FD partnering: Finance of the future

Ten years ago, a white paper produced by KPMG entitled ‘Future of Finance: a guide for business users’, predicted that there would be no finance function by 2010.

Many transactional processes would be outsourced; responsibility for some financial activities would reside within the business; the roles of the CFO and COO would merge and finance would become a true partner to the business, it predicted.

Although many of the predictions from the firm’s thought leadership navel gazers were startlingly accurate, a new report from the advisory firm - Finance of the Future: Looking forward to 2020 - warns the potential for finance to create value by supporting decision making remains a challenge.

Ten years ago, the phrase ‘business partnering’ may have peppered the lexicon of only those at the bleeding edge of finance, but today it’s a term that every self-respecting CFO uses to describe the role of their department.

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