Benchmarking the Accounting & Finance Function: 2014 Summary Presentation

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Paul McDonald

Senior Executive Director

Robert Half

www.roberthalf.com

Tom Thompson

Senior Associate, Research

Financial Executives Research Foundation

www.ferf.org

Report Authors

© 2014 Robert Half. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V. All rights reserved.

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Copying or reproducing this material is strictly prohibited. © 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

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Benchmark Report Overview

Workforce Management

Sourcing

Internal Controls

and Compliance

Financial Systems

Accounting Operations


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Methodology and Demographics

Company Type

62% Private

3% Government

15% Nonprofit

20% Public


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Methodology and Demographics

Annual Revenue

35%

Less than

$25M

6%

$500M-

$999M

20%

$100M-

$499M

27%

$25M-

$99M

8%

$1B-

$4.9B

5%

$5B

and over


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Workforce Management


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Staff Allocation

21% Accounting

15% A/P

11%

A/R

Top 3:


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Percentage of Financial Staff Who Are Temporary

8% of staff in U.S.

are temporary.

5% of staff in Canada

are temporary.


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Interim Staff Fluctuation

The largest companies ($5B

and up) are most likely to flex

up and down their use of

interim professionals.


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Accounting Operations


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General Ledger Accounts

19%

Among executives surveyed

this year, 15% in the U.S. and

19% in Canada indicated they

reconciled anywhere from 501

to more than 10,000 accounts

at least quarterly.

15%


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Tool/System Used For Account Reconciliations

66% of Canadian

executives said

they reconcile

accounts

manually.

59% of U.S.

executives said

they reconcile

accounts

manually.


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Financial Systems


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Primary Financial System

ERP

90%

78%

More than three-quarters (78%) of U.S.

companies and 90% of Canadian companies use

an ERP system as their primary financial system.


15

Long-Term Planning Tools

70% of Canadian

executives use

Microsoft Excel.

73% of U.S.

executives use

Microsoft Excel.


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Sourcing


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Outsourced Functions


Payroll

42%

37%

47%

42%

Taxes

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Internal Controls and Compliance


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Number of Key Controls

21% of companies with revenues of $5B and higher

manage between 1,001 and 2,500 key controls.

In comparison, none of the biggest companies

reported managing such a high number of key

controls last year.


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Cost of Compliance

48% of U.S. companies surveyed said their cost of

compliance is rising, while only 1% said costs are

falling.

41% of Canadian companies surveyed said their cost

of compliance is rising as well, while only 3% said

costs are falling.


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Putting The Data To Work

• Not just what you know – but what you do with the

knowledge

• How will you use this data?

• Which areas of focus are most critical? – Business processes and efficiencies

– Workforce management approach

– Technology

• Determine priorities and next steps


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Benchmarking the Accounting & Finance Function: 2014 Summary Presentation

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Transcript of Benchmarking the Accounting & Finance Function: 2014 Summary Presentation