How does your finance team function? Are they using automation to process routine transactions? Have you maximized outsourcing and/or self-service processing for things like payables, credit card transactions and travel expense reporting? Are your company’s operating, human resources, and CRM systems integrated into the general accounting system? Today’s articles provide some excellent insight into current benchmarking results and the drivers of top performance.

According to the 543 organizations who completed the APQC benchmarking assessment, the top performers spend 0.6% of revenue for the finance function while the bottom performers spent 2%. According to the consulting firm Accenture, the average cost of the 1000 largest companies was 1.2% last year.

At CFORuth & Associates, we see many organizations who believe Excel spreadsheets are the epitome of financial systems automation. Often companies overlook the tremendous value (not just cost savings) that excellent and expedient financial information can provide to fuel growth, improve cash flows and optimize results.

We hope you enjoy these articles. If you'd like CFORuth to assess opportunities within your finance function, please contact us.

Reading List:

Metric of the Month: Total Cost of the Finance Function, CFO.com

Cost of Finance Teams Heading Lower: Accenture, Wall Street Journal