Global Trends Report from insightsoftware and Hanover Research Reveals Nearly 90% of Finance Professionals Struggle With Operational Reporting
Nearly one in three financial reports are manually produced
Many decision-makers spend hours on recurring reports, which creates inefficiencies and costs companies tens of thousands per team member
RALEIGH, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–insightsoftware, a global provider of financial reporting and performance management solutions for the Office of the CFO, today announced The Operational Reporting Global Trends Report. The independent survey, conducted together with Hanover Research, sheds light on the biggest operational reporting hurdles within finance teams. Data was gathered from 500 finance professionals in EMEA and North America, revealing finance teams do not have access to the data required to support their organizations.
The data reveals many finance professionals are mired in operational reports and face real challenges, stemming from the inefficiencies in how they run those critical financial snapshots. Further, the volume and type of requests for operational reports is rapidly increasing. With half of decision-makers generating recurring reports on at least a weekly basis, the need for better operational reporting tools has never been higher.
Key takeaways from the report include:
For the top 12 operational reports required, over 12% of organizations request finance teams to provide the reports daily.
Nearly 90% of finance professionals face challenges with operational reporting tools (Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI and native ERP reporting tools). Of note, 76% of finance professionals rely on Microsoft Excel to run operational reports.
Close to a third (31%) of reports are still either completely or mostly manually produced.
More than half of decision-makers reported that it takes more than four hours to generate certain recurring reports, with report distribution adding extra time to the process. Multiplied across numerous report types, these hours can add up.
9 in 10 finance professionals struggle to create at least one crucial report, with the top three toughest reports being project expense by category (18%), weekly forecast (18%) and revenue trends (17%).
While reporting duties fall within the finance function, nearly three quarters (71%) of decision-makers involve IT in the process due to the complexities of the tasks.
“Finance teams are called upon to produce a myriad of business reports critical to overall business health. Such reports go far beyond Profitability, Order to Cash, or Classic GL. Their responsibility is mounting, and the tools are lacking,” said Lee An Schommer, Chief Product Officer, insightsoftware. “Too often, finance teams are tasked with building operational reports via manual data pulls and analysis, and call upon IT for support. By implementing operational reporting tools that pull from multiple data sources with ease, businesses can reduce the time to value while eliminating the burden placed on internal teams.”
insightsoftware helps global organizations solve key challenges with operational reporting and puts business data and insights into the hands of decision-makers. To learn more about the current state of operational reporting and how to streamline efforts, download the report today: Operational Reporting: An Emerging Global Trends Report.
Research Methodology
Operational Reporting: An Emerging Global Trends Report, was developed in coordination with Hanover Research. To find the answers to these questions, potential respondents were recruited via a panel, and the survey was completed online in August 2021. Following data cleaning and quality control, the final analysis included a total of 500 respondents, with 53% in North America and 47% in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
About insightsoftware
insightsoftware is a leading provider of financial reporting and enterprise performance management software. We enable the Office of the CFO to connect to and make sense of their data in real time so they can proactively drive greater financial intelligence across their organization. Over 30,000 organizations worldwide rely on insightsoftware’s portfolio of best-in-class reporting, analytics, budgeting, forecasting, consolidation, and tax solutions to provide them with increased productivity, visibility, accuracy, and compliance. Learn more at insightsoftware.com.
Contacts
CCgroup for insightsoftware
insightsoftware@ccgrouppr.com
Ashley Yakopec
Public Relations and Communications Manager
ashley.yakopec@insightsoftware.com
