The role of the chief financial officer is undergoing a dramatic shift.
Once primarily responsible for maintaining corporate finance and stability, today’s finance leaders are expected to drive strategic decisions, enable business growth, and navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.
Automation, AI, and data integration help businesses maintain a competitive edge. iStock
However, balancing these priorities while ensuring financial accuracy, efficiency, and compliance is no small task.
Automation, AI, and data integration may be reshaping finance, yet many businesses still rely on fragmented systems and outdated processes, limiting their ability to provide real-time insights and maintain a competitive edge.
According to Censuswide Research, 70 per cent of finance executives have made critical business decisions based on inaccurate financial data - a figure that highlights the urgency of modernising financial operations.
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For Mac Weaver, group vice-president and general manager at cloud-based financial operations platform BlackLine, financial operations remain a key challenge for businesses prioritising growth.
Despite the clear benefits of automation in finance, many companies continue to invest heavily in a variety of growth initiatives while neglecting the criticality of their back-office functions.
Mac Weaver, group vice-president and general manager at BlackLine.
“The single biggest competitor we face isn’t another vendor or a legacy system like Excel - it’s prioritisation,” says Weaver. “Finance leaders are under pressure to chase growth, yet without modern financial operations, they are making decisions based on fragmented data and manual processes.”
This challenge is particularly evident in large enterprises, where outdated processes persist despite the growing complexity of compliance requirements. Recognising that legacy processes were holding them back, BlueScope Steel sought a new approach.
“We’ve eliminated some of the painful points of the old manual process,” says Janice Thomason, manager for credit and working capital at BlueScope.
“Now, our credit controllers arrive at their desks in the morning and payments have already been allocated.
“As a result, less time is spent on the dunning process, and we have fewer situations where customers are on hold because a payment wasn’t allocated correctly.”
But Thomason emphasises that simply adopting new technology isn’t enough.
“It all came down to process. It’s really important to look at your processes when you’re bringing in a new solution. Change the process, don’t try to lift and shift the old ways into new solutions.”
One of the most significant benefits of digital transformation and advanced analytics is the ability to unify financial data across an organisation. Siloed data creates inefficiencies and increases risk, while integrated financial systems provide finance teams with real-time insights that enhance decision-making.
“The whole point of collecting data is to make informed decisions,” Weaver says. “Yet, many companies treat data like a refrigerator - just a place to store things without using it properly.
“If data is siloed, decision-making relies more on instinct than fact. When data is centralised, and accurate, decisions are based on facts first and then refined with experience and intuition.”
This was a key driver for Treasury Wine Estates, which turned to BlackLine to improve consistency across its global finance operations.
“BlackLine has absolutely simplified and provided standardisation across a set of activities that historically have been very disparate and inconsistent globally,” says Kirsten Jury, global finance services delivery lead at Treasury Wine Estates.
By unifying data, automating financial close and reconciliation, and simplifying processes through digital transformation finance teams can shift their focus from transactional tasks to strategic initiatives that drive business performance.
As finance teams look ahead, artificial intelligence and automation will play a crucial role in improving efficiency and mitigating risk. However, successful digital transformation is not about large-scale, disruptive overhauls; it’s about taking an agile, incremental approach that delivers immediate value.
“The days of ten-year transformation projects are over,” says Weaver. “Finance leaders are adopting targeted, high-impact initiatives that generate ROI quickly and build momentum for broader change.
“It’s no longer a question of ‘if’ digital transformation should happen - it’s a question of ‘when’ and ‘how quickly’,” Weaver says. “Companies that delay these initiatives risk falling behind, not just in operational efficiency, but in their ability to compete in a rapidly evolving market.
“Finance leaders who embrace automation are not just making their jobs easier; they’re building a foundation for long-term success and resilience.”
This shift is particularly important as regulatory requirements, including ESG and financial compliance, continue to evolve.
With automation, finance teams can ensure accuracy, standardisation, and transparency, helping organisations remain resilient amid economic uncertainty.
All of this speaks to the changing roles in the modern C-suite. Today’s CFOs are not just financial stewards - they are business leaders shaping the future of their organisations.
“Visibility isn’t just important, it’s mandatory. Five or 10 years ago, a CFO could get by with a surface-level briefing and some educated guesses - that’s no longer the case,” says Weaver.
“Now, the expectation is granular detail - all the way down to individual customer-level insights. If a CFO can’t provide that level of visibility, they’re at a disadvantage. Most businesses are already operating this way.”
Those that are not, he cautions, are at risk of being outpaced by competitors.
To discover how 4400 companies enable future-ready financial operations, please visit blackline.com.
