Agile Finance Attributes Revealed

Agile finance leaders typically have a number of attributes that their less innovative peers lack. They are tech-savvy, with skills in cloud computing, data analytics, shared services, and automation. They also fully understand the importance of non-financial KPIs and intangible assets for creating stakeholder and customer value.

Agile finance leaders are typically far ahead of their peers when it comes to implementing financial planning & analysis (FP&A) centers of excellence, deploying cloud services such as performance management, and introducing a raft of other innovations in their organizations, such as robotic process automation. Regarding future planning, leaders of an agile finance model are often rated highly effective at delivering forward-looking analysis that identifies new opportunities for revenue growth.

The Traits of Agile Finance Leaders

What kind of organization represents agile finance leaders today? According to our research, organizations in the higher education and financial services industries are farther along in adopting the new operating model for modern finance, as are younger companies, but any organization can start their modernization efforts now. Take our quick modern finance self-assessment to find out how your current finance processes compare.

Based on our research, agile finance leaders are slightly skewed toward higher education when compared to others (22% vs. 15% respectively) and are most commonly found in the financial services sector. We found that 47% of the sampled higher education organizations led agile finance organizations, as do 44% of respondents from the financial services sector. The equivalent figure for the healthcare and life science sector was just 27%.

But while these differences are interesting, the findings suggest that neither the age of an organization nor its sector are barriers to implementing an agile finance model. And that's a reassuring message for all organizations.