2024 Yooz Survey: Beyond the Balance Sheet

88% of Finance Professionals are Stressed by Shifting Business Priorities, New Yooz Survey Shows 

New study from Yooz reveals the impact of shifting business priorities on finance professionals, highlighting increased stress levels and workload challenges with the potential of automation to alleviate these pressures.

Purpose of the Study

Finance departments across industries are experiencing a period of significant transformation. Economic uncertainties have introduced new demands, while technological advancements continue to reshape roles and responsibilities. These changes are occurring against the backdrop of shifting business priorities, tighter budgets and rapid disruptions across industries, creating a complex environment for financial teams to navigate as they strive to balance strategic goals with day-to-day operational pressures. The result of this relentless pressure? Sky-high stress for finance teams.

The cloud-based E-invoicing and Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) automation solution Yooz partnered with the third-party survey platform Pollfish to explore this trend. The study aimed to assess how changing business priorities affect finance professionals, and explore the potential of automation to address these challenges. The 2024 Yooz Survey: Beyond the Balance Sheet was conducted in August 2024 by Pollfish, surveying 500 U.S. finance professionals over the age of 18, comprising 135 CFOs and 365 other finance professionals with annual household incomes of at least $50,000. 

Key Findings

The 2024 Yooz Survey: Beyond the Balance Sheet examines the current emotional and professional state of finance departments, revealing the impact of various financial pressures during a time when budgets are tighter than ever. Additionally, the survey explores finance professionals' views on the future of finance and fintech innovation.

The results expose the significant stress experienced by finance professionals due to shifting business priorities, the impact on their work-life balance, and the potential of automation technology to alleviate these pressures. Key findings include:

• A vast majority (88%) of finance professionals report experiencing stress due to shifting business priorities, with 66% rating their stress levels as moderate to extreme. This stress is compounded by tighter budgets, with 92% reporting that budget constraints have impacted their ability to meet strategic goals, likely due to operational limitations around available technology and employee headcount.
• Work-life balance is significantly impacted, with 74% of finance professionals working overtime regularly over the past six months, and two-thirds thinking about work regularly during their personal time. This underscores the need for more efficient processes to improve workload management.
• There's a strong consensus that automation technology is crucial for managing stress and improving efficiency, with 70% of finance professionals believing it could significantly or completely reduce stress caused by shifting business priorities. However, disconnect between finance and IT hinders fintech adoption, with issues flagged such as red tape, communication struggles, and misalignment between CFOs and CTOs.
• Communication needs improvement, with half of the respondents rating how their organization's leadership communicates about economic challenges and their impact on finance as sub-par. Additionally, there's a notable difference in how CFOs and their teams perceive the value of their input. While nearly three-quarters of CFOs (73%) feel their own input is frequently valued, less than half of other finance team members (41%) share this sentiment. This highlights the need for more open communication across silos, and better alignment between leadership expectations and the operational realities faced by finance teams.

These findings suggest opportunities for improving organizational alignment, enhancing communication, and strategically implementing automation technologies to streamline processes and support finance teams.

The Impact of Shifting Business Priorities

Shifting business priorities are taking a significant toll on finance professionals. The survey reveals increased stress levels and impact on work-life balance, underscoring the need for organizations to address these growing pressures.

•  A vast majority of finance professionals (88%) report experiencing stress due to shifting priorities, with two-thirds rating their stress levels as moderate to extreme.
• Three out of four professionals (74%) have had to work overtime regularly over the past six months, with nearly half (48%) doing so often or always.
  
• Two-thirds think about work regularly during personal time, with 30% thinking about it constantly.

Tighter Budgets and Operational Challenges

Tighter budgets are significantly affecting finance professionals, compounding their stress and hindering their work:

• Nearly all respondents (92%) say tighter budgets have impacted their ability to meet strategic goals.
  
• More than three-quarters (76%) rate this impact as moderate to significant.

This financial pressure not only affects strategic planning but is intensified by  various challenges in daily operations, including:

1. High workload (64%)
2. Tighter deadlines (56%)
3. Breakdown in communication (54%)
4. Regulatory compliance (42%)
5. Manual data entry (41%)

The Promise of Automation

Finance professionals see automation as a key solution to their current challenges. There's a strong belief that automation technology could significantly reduce stress and improve efficiency.

• 70% of finance professionals believe automation could significantly or completely reduce stress caused by shifting business priorities.
• Notably, 63% of finance professionals see tech adoption as very important or absolutely critical for their departments.

Innovation in fintech can benefit many different areas in the organizations. When asked which aspect of fintech innovation do they find most promising, financial professionals reported automation of routine tasks, with improved financial forecasting and enhanced data analytics following closely behind: 

1. Automation of routine tasks (26%)
2. Improved financial forecasting (24%)
3. Enhanced data analytics (23%)
4. Integration with existing systems (16%)
5. Cost reduction (11%)

Challenges in Finance and IT Collaboration 

Despite the potential of fintech, finance and IT departments face several hurdles when it comes to collaboration. These challenges highlight the need for better alignment between these departments.

• Nearly two-thirds of finance professionals (65%) encounter a significant amount of red tape
• A similar proportion (63%) struggle with communication due to different jargon
• More than six in ten (62%) feel processes move too slowly
• About half (49%) report misalignment between the CFO and CTO

However, finance professionals have strong confidence in their own department's ability to adapt to new fintech: 93% said they're confident, with more than half rating themselves as very to extremely confident.

Overall, more collaboration and communication across departments can help to resolve misalignment and clear up confusion from different jargon or unnecessary red tape. C-suite leaders should encourage finance and IT teams to better collaborate by:

1. Regularly establishing shared goals and clear objectives: Ensure that both teams are aligned on the overall goals, with a clear understanding of responsibilities and tasks required to achieve them. Revisit these goals together routinely. 
   
   
2. Implementing effective communication plans: Develop structured communication channels to facilitate efficient and consistent reporting of issues or suggestions between finance and IT teams.
   
   
3. Leveraging technology solutions: Utilize tools such as project management software and AP automation to enhance cross-departmental communication and improve the finance team's efficiency, with IT playing a supporting role.
   
   
4. Aligning budgets and ROI: Periodically, IT should review and recommend business areas in need of new technology solutions, while the finance department can help ensure these investments are within budget and deliver measurable returns on investment (ROI).
   
   
5. Scheduling and maintaining regular check-ins: Establish routine meetings and off-site sessions between finance and IT leaders to foster open dialogue, address challenges, review progress, and ensure ongoing alignment on objectives and strategies. These touchpoints create opportunities for collaborative problem-solving and proactive planning.

Leadership Communication and Support 

• Half of respondents rated their organization's leadership communication as sub-par
• 20% said it's done poorly, and 30% said the communication is only adequate
• 73% of CFOs feel their input is often or always sought and valued
• Only 41% of other finance team members share this sentiment

This indicates a need for better alignment between the expectations of leadership and the operational realities faced by finance teams.

Looking Ahead: Opportunities for Improvement

To keep up with the shifting demands of the organization and alleviate stress, finance professionals flagged key areas for improvement:

1. Upgrading existing technology systems (26%)
2. Investing in training and development (24%)
3. Reducing manual data entry (20%)
4. Enhancing cross-department collaboration (16%)
5. Streamlining approval processes (14%)
   
   

These areas align closely with the benefits of automation, which can significantly reduce manual tasks, improve efficiency, and free up time for more strategic work.

Conclusion

The 2024 Yooz Survey: Beyond the Balance Sheet reveals a finance profession under pressure from shifting priorities and tighter budgets. However, it also shows a path forward through automation and fintech innovation. By embracing these technologies, organizations can empower their finance teams to move beyond manual tasks and focus on strategic activities that drive business success.

To fully realize this potential, organizations should:

1. Invest in automation technologies to reduce manual workload and stress.
2. Increase communication and collaboration between finance and IT departments.
3. Improve leadership communication about economic challenges and their impact.
4. Provide consistent support and recognition across all levels of the finance team, and better consider their input and feedback.
5. Foster a culture of innovation and adaptability to new financial technologies.

Laurent Charpentier, CEO of Yooz, said about the findings: "Finance teams are the backbone of the enterprise, yet they’re being pushed to their limits by mounting pressures, outdated technology and static processes. To truly support their teams, leaders must embrace automation not just as a tool for efficiency, but as a strategic ally in reducing workload pressures. It’s time to move beyond traditional financial operations and empower finance with the right technology, while fostering a culture that prioritizes both strategic outcomes and employee well-being. ”