Over the past several years, artificial intelligence (AI), alongside several other technologies, has completely changed the way financial departments are operating. In fact, some of these industry changes are happening so fast that many companies are having a tough time trying to keep pace.

This is expected, given that these technologies have an impact on almost everything, including the way these companies bank, invest their money, receive loans, or prevent financial crimes. At the very core of AI sits machine learning. It is a self-improving software that takes in data and repurposes it for its benefit and that of the company.

Here are five ways artificial intelligence will completely change the financial department.

Chatbots

Powered by such technologies as natural language processing (NLG) and machine learning algorithms, chatbots have become a powerful tool to provide a highly personalized and conversational experience with customers or other users from different domains.

Recently, the Bank of America introduced its chatbot, called Erica. By using the bank’s mobile app, users can get in touch with Erica over voice or message to do all sorts of financial operations. It includes things like sending money, paying bills, help you with your savings, or manage your finances.

Approval Workflows

Approval workflows are based traditionally on two-dimensional matrices. They list the various conditions on which approval levels are usually triggered. However, they do not take into account broader consequences– whether the previous requests were rejected or approved, whether the requestor role might require more supervision, or whether that is an exception usually granted in that particular scenario. But with creative approval workflows, finance teams can distinguish the real exceptions in real-time and filter them out from the low-risk ones.

Trading

With machine learning capabilities, computers can now understand and predict the numerous complexities and subtleties that take place in stock trading. In fact, artificial intelligence has become better at picking stocks than the humans involved in the market.

EquBot is one such software that is continually analyzing information from roughly 6,000 US-listed stocks. It scans through all regulatory filings, social media posts, newspaper articles, and various other financial metrics to find the most undervalued investments possible. As compared to additional actively managed funds, EquBot’s daily turnover is much higher.

Expense Claims Auditing

Finance employees have to make sure that the receipts they receive are genuine, that they match the claimed amounts, and whether they are in line with the company policy. Even with some high-tech travel-and-expense solutions, this process is still being done by hand, one claim at a time. But with AI technology, this entire process can be fully automated, and only questionable claims could be sent to a manager for approval.

Fraud Detection

With the rise in popularity of e-commerce over the past several years, so has online fraud. But fighting online fraud is not as easy as it may seem. Artificial intelligence can be of great help here. Machine learning algorithms can analyze various data points and detect fraudulent transactions much faster and more accurately than human analysts could. It will significantly improve the rate of real-time transaction approvals as well as reducing the number of incorrect declines.

Conclusion

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are still somewhat in their infancy, which means that there are still many hurdles to overcome. Nevertheless, the number of changes they were able to bring in such a short amount of time is only indicative of what it is to come.

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This coveted sales and customer satisfaction award is given annually by Sage Intacct to its top-performing channel partners. The award recognizes value added resellers (VARs) and Sage Intacct Accountants Program firms (SIAPs) for their success in helping clients leverage Sage Intacct’s cloud financial management software to grow and drive their businesses forward.

Sage Intacct has attracted the cream of the crop to its channel programs, boasting 31 of the Top 100 CPA firms and 30 of the Top 100 VARs in the industry. Those numbers are the most of any cloud financial management software vendor. Backed by a 5-Star Partner Program and Sage Intacct’s best-in-class cloud financial management software, Sage Intacct partners have achieved stellar results over the past year.

Here is an overview of the channel partners that qualified for Sage Intacct President’s Club in 2018.

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 In today’s data-driven business environment, CEOs and board members are applying extra pressure on their CFOs to provide them with real-time, data-backed decision support. However, many CFOs are still not sufficiently connected with the various digital-transformation efforts, even if they manage the business information that facilitates those initiatives.

While most CFOs say that they would spend more time on such digital initiatives, they still spend more time on traditional finance activities than they do on digital trends. All too often, financial officers are okay with the idea of letting their colleagues in other departments, such as IT or marketing, press the issue, probably hoping that the problem will somehow resolve itself.

The fact of the matter, however, is that because of the rapid arrival and introduction of these new disruptive technologies, alongside a general lack of qualified talent, many CFOs are not sure where to start. If they ignore the problem much longer and don’t start experimenting with these technologies and the resources at their disposal, they risk becoming obsolete and will take a secondary role behind more functional groups or positions within the organization.

Here are several points that CFOs need to take into consideration in order to know where to start..

Robotics and Automation

In the McKinsey Global Institute’s automation research, it was revealed that emerging technologies could fully automate around 42% of all financial activities and mostly automate another 19%. This means that CFOs can streamline and optimize the entire process by simplifying core internal transactions through automation.

A particularly useful tool used by most leading finance groups is robotic process automation (RPA), a type of automation software that’s used to do repetitive and tedious tasks, ensuring quick, efficient, and error-free completion. RPA technology will also free up corporate employees to focus on more valuable work.

Data Visualization

Data visualization is all about improving the overall organizational performance. This should not come as a surprise to anyone; however, good resource-allocation decisions can only occur if they are based on accurate, real-time financial data. Without the proper tools at their disposal, financial teams find it hard to piece together this information.

Teams sometimes lack access to this data because it’s stored in different parts of the company, or because it’s in incompatible formats. By bringing together automation and data visualizations, some finance organizations create timely, accurate, clear, and actionable business reports.

Advanced Analytics

Most businesses today, regardless of industry, are using advanced analytics to discover relevant insights to improve their decision-making. Likewise, CFOs can use advanced analytics to administer better and supervise standard financial transactions and core processes.

Once a CFO is knowledgeable about the power of advanced analytics, they can come together with the CEO and members of the board to discover new ways of utilizing this technology for better decision-making and uncovering new sources of business value. These include examples such as price optimization, fraud prevention, customer pain points and experience, talent management, etc.

Conclusion

Keeping up with the latest trends and understanding the inner workings as well as the benefits of these disruptive technologies is the key for CFOs to remain relevant in this fast-changing business environment.

If you are interested in increasing transparency, optimizing your financial operations, spending less time on administration, and a better understanding of your financials, check out the Consero Financial Solution. From bookkeeping and controller services to finance and consulting, Consero will provide you with higher levels of financial insight and control.

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This guest blog by Consero was originally posted by PE Hub.

If you are the owner of any sort of for-profit organization, preparing for an audit can be quite stressful.

An audit is designed to objectively evaluate your firm’s financial position and confirm that your organization complies with all relevant laws. No matter what industry you may be in, an audit can have a tremendous impact on your company’s well-being.

Preparing for an audit might initially feel overwhelming. But by keeping these few simple tips in mind, your firm can be better positioned for long-term success.

Understand How an Audit Works

You may be surprised by how many CEOs and CFOs do not fully understand how an audit works. This can make the entire process much more difficult, unorganized and time consuming.

Doing things such as creating a specific audit plan, clearly defining audit objectives, and declaring everything that will be needed for the audit can help you avoid unexpected surprises.

You may also want to do things such as testing transactions to ensure absolute accuracy.

Consolidate Your Report

Consolidating the various pieces of information that are required in an audit can help your firm reduce the risk of redundancies or inaccurate information. Consolidation does not mean leaving out important details — it means striving to gather, organize and present data in the most efficient way possible.

To prepare for consolidation, your firm should begin by installing software designed for this specific purpose. Checking for formula errors, necessary capabilities (such as currency conversions) and other automated details will be very important leading up to the audit.

Organize Accounts Receivable

The accounts receivable category is one of the things auditors are most likely to take a close look at. Most auditors will be looking for several things.

When determining the collectibility of a given account, it is important to use a consistent set of criteria. Whether you determine this from historical patterns, adaptable formulas or any other legitimate method is something that will remain up to you. But be as consistent as you can possibly be.

Be Consistent When Recognizing Revenue

Recognizing revenue also requires a consistent set of criteria. Revenue streams affect both your income statement and balance sheet. Consequently, the way revenue is reported is one of the foremost concerns of a typical auditor.

There are many relevant variables in the world of revenue reporting. The timing of reported revenue streams is incredibly important. Though these reports require significant subjective decision-making, doing things such as creating a reliable methodology and installing audit-friendly software can be quite helpful.

Pay Attention to the Details

Though an audit may report a big-picture interpretation of how your firm is doing, this picture is really just a composite of many small details produced along the way. Before finalizing any reports, it is absolutely essential that you pay attention to the details.

These simple — but important — tips are just an introduction to how your firm can prepare for an audit and can help orient you in the right direction.

Scott Tynes is CEO of Consero Global, www.conseroglobal.com, the Austin finance-as-a-service firm that helps CEOs and CFOs obtain better financial information, optimize operational processes and lower back-office costs. He can be reached at +1 512-731-6188 or scott@conseroglobal.com.

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The Austin Chapter of the CFO Leadership Council met recently for a panel addressing industry-wide changes to the role of Chief Financial Officers. Thought leaders from BigCommerce, Snap Kitchen, and Silverton Partners shared their experiences with the changing landscape of the CFO.

The modern CFO is anything but a tactical partner; in fact, CFOs have evolved into an important strategic role in any organization. According to Adam Chibib, Partner at Silverton Partners, “CFOs in particular have a background in systems, processes and people, so they’re in the unique position to help from a strategy perspective.”

Building an Ethos

It’s exciting to see the CFO evolve thanks to technology, but this new role isn’t gained easily. CFOs have to build their credibility both externally and internally to realize their full potential.

External Parties

The C-suite is particularly visible to parties outside the own organization. It’s important for a CFO to establish credibility with these parties, which can be done in a number of ways.

1. Sell: Selling isn’t just for your sales team. Develop a sales mindset based in persuasion. Don’t rely on other members of the C-suite to explain your company or product to other parties. CFOs need to be able to clearly articulate their product offerings.
2. Investor relations: The CFO is key to positive interactions with investors. “Build a rapport with investors. You have sixty minutes, so be good at pitching your story and building relationships with investors,” said Robert Alvarez, Consero client and CFO ofBigCommerce.

Internal Parties

It’s crucial for the CFO to build rapport with internal parties as well.

“Trust is so hard to earn, but easy to lose,” said Adam Chibib. He has a great point: CFOs sometimes think trust and respect comes as part of their title, but it’s far from the truth. “Relationships are a two-way street, so put yourself out there,” added Dale Easdon, CEO of SnapKitchen.

It’s all about building relationships and fine-tuning interpersonal skills. CFOs aren’t salespeople, but they need to think of themselves as a person who sells ideas, both externally and internally.

CFOs and CEOs

CFOs need to establish communication with CEOs from the start. But how exactly does this relationship work with a strategy-focused CFO?

According to Robert Alvarez, the CFO can start by devoting 40 percent of their time to the CEO. But time isn’t the only thing a CFO must commit to.

“A CEO wants someone who challenges them. Tell them when it is not going to work,” said Dale Easdon. Ad

am Chibib added, “Balance an overzealous CEO. Give a deliverable plan so you don’t underdeliver every quarter. CEOs can promise but not deliver; CFOs can’t. Tell the CEO when they are wrong. Fight the good fight.”

CFOs have models and objective data that inform business strategy. It’s the duty of the modern CFO to ground other members of the C-suite.

To avoid conflict and miscommunication, it’s important to align with your CEO and other C-suite team members at the beginning. Clarify roles, goals, and how your relationship will work.

From CFO to COO

Not all CFOs want to remain in the CFO position forever. How do you know when it’s time to advance?

According to Adam Chibib, “In a high growth company, your role should evolve every six months.” This doesn’t mean you can expect to become COO in six months, of course. But your scope will increase with your tenure in a position.

This increased responsibility might look like:

1. Hiring people that are better than you. Everyone has weaknesses. Once you identify your own, you know you can hire people to help with your blind spots. As Robert Alvarez said, “FIll in the blank spaces to prepare yourself for other roles.”
2. Do the extra work: CFOs often find themselves taking on extra work, sometimes out of necessity. But this is an excellent way to expose yourself to other departments and functions. In fact, you can be a more effective CFO if you know the language of other departments. If you have your eyes set on another C-suite position, familiarize yourself with all processes and functions. See if you can take on extra responsibilities tied to the role you aspire. More than likely, if you do the work, the title will come to you.

Share Your Knowledge

Mentoring, hiring, and coaching are natural aspects of the CFO’s expanding duties. Here are best practices to consider when sharing your knowledge with others.

1. Smart hiring: “Get involved with who you hire,” said Robert Alvarez, “What traits are you looking for? Culture plays a huge role. If you don’t get the right people, you will get stalled.” Hire for both skill and culture. If your gut tells you something is wrong, a candidate isn’t right for the job.
2. Manage culture: Culture can make or break a company’s success. Align all employees and departments on what is important. Institute systems that help you manage this culture, even as the company scales. Remember to demonstrate this culture with your own behaviors. A true culture is built on what actually happens, not what you wish were happening.
3. Communication: CFOs need to clearly articulate their vision and strategy. Your communication style should also be consistent, no matter how your organization changes. Employees need consistency in messaging and medium (email, phone call, etc.) to trust you.
4. Keep your eyes on your own paper: The old grade school mantra rings true for CFOs. “If you just focus on outputs, you will be in trouble,” said Robert Alvarez. CFOs are data-driven, so it only makes sense to judge by output. However, there’s a time for focusing on the ‘people’ part of the job. This makes the financial aspect of the job much easier. Learn to let go by giving your team deadlines and allowing them to work.
5. Mentorship: No CFO is fully self-made. Everyone had a mentor in their career that helped grow their skills. It’s the duty of the CFO to pay it forward by creating mentors. CFOs should help their team achieve their career goals. This can be done by creating coaching conversations, being vulnerable and admitting your mistakes, and creating a safe environment.

The Bottom Line

The role of the CFO is in flux as technology becomes smarter and faster. This frees up the CFO to take on other key responsibilities in more of a strategic role. While this changes what it means to be a CFO, it’s all upside for organizations looking to streamline their processes and put their people first.

About Mike Dansby
With more than 32 years of combined management and consulting experience, Mike Dansby, Consero’s VP of CFO Services has successfully raised over $100M in debt and equity capital, conducted successful M&A transactions, and served as CFO at several tech companies.  He is a CPA and earned his MBA from the Wharton School of Business

The CFO Leadership Council offers monthly programs featuring expert panels and interactive sessions that drives meaningful conversation and leadership development amongst our membership.   Membership is always open!  Visit www.cfolc.com to find the chapter near you.

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Consero’s guest blog was originally posted by Austin Technology Council on May 19, 2018
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Strategic CFOs Are Gaining Greater Control Through Outsourcing

Chief financial officers (CFOs) struggle to strike a balance between strategizing long-term business goals, while ensuring that short-term tasks get completed. It’s difficult to focus on the future, while being distracted by the routine, daily financial transactions. Many companies are considering a new approach to financial management and they are finding success.

By strategically outsourcing financial and accounting (F&A) activities, while maintaining a core team in-house, CFOs are able to take a strategic approach to financial management. Outsourcing routine transactional tasks saves valuable time and delivers the financial insight and control CFOs need to drive growth.

Balancing Daily Financial Tasks While Strategically Planning for the Future

What keeps CFOs up late at night is that there is often too much to do and not enough time to do it. As day-to-day financial operations get backed up, CFOs and their team are getting further behind, unable to get a clear picture of corporate finances. The further they get behind, the harder it is to forecast specific financial plans or steer the business in the right direction.

As highlighted in “Outsourcing Lets CFOs Stay Focused on Growth,” over 90% of the 380 financial executives surveyed indicated they need to do more with financial and operational data for critical decision-making. Over 70% indicated ‘supporting decision-making’ is their top priority for 2017.

While a common knee-jerk reaction is to hire more staff, the problem isn’t the number of people on hand. As noted in this white paper, outdated technology, inefficient processes and disconnections among key financial teams is the real root of the problem. The distractions of daily F&A tasks is taking too much time for many CFOs, leaving little to no time for planning. In order to get ahead of these challenges, CFOs are calling in a different kind of resources and technology.

Gain Greater Insight and Control with Modern Technology and Outsourcing

Get back to being the strategic CFO your business needs by taking advantage of a new business model. A combination of cloud-based technology and outsourcing F&A tasks will alleviate the pressure and give you back the time needed to guide business in the right direction. The Consero Financial Solution is a comprehensive financial management system that offers F&A support from bookkeeping and controller services to finance and consulting services.

The Consero Financial Solution serves up current, reliable financial information you and your team can use to support decision-making and streamline other back office tasks. CFOs and other executives can rely on real-time data to make prompt, strategic decisions to support continued growth. Other benefits from this innovative business model include:

• Improved productivity with a new focus on business growth
• Current, reliable data that delivers actionable insight
• Reduction in common, distracting administrative tasks
• A shared service model that delivers added value

More strategic CFOs are adopting this cutting-edge, outsourced model to free up time and get closer to key data. This, along with the Consero Financial Solution, will provide the control and insight you need to steer your business toward success. Download the white paper and contact Consero Global for more information about gaining greater control of your financial operations through outsourcing.

By Consero Global, delivering comprehensive financial solutions and services to growing companies

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This blog post was originally posted on Austin Technology Council’s weekend update on November 11, 2016.

One of ways that poor finance & accounting can really hurt your business is when a transaction is taking place. Many things determine the value of a business: future performance, financial leverage, financial return expectation, cash flow (not profits), deal structure, asset type and exit strategy. However, if you have poor finance & accounting, people are not going to pay you for things you can’t prove.

If you are raising money or trying to sell your business you need to have support documentation and buttoned up processes. If you don’t, it is a tedious transaction process that will lead to delays or cause a transaction not to happen. Or worse, the outcome can be lower valuations.

Structure and process ensures there are detailed support schedules around all the items that are in your financials. Anything stated in your financials needs to be backed up by the proper support documentation and must be proven. When it comes time for a transaction, the buyer has confidence in the information and the maturity of the business. So, make sure your processes are defined and documented. Prepare support documentation for all of the things your financials say. This will allow you to have a smooth, easy and fast due diligence process. It will also result in a maximized value that will be paid for your business.

The typical finance department at a small or medium business has immature processes and controls while relying heavily on paper-based financial processing. Most troubling, many lack formal policies and documentation with limited or non-existent financial controls to safeguard and monitor revenue and expenditures. This leads to inefficient transactional processing as well as inaccuracies and delays in the production of financial information and reporting. Now the company is susceptible to lost revenue, overpayments or even internal fraud. It also exposes the company to personnel-based “single point of failure” risks, which can derail growth efforts.

Consero has experienced people that that can improve the quality, efficiency and cost structure of financial operations. Our people, processes and technology has helped many businesses gain a substantial upgrade to the processes and controls that typically exist at a small company. Because Consero has finance & accounting completely buttoned up, including all supporting documentation, our clients have been able to complete transactions with a very quick and easy diligence process and maximize the valuation of the business.

For more information, please visit us at: www.conseroglobal.com

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