Poor visibility of financials undermines CFOs' confidence in performance.

• Author: Salonen, Ari
• Position: FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY - Chief financial officers

Chief financial officers' poor visibility into key financial information is undermining their confidence in departmental and company performance and profitability--a pressing concern as the economy takes tentative steps toward recovery. This was among the key findings of The Cost of Control 2010, a recent report of 550 CFOs worldwide that was issued by purchase-to-pay software provider Baseware, in collaboration with key academics.

CFOs' limited visibility into financial information across departments is making it difficult for businesses to make informed decisions and effectively forecast and manage costs.

Just 50 percent of finance executives who participated in the study declared a high level of confidence in their department's performance, with only 44 percent maintaining this level of confidence when considering their overall company performance.

The Cost of Control 2010, the second annual global study of its kind, also found that:

* Strategic priorities have moved from cost cutting to an emphasis on profitability. Fifty-eight percent of CFOs see improving profit margins as a strategic priority this year, an increase from 39 percent in 2009. Cost-savings has decreased as a strategic priority by 5 percent from 2009;

* Automating purchase-to-pay processes is gaining increased traction with organizations globally. Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents were implementing or planning more invoice automation in the next 12 months; and 65 percent had implemented or were planning additional purchase automation;

* Finance professionals are more likely to consider procurement as having a positive effect on profitability than last year (48 percent...