By Adam Zoucha
Accountants have an important and potentially transformative year ahead. Life is undoubtedly getting more complex for CFOs, with challenges around data quality and accessibility dragging on productivity. Leaders are also dealing with ongoing talent shortages, with 65% of people in the industry unsure if they will remain working in an accounting role. Resources are under strain, and disruptive technologies such as GenAI are placing further pressure on decision-makers.
Responding to these challenges presents a huge opportunity for finance teams, from leadership to frontline staff. Financial transformation will be a key priority for accountants throughout the next year, allowing them to reshape, rethink, and modernise processes to empower their companies, accelerate system efficiency, and inform better business decisions.
Transformation of the finance function involves optimising processes to enable accountants to play a more strategic, fulfilling role. At its core, the impact of transformation will come from overhauling data processes to generate intelligent information that can be leveraged to inform insights and strategy.
There are four main components to consider: automated processes, centralised data, intelligent information, and business applications. By learning, understanding, and implementing these elements, CFOs can unlock the full potential of their accountants.
Financial transformation is the meta trend that will define the accountancy sector in 2025, providing leaders with a unique and potentially unparalleled opportunity to play a starring role in their organisation’s growth trajectory. When considering implementing transformation, four other linked trends for next year must also be considered in order to achieve positive outcomes.
Talent in demand
We know it takes a lot of work to find the right staff. It also requires effort to keep accountants motivated, engaged, and fulfilled to drive up retention and build a workforce capable of enacting the ambitious transformation most organisations have ahead of them.
With a declining influx of new accounting talent, business leaders must pay careful attention to their teams’ moods and mindsets.
To do this, it is absolutely critical that leaders ensure they are fostering a fulfilling working environment in which finance teams feel engaged, empowered, and valued. Upskilling is part of the answer. The targeted, strategic adoption of automation AI technologies is the other piece, helping reduce mundane and repetitive tasks to boost job satisfaction. In 2025, we expect to see an increased number of CFOs play a key role in enhancing retention among their teams by equipping staff members with future-focused skills that enable them to blend technology with strategic insight to deliver the maximum possible value within their organisations.
All eyes on the CFO
The CFO will be largely responsible for financial transformation initiatives and may meet with increased scrutiny as they endeavor to adopt new processes.
Financial transformation is a significant task involving the technical work of reshaping financial processes and the human resource-focused task of enriching company culture and vision. Currently, 90% of accountants have heard of the concept, but less than half feel very familiar with it, revealing a need for better education around transformation initiatives.
For many organisations, this year is likely to involve a concerted effort to address this gap. As finance teams’ strategic role and importance increase, leaders are strongly advised to seek agile digital tools to streamline collaboration and improve efficiency. We predict that more CFOs will embrace transformation and move forward boldly, navigating emerging complexities precisely and effectively.
Compliance challenges
The regulatory landscape is changing fast. In 2025, we will see movement on game-changing new rules such as DORA, NIS2, PSD3, and other new or emerging regulations. Implementing compliance regimes can seem daunting, but organisations that are prepared to implement a more strategic approach to compliance can drive real value.
In 2025, compliance will be a topic that moves up the corporate agenda, accompanied by both risk and reputation. Technology is a critical enabler of compliance and fundamental to the wider transformation of accountancy functions. Growing numbers of organisations will take a holistic approach to compliance, moving beyond treating it as a check-book exercise and regarding it instead as a valued asset and proven way of demonstrating trust in their process.
Currently, just 16% of organisations take the strategic view and understand that compliance is an asset – a finding that exposes an opportunity for leaders willing to innovate in the space and elevate their response to changing regulations.
AI in focus
Although AI has been a key theme during both 2023 and 2024, following the blockbuster release of ChatGPT just over two years ago, the real value of this technology will emerge in 2025. Finance teams can use AI as a partner to take care of routine tasks, freeing up accountants’ time and giving them the space to focus on strategic tasks requiring that critical human touch.
This is a significant shift and will help the industry tackle talent shortages. Throughout 2025, AI and automation will help unlock accountants’ full potential and position them as key players in their organisation’s success.
When these four trends are considered and addressed as part of a broader financial transformation project, organisations will quickly see the benefits of an automated, technology-enabled approach to accountancy.