New research released today from SAP Concur has provided insight into the latest challenges on finance leaders’ minds, with AI being a prominent cause for concern.
The report found that 59% of CFOs surveyed felt that AI was a threat to themselves and their teams, with an additional 9% feeling that only their job could be compromised. However, they did acknowledge the opportunities the emergence of AI can offer, with 82% believing it will make business operations much more efficient, with 66% stating AI will make risk management more effective.
Other external challenges front of mind for CFOs included regulatory compliance (50%), geopolitical tensions (46%) and increasing cost of capital (45%). Whereas the biggest internal challenges were growing complexity of financial forecasting and budgeting (56%) and cost management (50%).
Interestingly, given the widely publicised ‘Great Resignation’, CFOs don’t see talent retention and talent attraction as an internal issue (1% and 2% respectively).
Those surveyed felt that there was a stronger crossover between the interests of finance leaders and those of HR leaders than ever before, with 80% saying that CFOs and CHROs have a duty to work more effectively together.
When asked on what initiatives or areas that CFOs and CHROs could work more effectively together, greater collaboration on development of business performance metrics, establishing a common database for effective collaboration and greater involved of CFOs in strategies to increase employee satisfaction were the most desirable (69%, 53% and 51% respectively).
When asked on what they felt their employees care the most about, CFOs perceived better salaries and benefits, and better work-life balance as the top concern (89% and 80% respectively).
Matt Clementson, Enterprise Head of Sales UKI of SAP Concur commented; “It is apparent from our report that although AI brings operational opportunity for finance leaders and their teams, there is still uncertainty about the risk that reward could bring.
“However, by using AI to automate key processes finance leaders will not only see more efficient ways of working but also better visibility of their financial data and how external challenges can impact their business. This will enable them to be better prepared for the unexpected, which 90% of our survey respondents believe is the key role of CFOs today.”