Money is critical to modern business, so the systems that govern its management and reporting must be both mature and robust. But as organisations become more complex and their pace of operation accelerates, those systems are being called upon to provide more and more capability.

For finance professionals, this means that while many of their core tasks remain the same, how they are delivered has changed dramatically.

Critical within the systems that modern finance professionals rely on are core accounting and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Over time their complexity has grown in line with the organisations they serve – sometimes to a point that has become overwhelming. Today many finance professionals are seeking to simplify their systems either by reducing the number of tools they use or the customisations they have made. A related goal is their desire to introduce greater automation that will free up staff from routine or low value work and increase their contribution to the organisation.

The importance of financial performance as a barometer for business performance has also led to greater investments in reporting systems, to improve the speed and utility of information flow into the business.

This has paralleled the evolution of the finance professional’s role to become a more active contributor to business strategy and has driven the adoption of financial reporting and analysis (FP&A) tools that bring greater capability for predicting future outcomes.

This desire to gain greater benefit from corporate information has also led finance professionals to play a larger role in how information is managed, which has driven investments in document and contract management, with an increased interest in the potential of artificial intelligence.

Ultimately, the role of the finance professional today is tightly bound to the technology they use, and how that technology performs is critical to not just their own performance, but that of the business they serve.

As many have learnt, investing in technology that is fit for purpose is a complex and challenging task – one that has led many finance professionals to take on the persona of technology professionals.

Hear from Australian technology leaders in finance industry: 

Dean Nicolaides, senior management accountant, Zeder Corporation

Andrew Muller, CFO, Aurecon

Nick Romanello, financial controller, Synaco

Chris Freeland, CEO, CPA Australia

Louise Hulley, group CFO, Balmain

Bronwyn Jones, financial management chapter area executive, Telstra

Tanya Cain, CFO, Mater

Tim Huett, former finance manager, Macquarie Group

Nadine Maggs, finance manager, Devonport City Council - Tasmania

Suresh Rajendra, CFO, RAAFA

Tim Warren, CFO, WINR