corporate financial controls and, as a very distant second, making strategic business contributions. That

accounting software corralled even the most business-minded controllers into the demanding role of

financial software aficionado, or at the very least, caretaker.

Today, when controllers aren’t installing, adjusting, or adding to their software deployments, they are

mentoring and monitoring their on-premise staffs to coax needed reports out of these systems. The

goal, of course, is to facilitate operations to close the books, produce audit-ready reports and be ready

to deliver whatever numbers their CFOs, CEOs or auditors want – whenever they want them.

With so many responsibilities to address, finance transformation (the process of realigning and

streamlining finance functions) for routine accounting would be logically a top priority for controllers.

However, guidance and practical strategies to achieve finance transformation has been sorely lacking.

In fact, many finance stakeholders and related parties -- CFOs, accountants, auditors, service providers,

consultants, and software vendors -- recognize the value in enterprise finance transformation, but the

infrastructure/methodologies just haven’t been there in an economically viable way. Today there are

now practical options coming from a new breed of vendor which enable finance transformation and, in

the process, can help elevate the role of controller to strategic enterprise contributor.

Efficient and cost-effective finance processes that are dependable, risk adverse and consistent are

always necessary for an enterprise to truly thrive. But in today’s economy, with mounting pressure for

performance improvements, finance transformation is even more of an imperative for all businesses.

The process of finance transformation is distinct for each enterprise. What will remain constant are the

major elements that are a combination of redefined business processes, supplemental professional

services, and IT solutions that support and define a ‘transformed’ finance landscape. The perfect

combination of elements in a successful finance transformation will accomplish three main goals:

From a broader financial perspective, finance transformation addresses various issues, such as

maintaining stability during non-routine business periods (e.g., mergers, divestitures, down economic

cycles); addressing talent shortages; assuring internal stakeholders, such as the CEO and CFO, that

regulatory and financial processes are defensible; and/or delivering more insightful data environment

for financial decision making.

However, the one missing link in most finance transformation models is providing the Corporate

Controller with a fresh approach to less time-intensive, people-heavy paradigms for delivering routine

accounting information.

To make a finance transformation project valuable to the Controller as well as other financial

stakeholders (such as the CFO or accounting personnel) basic tactical requirements and problems must

be addressed. Processes and solutions included in the finance transformation project must include those

that impact the role of Controller such as:

Many enterprises that have not undergone finance transformation still depend solely on basic ERP

systems to supply the Controller with data and controls to address these issues. This is regardless of

whether the ERP system can support budgeting, tax processes, internal controls or any of the crucial

elements that falls under the controller responsibility umbrella.

The need for consistent and reliable audit-ready financials is an established imperative, but what’s not

been defined well among organizations nor established, support-wise, by vendor partners is a finance

transformation framework for Controllers. Controllers direct the preparation of financial reports, such

as income statements, balance sheets, and analyses of future earnings or expenses, that summarize and

forecast the organization’s financial position. Controllers also are in charge of preparing special reports

required by regulatory authorities. Often, controllers oversee the accounting, audit, and budget

departments. So to achieve finance transformation for routine accounting, an enterprise will have to

address three parts:

These three parts are crucial to deliver different elements of support to the Controller, as shown in

Figure 1. Finance staff is needed to deliver accounting expertise for everyday issues like expense and

revenue accounting, cash management and tax preparations support. Technology solutions provide

avenues (e.g., Software-as-a-Service, cloud computing configurations) for real-time access to data and

financial information across business units. Finally, improved best practices and workflow frameworks

support solid business process improvement for accounting, financial reporting and internal control,

among other finance processes.

As important as this formula is to elevate the Controller and transform finance it is not easy to achieve.

For many enterprises, these three elements that address people, IT and business processes are not best

served via a traditional ERP approach. The buy-install-maintain software cycle is unfortunately still a

large part of many job descriptions for Controllers and leading the integrations of new ERP systems can

turn talented financial talent into second rate-IT personnel. To avoid this problem, enterprises need to

look beyond traditional ways to help the controller achieve a big-picture view of finance. Therefore

what is now needed for enterprises that cannot afford or don’t want to allocate time and personnel to

the black hole of standard ERP is a new approach and model.

What have emerged from this inefficient scenario are new IT solutions that are in turn creating new IT

markets. Vendors, such as Corefino, have created unique offerings to not only address Controller

issues but that resonate favorably with CFOs who are looking to achieve finance transformation.

By offering a hybrid IT solution-service approach to clients, Corefino directly speaks to Controllers and

CFOs to remove problems from their overflowing plates of responsibility. This new type of finance

model offers the professional expertise of business process outsourcing with the latest IT solutions for

cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service, which addresses immediate controller needs but also

broader financial goals. This type of support is crucial for a finance transformation that will create a

more strategic position for finance as well as the individual roles of the Controller and the CFO.

A successful finance transformation creates several benefits. These benefits include better utilization of

corporate talent that is re-directed to address business management challenges and opportunities.

Direct cost savings can be garnered through consolidation efforts of disparate financial functions and

removal of redundant processes or IT solutions. Further cost savings can also come from areas such as:

These types of cost savings are the result of a successful finance transformation, resulting in finance

roles, such as the Controller and the CFO, becoming high-performance players. Finance functions also

become lower cost components of the enterprise overall. But, for most enterprises the problem in

finance transformation is not a desire to achieve these savings, but where to start and how to begin.

Both CFOs and Controllers will also need to turn to trusted partners, for finance transformation support

for important and recurring routine accounting functions as well as more strategic finance efforts. In the

past, these partners have been mostly large enterprise software vendors and large business service

providers or consultants. While these types of partners may understand the problems of finance, their

costs and one-size-fits- all approach does not serve most enterprises well.

The need for consistent and reliable IT solutions and services is one critical aspect of any finance

transformation project. An IT partner who offers access to finance applications for processes such as

accounting, payroll and audit reports while also offering services that keep business process current and

compliant with GAAP (or IFRS) practices, provides a large portion of necessary support for a successful

finance transformation.

The new breed of IT provider, like Corefino, addresses the basic needs of finance that impact Controllers

and CFOs alike. By looking at the need for finance efficiency and daily operations management,

Corefino allows Controllers and the finance group overall to free itself from predictable transaction

processing and establish financial directions for the enterprise. This solution removes non-value add

processes from the enterprise scene and creates the framework for the strategic relationship between

the Controller and CFO to deepen.

The role of today’s controller runs the gamut from the data gatherer to the “big-picture” observer. The

corporate controller will still continue to drive reporting processes but now is also needed to help

establish financial direction via hands-on intelligence that only that role can provide. However “handson”

should not mean “hands in” the ERP system. There are now alternative solutions that can keep

enterprises from diverting crucial finance personnel from strategic business opportunities.

From the vendor perspective, a valuable solution set will need to addresses core operations like

accounting but also extend to address multiple types of financial reporting, internal controls, due

diligence, audit support, tax process support and other specific financial services. Corefino offers this

type of amplified finance support that will strengthen enterprise financial strategies.

Enterprises need to consider all options as the worldwide economic outlook, mid-2009, remains

uncertain. Performing finance tasks as they were performed five years ago will not make sense for the

future. New hybrid approaches that combine finance expertise, IT solutions and business process

improvements are an attractive alternative to the past. This type of offering will only prove more

valuable to companies as finance becomes even more complex and potentially disruptive but also

integral to long-term enterprise fiscal health.