Digital Transformation: Building the Finance Leader of the Future

EY’s Myles Corson and Global Vice Chair of Assurance, Felice Persico, discuss how finance is being redefined in areas from reporting to auditing and how finance leaders need to view technology as a tool for creating the finance function of the future.

Key takeaways

• Access to new technology is undoubtedly transforming the financial reporting ecosystem, but success hinges on viewing technology not as a product to be implemented, but process — a means to an end.
• Technology should enhance, not replace, human talent — understanding this will be key to driving the modern finance function’s success.
• The need for technology is often driven by the need to work more efficiently to meet stakeholder demands.
• Quarterly reporting can no longer be seen as a celebration of short-term performance, but a key performance indicator of company progression and more real-time data will bolster this shift.
• The core of the finance function’s ability to function as source of insight and analytics is processing and interpreting the massive volumes of data available in today’s world.
• Innovation is accomplished through strategic decision-making guided by the organization’s overarching business objectives, not by jumping from one technology to another.
• In this transformative age, we are responsible for managing our own risk, and our own talent is the key to unlocking the strategic enablement of this disruption.