Finance leaders making bold moves to maintain relevance of corporate reporting amid pandemic: Survey

Finance leaders in India are challenging the traditional role of reporting and are making bold moves required to maintain the relevance of corporate reporting amid the pandemic, says a survey. According to the sixth annual EY Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS) survey, finance leaders anticipate their function to look very different in the future, with a major shift to a smarter operating model.

Around 88 per cent of respondents in India (81 per cent globally) think it is likely that, over the next three years, core finance processes - from reporting to accounts receivable - will be automated at scale, with finance teams freed up to do high-value tasks.

The survey gathered the views of over 1,000 CFOs and financial controllers across 26 countries including 41 respondents from India.


Further, 90 per cent of respondents in India (77 per cent globally) see the probability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning transforming the financial close process leading to "continuous close", in the next three years.

"The pandemic has clearly put forward two critical priorities for finance leaders to address. They need to rethink the role corporate reporting plays in measuring and communicating enterprise value through a focus on achieving reporting excellence and wider and deeper coverage of non-financial performance KPIs across the organisation," said Sandip Khetan, National Leader and Partner, Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS), EY India.

Secondly, finance leaders need to take a fresh look at how finance and reporting aspects are delivered currently and how this process needs to be transformed to be future-ready, Khetan added.

The survey further noted that 63 per cent of finance leaders in India (68 per cent globally) indicate that governance, controls and ethical frameworks still need to be developed and refined for AI.

Without those frameworks, 54 per cent of finance leaders in India (63 per cent globally) are concerned about the risk implications of using AI in finance and reporting from security threats to regulatory risk, the survey said.

The survey further said 85 per cent of respondents in India (72 per cent globally) indicated that finance teams are increasingly expected to measure and communicate long-term value to investors and stakeholders.

"In addition, 78 per cent of respondents in India (65 per cent globally) indicate there is significant value for their organisation which is not measured or communicated using traditional financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)," the survey added.