Financial executives burdened by outmoded IT systems.

AuthorLadd, Scott
PositionTECHNOLOGY

Chief financial officers and finance directors believe that technology is the key to long-term corporate prosperity--yet many are frustrated by outdated and misaligned information technology systems, a new survey reveals.

In a poll of senior finance executives in the United States, KPMG International found that more than half of them (52 percent) said the biggest barrier to improving the effectiveness of the finance function was inflexible and out-of-date technology systems.

And 73 percent of the survey sample says finance technology and systems put finance at risk of not being able to achieve its objectives. Only increasing organizational complexity was a risk that registered higher among respondents, at 78 percent.

Steve Lis, national leader of KPMG Advisory's U.S. Performance and Technology Services group, says that the finance function has a substantial opportunity to benefit from improved data qua/4y, yet "CFOs and finance directors continue to be hampered by inadequate IT systems that do not provide predictive metrics that are aligned with corporate strategy."

At the same time, a majority of finance executives surveyed believe that technology does indeed hold the key to future success, even as they struggle with their existing systems--65 percent said IT will be most important to their business over the next five years. That was the highest response, ahead of human capital issues and government regulations, both at 63 percent.

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While IT shortcomings were widely cited in the report, nearly a...

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