Technological innovations in the finance office.

• Author: Mucha, Michael J.
• Position: From the editor

Finance offices have long been dependent on technology. Accounting, budgeting, payroll, purchasing, and other similar systems have been critical tools in the continued development of financial management best practices. Now, as technologies of the 21st century continue to expand capabilities of the finance office and government in general, finance officers are presented with a unique challenge and a great opportunity--how to best leverage new innovations to enhance overall financial accountability transparency and effectiveness.

Getting the most out of these tools requires the finance officer to be strategic, forward thinking, and most importantly, responsive--responsive to new ideas and a changing culture and world that increasingly favors access to information. To be successful, finance officers will need to not only embrace but also champion reforms that transform government processes around systems that didn't exist 10 years ago. From new capabilities within enterprise resource planning systems, to online financial transparency portals, to social media, to business intelligence and data analytics, to use of mobile devices...