Finance professionals are stressed out and few are able to avoid it. In a survey of 135 CFOs and 365 other U.S. finance workers, 88% reported experiencing stress due to shifting business priorities, and 66% rated their stress levels as moderate to extreme.
“Finance departments across industries are experiencing a period of significant transformation,” wrote Yooz, a provider of accounts payable automation that commissioned the study. “Economic uncertainties have introduced new demands, while technological advancements continue to reshape roles and responsibilities.”
Three in four survey respondents (74%) said they had worked overtime regularly over the six months before the survey, which was conducted in August. Nearly half (48%) said they do so often or always.
Further, two-thirds of those polled said they think about work regularly during personal time, and 30% think about it “constantly.”
A vast majority (92%) of the finance professionals reported that budget constraints have affected their ability to meet strategic goals.
“Finance teams are the backbone of the enterprise, yet they’re being pushed to their limits by mounting pressures, outdated technology and static processes,” said Laurent Charpentier, CEO of Yooz, which provides cloud-based e-invoicing and purchase-to-pay automation. “To truly support their teams, leaders must embrace automation not just as a tool for efficiency, but as a strategic ally in reducing workload pressures.”
The survey also addressed internal communication issues. Half of the respondents rated their organization’s leadership communication as sub-par; 20% said it’s done poorly, and 30% said the communication is only adequate.
While 73% of the surveyed CFOs said their input is often or always sought, only 41% of other finance team members felt the same. “This indicates a need for better alignment between the expectations of leadership and the operational realities faced by finance teams,” Yooz wrote in its survey report.
The report pointed to several sources of misalignment between finance and IT, including significant red tape (an issue for 65% of survey participants), different jargon and technical terms (63%), and “things moving too slowly” (62%).
Yooz advised finance and IT teams to improve their collaboration, such as by regularly establishing shared goals and clear objectives, with a clear understanding of the responsibilities and tasks required to achieve them.
Also, according to the report, IT should periodically “review and recommend business areas in need of new technology solutions, while the finance department can help ensure these investments are within budget and deliver measurable returns on investment.”
The report further suggested that finance and IT leaders establish routine meetings and off-site sessions to foster open dialogue, address challenges, review progress, and ensure ongoing alignment on objectives and strategies.
