or would rather use their own instinct, it becomes even harder for the rest of the business to see it as an essential part of the decision making process.”
And John O’Mahony, head of KPMG’s enterprise performance management team, urged finance teams to use technology to help them step away from transactional activities and focus more on wider business issues.
He added: “The finance function is finding its reputation as a data repository hard to shake. The team needs to step out from behind their spreadsheets, actively guide the board and work with them to drive the strategy for the business. We already seeing this happen in the consumer goods sector, where finance teams work hand in glove with leadership and the wider business to drive better performance.”
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