New Resolutions for Finance Leaders: Ready for Anything

Finance leaders are realizing that their approach to spend management needs a radical shift. Economic volatility, market uncertainties, and rapid technological advancements are challenging them to develop comprehensive systems and processes beyond cost-cutting measures and resource optimization. 

Most finance organizations are ready to rise above the pressure. We conducted a study of global senior finance leaders and learned that 90% agree that preparing their business for the unexpected is a critical task today. Only 2% disagreed. 

As finance leaders evaluate their approaches, here are four resolutions they should aim to achieve in the new year. 

Innovate to control costs, compliance, and cash flow 

Quality spend management remains crucial, regardless of how the economy, inflation, or interest rates might fluctuate in the coming year. Yet, it matters even more during peak volatility in costs and constant regulatory changes. 

The key to effective spend management involves connecting travel, invoice, and expense data on a single, unified platform. This consolidation enhances control and confidence when managing multiple sources of spend. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also a game changer. With compliance-protecting AI, the platform can review every expense, cross-reference it with finance policies, and flag potential issues. This streamlined workflow operates without the hassle of gathering and searching for paper receipts and navigating convoluted steps. It creates a simple experience that handles most tasks without compromising compliance. 

Extensions also can be added to support complex tax challenges. Automating the reclamation of indirect taxes, such as value-added tax (VAT), can bring money back to the budget. Additionally, these extensions can automatically analyze expense reports to identify charges that constitute taxable employee benefits while maintaining compliance, without piling on manual work. 

Strengthen visibility, analysis, and planning 

Finance organizations operate on spend transparency, whether it involves tracking progress against an annual plan or adjusting budgets based on new quarterly priorities. Yet, a dedicated expense solution is just the starting point.  

Powerful reporting tools and prebuilt, ready-to-use dashboards are essential to gain insights into policy effectiveness, spending patterns, and potential savings opportunities. They empower finance organizations to leverage reports and collective expertise to derive real-time insights for forecasting and planning across any timeline. 

The final piece of the puzzle is integrating spend data like travel bookings, mileage, meetings, and invoices. This comprehensive intelligence enables finance and organizational decision-makers to negotiate discounts and savings with suppliers more efficiently while tracking, managing, and optimizing sustainability performance. 

Adapt processes, policies, and priorities 

Many companies manage spend across various departments, groups, subsidiaries, and locations using separate legacy tools. The result is a fragmented experience marked by inconsistent policies, redundant and outdated data, and manual reporting. 

Addressing this widespread issue requires the establishment of a cohesive and secure source of financial truth for the entire company. This unified approach enables the business to leverage consistent insights, services, and supportive expertise to navigate new tax requirements in new markets, evaluate travel allowance rates and mileage, and assess spend policies, solution configurations, and sustainability strategies. 

As policies or processes evolve, all employees—regardless of experience, organization, and role—can successfully engage in workflows with step-by-step instructions delivered through conversational, on-screen prompts. 

Boost morale, productivity, and retention 

In today’s shifting labor market, internal systems must provide avenues that enhance productivity and create a process-oriented experience that energizes the entire workforce. This is especially true of travel, expense, and invoice processes.  

Automating the synchronization of travel management with expense reports facilitates a straightforward mobile booking process that requires minimal user effort. Additionally, integrating invoice processes eliminates the need for accounts payable professionals and budget owners to spend valuable time manually capturing, coding, processing, and approving invoices. 

Mobile apps and advanced AI technology further streamline the experience, allowing employees to log expenses from anywhere, eliminate paper receipts, and effortlessly add charges to expense reports with just a few clicks. 

Lead your business's future with financial resilience 

The start of every year is a time to reflect and make adjustments. Finance leaders should use this time to review these four resolutions and look for ways to apply them in their organization.  

For more information, finance leaders can visit https://www.concur.com/future-proof-your-business-travel-expense-management to learn how to build a resilient program and future-proof their business.