In a data-driven business environment, finance leaders are increasingly expected to add value through strategic decision making. But they can’t achieve this without an finance team fit for navigating complex challenges. Cedar’s finance benchmarking tool can help you assess your finance function’s maturity across key areas such as ERP systems, data analytics, and AI adoption and evaluate how effectively your teams are operating. By evaluating how effectively your finance function is operating, our analysis will provide valuable insights that can guide strategic transformation and improve performance.

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1. Why Finance Benchmarking Matters
2. The Role of Technology in Finance Benchmarking
3. Key Benefits of Finance Benchmarking
4. How Finance Benchmarking Drives Transformation
5. Get Started with Finance Benchmarking

Why Finance Benchmarking Matters

The finance function is not just a back-office operation. Modern finance teams are tasked with improving business growth, increasing profitability, reducing costs, and ensuring a solid return on investment. They must also adapt to emerging technologies like AI, data analytics, and cloud-based ERP systems, all while managing traditional finance operations. 

Finance and accounting leaders increasingly drive decision-making at board level and add value across the organisation. Nearly 60% of finance leaders are now involved in shaping enterprise strategy, showcasing the growing influence of finance on overall business success. 

But how do you keep pace with these changes while improving operational efficiency and continuing to deliver strategic value?

This is where finance benchmarking comes in. Benchmarking the performance of your finance function is crucial to maintaining competitiveness and ensuring future readiness. It allows you to measure progress, identify gaps, and implement strategies to optimise finance operations. By benchmarking against industry standards, you can determine if you are on track or need to adopt new tools, strategies, or processes to stay competitive.

Cedar’s benchmarking tool offers valuable insights that provide a clear picture of your finance function’s current state and its readiness for future challenges.

The Role of Technology in Finance Benchmarking

Technology too is a critical driver of success in modern finance functions. Today’s finance teams must be able to use AI, machine learning, and real-time data analytics to stay competitive. These technologies enable finance leaders to move from reactive reporting to proactive decision-making.

AI-driven tools, for example, can automate repetitive tasks, allowing finance professionals to focus on higher-value activities. Predictive analytics can help teams forecast future trends, assess risk, and optimise financial planning. Cloud-based ERP and EPM systems ensure seamless integration across the organisation, improving data accuracy and accessibility.

Additionally, AI-driven tools have allowed finance professionals to spend 20-30% less time crunching data, enabling them to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Cedar’s finance benchmarking tool takes all these technological advancements into account, providing a comprehensive evaluation of your finance function’s digital maturity. This enables finance leaders to make informed decisions about which technologies to adopt and how to integrate them effectively.

Key Benefits of Finance Benchmarking

Finance benchmarking with Cedar offers several key benefits for organisations looking to assess and improve their finance function’s performance:

• Evaluate Digital Maturity: Benchmarking assesses how well your finance team is adopting emerging technologies like ERP systems, AI, and data analytics. This helps identify opportunities to streamline operations and improve decision-making.
• Enhance Operational Efficiency: By comparing your finance function’s performance to industry standards, benchmarking uncovers areas where you can improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance accuracy.
• Unlock Insights for Strategic Decision-Making: Benchmarking provides actionable insights that allow finance leaders to make informed decisions about future investments, technology adoption, and workforce planning.
• Identify Talent Gaps: Benchmarking helps identify gaps in digital expertise, allowing organisations to plan for future recruitment and upskilling initiatives to build future-ready finance teams.

How Finance Benchmarking Drives Transformation

Cedar’s finance benchmarking analysis is designed to evaluate your finance function across multiple dimensions. By answering some simple questions, we can evaluate your organisation’s use of ERP and EPM systems, data analytics, and AI integration to determine the overall maturity level of your finance function. 

The results are categorised into four levels:

1. Foundational
   Your finance function relies heavily on manual processes and siloed systems. There’s an opportunity for significant improvement in automation, integration, and data-driven decision-making.
2. Developing
   Some systems and processes are automated, but there are still gaps in integration and scalability. Finance teams can further enhance efficiency and accuracy by adopting more advanced technologies.
3. Advanced
   Your finance function is highly integrated with cloud-based systems and leverages AI and data analytics for predictive decision-making. Your team is positioned for strategic impact. Learn how to fine-tune your processes, identify untapped opportunities for automation, and stay ahead of emerging technologies and industry trends.
4. Leading
   Finance is fully digitalised, with advanced capabilities in scenario planning, AI, and real-time analytics. Your team already plays a central role in driving business transformation. Maintain your position with insights into further opportunities for optimisation and continuous improvement.

At the end of the finance benchmarking process  you’ll be able to identify your current position, understand where improvements are needed, and develop a roadmap for future digital transformation. Benchmarking will also highlight any talent gaps, helping you focus your recruitment and upskilling efforts to meet future demands.

Get Started with Finance Benchmarking

It’s essential to regularly assess the performance of your finance function. Cedar’s finance benchmarking tool offers an easy, actionable way to evaluate your finance team’s digital maturity, operational efficiency, and strategic value.

With clear insights into where your finance function stands and what improvements are needed, you can drive transformation, enhance decision-making, and build a future-ready finance team. See how your finance function compares to industry standards.

Don’t wait for tomorrow. Benchmark your finance function today with Cedar’s benchmarking tool and set the stage for future success.