Organizations more focused on transforming judgment-intensive activities post-pandemic: Survey

WNS unveils the 2022 Global CFO Survey, “Separating Chatter from Reality,” revealing the evolving CFO roles and challenges.

WNS (Holdings) Limited, a leading provider of global Business Process Management solutions, on Monday announced the release of 2022 Global CFO Survey report titled “Separating Chatter from Reality” by Everest Group, supported by WNS.

The survey polled 300 CFOs and their direct reports from large global enterprises across eight different industries to assess how the roles and business imperatives of CFOs have evolved since the previous study conducted in 2020. The survey also highlights the differences between aspirational themes and those initiatives currently taking place across the global Finance & Accounting (F&A) landscape.

In 2020, the study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic had created the need to accelerate transformation journeys to build future-ready enterprises. The top organizational challenges included ‘adapting to customer demands’ and ‘supply chain continuity.’ However, in 2022, challenges such as ‘cost and pricing pressures,’ ‘increasing risk exposure,’ and ‘talent shortage’ have moved to the forefront as a result of the current macroeconomic environment. Today, 68% of organizations are adopting cloud infrastructure, while 61% are re-assessing compliance, controls and policies to make the F&A function more agile and resilient in responding to these challenges.

“CFOs’ top priorities, including driving agility and resilience, and creating a future-ready finance function, are now becoming an imminent reality. However, these leaders must adopt an end-to-end approach toward transformation in order to drive business growth, optimize stakeholder experience, and scale business initiatives over the long-term,” said Keshav R. Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially increased the investment appetite of organizations to create a future-proof F&A function. WNS also added that close to 70% of the organizations surveyed in 2022 indicated an ability to invest, as compared to less than 50% two years ago. Additionally, more than 70% of CFOs now recognize the need to leverage digital technologies to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and stakeholder experience as their top priority.