In today’s complex and competitive world, organizations are increasingly calling on their accounting and finance teams to go beyond their traditional role of information suppliers and to provide analytical insight into the business. A recent report, “Rising to the Challenge - Achieving Real-Time Visibility Across the Organization,” examines two key difficulties in fulfilling this new role: improving the management reporting cycle and achieving real-time visibility across the organization.

This report, co-sponsored by IMA® (opens in new tab) (Institute of Management Accountants) and NetSuite, was released the week of February 4th. It contains the findings of a survey of more than 1,500 IMA members from a wide range of finance and accounting organizations.

The survey found that many companies possess disparate information systems, that are inadequately integrated, and too outdated to meet current business requirements. While most manufacturing-related systems are highly integrated into companies’ overall ERP systems, other key related areas, such as business intelligence and budgeting and forecasting, typically are not.

In order for accounting and finance teams to be able to provide analytical insight into the business and to provide real-time visibility into their organizations, companies will need replace or update these ERP systems. By doing so, finance and accounting teams will have the tools needed to provide the predictive insights and transparency that is now being demanded.

This is the latest study from an ongoing research partnership between IMA and NetSuite which includes thought leadership presented through IMA’s webinars, conferences, and professional publications. IMA and NetSuite share the goal of delivering value-added information and insights that are timely, relevant, and helps move the accounting and finance profession forward. Such research will provide finance professionals with the information they need as they assume more strategic roles within their organizations.

- Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, IMA vice president of research and professor-in-residence, chief researcher of the report.