When we talk about progress and innovation, it is a given that in one way or another, we’ll have to face changes. Improvement is indeed almost always synonymous with transformation.
But of course, change is never that simple—as a lot of factors and variables are to be considered regardless of the industry we’re in.
Financial leaders nowadays are faced with the undeniable reality that many areas under their watch have to transform especially following the whole COVID-19 situation, albeit change is not easy.
Hongrui “Max” Mo, financial controller for APAC with TotalEnergies Renewables Asia - an onsite B2B solar distributed generation across Asia, believes financial transformation is very important. “We should be able to cut down the manual task and focus on things that really matter.”
If financial transformation poses such an importance among financial leaders, how are they going to ride along—and what’s more, how are they going to rise above?
The transformation journey
Mo recounts how his transformation journey transpires, highlighting his use of automation for his tasks. He said he was able to shorten the preparation of his monthly management accounts from basically one full day to just less than five minutes using new technology.
“Amazing, right?” Mo said.
He believes they need to adopt transformation as the only way forward is to automate the process.
Mo said they have also automated the entire process of making the management accounts, noting how they transition from the usual manual processes then. He said that now, with just a click of a button, the software will run behind the background and do the work--generating a full management schedule in less than five minutes.
As for how long the transformation went, Mo said it took them at least a year to fine-tune the process as the journey took a while. They had to work on identifying areas that needed improvement, as well as constantly updating the file as the business grew and developed.
“It is a long journey, rather than a one-off project,” Mo said, adding that transformation is a continuous process of improvement.
Convincing leadership
Of course, organisations do not just run on their own as it has leaders in various areas of business who need to be on board with any change. As finance leaders, it is one of the duties to convince other leaders within the organization regarding the transformation the financial department has to undergo.
Getting the management to agree with all the changes needed in the financial department is dependent on how one is going to present the business case, said Mo. He recounts that in explaining and convincing the higher-ups, he gives them options and possibilities—a business story, along with the pros and cons of the choices, to help them mull over and decide.
Mo explains the importance of being able to come up with accurate information in dealing with the stakeholders, saying good data must be fed into the system, and that it should be highlighted that the ideal options’ benefits must outweigh the costs.
Technology and transformation
In today’s world, technology is almost always in the mix when talking about transformation.
Mo’s team has learned to embrace this as they traverse the journey of financial transformation hand in hand with various technologies and advancements. These include their use of Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, which is a comprehensive business management solution for small and medium-sized companies, as well as JetReport, which is software that can generate all management accounts and schedules.
The TotalEnergies financial controller said they leverage these technologies in automating various processes such as group consolidation and bank reconciliation.
“We really streamline and cut down a lot of the manual processes to generate the report,” Mo said.
Retainment of people
Along with the advent of technology comes the scare of it replacing the workforce in general. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there are still some industries that are not that comfortable with the idea of automation and technology.
Automation almost always seemed like people would be ousted from their jobs.
For Mo, this is not the case, as he believes automation picks away the mundane, the routine kind of work, which buys them more time to focus on other areas such as making meaningful decisions in business opportunities and business models.
It should be noted, he believes, that technology is not here to take away people’s jobs but rather to assist them in doing their tasks.
The evolution of finance priorities
During the transformation journey, priorities shift. Mo believes the rise of technology is among these, with the changes and digitization making way for fundamental business things to evolve.
He points out that among the priorities is assuring the data being generated are correct and accurate for business analysis and conditions.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence, especially generative AI, has been proven to be a point of interest among finance leaders in the past year.
For Mo, AI helps with financial transformation. “It is a trend that we really have to adopt,” he said, pointing out that it is all about upscaling.
But it has to be taken note of that such changes and adoption do not just happen overnight as it is a continuous journey.
Barriers to financial transformation
With changes come hurdles. Mo believes the whole process of automation involves a lot of different things, which makes it challenging. That’s why he explains it is important to find the right kind of technology that can help the business.
For finance leaders, it is a given that they are not IT people on the surface, but Mo thinks they must be able to know the intricacies of the features lying within the software they use in the business, considering that this is needed in speaking with their consultants as they explain how they want the process to go on.
The future of the finance department
Mo envisions the future of the financial department to have a full end-to-end transactional recording—starting from the initial “figuring” phase.
He said this is why finance leaders need to be able to spend time analysing the data, being a business partner, and identifying the places where they should deploy their resources. “Gone are the days when accountants are very transactional,” Mo said.
