A survey by the Charted Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), sponsored by Adaptive Insights, reveals the use of modern financial planning and analysis (FP&A) technology among business finance professionals.

1. T H E G LO B A L L E A D E R I N C LO U D B I & C PM
Adaptive Insights/CIMA 2014
Survey Results
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2. Adaptive Insights 2014
The future of cloud-based budgeting,
planning and forecasting
Survey Results
In association with CIMA
Jessica Ezeogu
29th July 2014
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3. Highlights of Survey Findings
July 2014, an Adaptive Insights survey of the UK & Ireland CIMA audience on
financial automation & cloud–based software yielded the following results:
Limited Financial Budgeting and Forecasting Automation
Just 2% of accountants have a fully automated budgeting and forecasting system.
Nearly ½ (43%) are not satisfied with the speed and accuracy of the current process.
Significant Need for Improved Management Reporting
Circa 40% find difficult to visualise data and want to see better variances against prior
periods and plans(40%), and more graphs vs. numbers (20%).
Cost and Operations are Biggest Barriers to Automation
The major barriers to adopting cloud-based solutions; are ‘financial’ (cost of solutions)
and ‘operational’ (integration, staffing and/or skills imitations, and user resistance).
Openness to adopting automated applications
A majority of respondents (81%) are open to cloud alternatives to existing systems.
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4. Planning & Reporting Efficiency
How efficient are your current
planning & reporting processes?
Efficient
57%
Inefficient
43%
43%
Nearly ½ say their current
planning and reporting
processes are inefficient
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5. High Interest Deeper Variance Analysis
60%
Of financial professionals
want to see ‘variances
against prior periods and
planning’ and other ‘non GL
metrics’ in monthly reports
0% 20% 40% 60%
Variances against prior
periods and planning
Non GL metrics (e.g.
headcount, market
share, etc.)
Graphs and numbers
Organisational
summaries
Other
‘Other’ responses (see appendix)
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6. Monthly financial Close Efficiency
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
How satisfied are you with
the speed & effort required
to close monthly books?
Satisifed Unsatisfied
44%
Almost half are not satisfied
with the speed & effort
required to close their books
each month
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7. 3 Days Minimum Spent Creating Reports
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Three to
five days
How much time do
you spend
creating monthly
financial reports?
One to
two days
More
than five
days
Less than
a day
Other
(please
specify)
63%
Nearly 2/3 of finance
professionals spend at least
3 days formulating financial
reports
‘Other’ responses (see appendix)
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8. Majority have Difficulty Drilling into Data
44%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
How easy is it for you to drill
into your data and visualise
it in graphs and charts?
Less than ½ of finance
professionals can drill into &
visualise data using graphs &
charts with ease (“somewhat
easy” or “very easy”)
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9. Top 3 Areas of Concern
Reliance on Spreadsheets
Time and Resources Required for FP&A
Inability to Easily Create Reports
1
2
3
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10. Limited FP&A Automation
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
To what extent have
you automated your
budgeting and
forecasting processes?
We rely primarily
on spreadsheets
Partially
automated
Fully automated
2%
Have a fully automated
FP&A process. More than ½
(55%) still rely primarily on
spreadsheets.
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11. Top 5 Obstacles to Automated FP&A
Cost of solutions
Time and/or effort to implement
Integration issues
Staffing and/ or skills limitations
Executive priorities
1
2
3
4
5
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12. Majority not Satisfied with Speed & Accuracy
Satisfied
49%
Unsatisfied
51%
How satisfied are you with the
speed and accuracy of your
current budgeting and forecasting
process?
51%
Circa ½ are not satisfied with the
speed and accuracy of current
budgeting and forecasting
processes.
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13. High Interest in Scenario, ‘What-If’ Analysis
85%
Are interested in scenario and
‘what-if’ analysis, or already
have such processes in place.
Interested
60%
Already in
place
25%
Not
interested
15%
Please indicate if you already
perform - or are interested in
performing - scenario or what-if
analysis?
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14. Majority are Reforecasting at Least Quarterly
How often do you re-forecast
during the year?
0% 20% 40% 60%
Monthly
Quarterly
Biannually
Never
Other
(please
specify)
82%
Re-forecast on a monthly or
quarterly basis.
‘Other’ responses (see appendix)
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15. 5 Highest Executive Priorities
More informed decision making
Improved management reporting
Better visibility into numbers
Make it easier for managers to submit, approve and
reject plans
Integration with other business systems
(e.g HR, G/L )
1
2
3
4
5
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16. High Interest in Data Visualisation
75%
Interested in easy data visualisation
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
How interested are you in
easily visualising your data
in graphs and charts?
Somewhat
interested
Very
interested
Not very
interested
Not at all
interested
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17. 3 Most Common Uses of the Cloud
Sales/Customer Relationship Management
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Human Resources Management
1
2
3
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18. Accountants Open to Cloud Alternatives
How open is your
organisation to cloud
alternatives to existing
business systems? 81%
Are open to cloud-based
alternatives for existing
business systems
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
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19. Thank You. Be Adaptive!
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