Spokesperson: Søren Westh Lonning, CFO, Pleo
In the world of finance, nothing is for certain. This might seem like a cop out – especially for a predictions piece – but 2024 has reiterated just how much lies outside of a team’s control.
2025 will bring with it the fallout from significant world events that include more than 60 national elections, yo-yoing inflation and a relentless cost of living driven by rising energy prices and the like. While elsewhere, AI will continue to have a profound impact on productivity with balances continuing to evolve their workplace alongside the technology.
These factors might seem very familiar to leaders, but this makes running a business no more predictable next year. And predictability is what organisations need in 2025 in order to safeguard business and revenue growth.
Below I explore some predictions of my own; imperatives for 2025 to give businesses the best possible oversight for the best possible financial outlook.
Delivering predictability in an unpredictable world
Unless one of the C’s in your C-suite stands for clairvoyant, you’ll be relying on your CFO to make sense of 2025 and deliver normalcy from the numbers. It’s a tough ask as CFOs will inevitably have to steer business finance through inflationary pressures, supply chain disruptions, regulatory changes and geopolitical tensions.
But this is why agile financial planning, scenario stress-testing and hedging strategies will grow even more crucial next year. To that end, below I outline the key areas I predict will be critical for finance teams in 2025.
Four future finance factors for 2025
Big data will provide control amidst the chaos
It’ll come as no surprise that data is on my list. This (not-so) secret weapon enables teams to see performance patterns and helps them predict a largely unpredictable environment. In 2025, AI-driven tools are expected to become the new standard for real-time spend insights and management. But without data, such tools will be pulling insights from thin air. To shift from reactive budgeting to proactive financial planning, businesses must ensure they are storing their data and feeding their teammates – whether AI or not – the information they need to clear any financial fog.
Treasury functions will transform
Whether a company is big or small, corporate treasury functions will take centre stage in 2025. Responsible for cash flow, risk mitigation and really the foundation of global operations, the time for treasury departments to evolve into digital, predictive and strategic command centres is here. How they do this will largely depend on the tools they’re given; embedded finance tools that incorporate AI and real-time data will be catalysts. Geopolitical uncertainty makes the treasury function’s job, and navigating key financial events, difficult. But this is why technology is so important.
AI will continue to evolve the finance function
AI will continue to evolve, and so too will the finance teams that implement it. But organisations need to ensure that their learning evolves in kind. In 2025, I predict that prompt-engineering will become a critical skill for finance professionals. Research from The CFO’s Playbook for 2024 found that only 27% of businesses are confident about the introduction of AI (generative and otherwise) into finance. But there is a whole world of AI functionality out there and my concern is that leaders are more focussed on the tip than the rest of the iceberg. But well-crafted prompts can drive accuracy and context which have the potential to transform reporting. This realisation may lead the hunt for finance talent to focus more on data competence in the future. In the finance team, strong technological expertise has taken its place alongside traditional financial skills and leaders must ensure that as well as hunting for this new finance persona, they are also upskilling their current teams as well. If they do, they will revolutionise financial processes, enabling faster, more accurate insights and reducing the reliance on manual reporting.
Collaboration will support risk planning
Uncertain times lead to uncertain business decisions. This is why risk planning is so integral. A new administration in the U.S. will bring a lot of change and uncertainty, and finance teams will need to double down on their finance and risk planning to ensure they can weather any surprises. But this is as much about the micro risks as the macro ones. Budgets are decreasing, but, as our Finance and Business Synergy Report shows, ambitions are not. This combination means that decisions and investments will carry more weight and be scrutinised more than ever. The result is that collaboration will occupy a far greater role in risk planning and forecasting, with 72% believing that collaboration makes businesses more financially resilient and successful.
Getting ahead of the game
Right now, the 2025 business landscape might seem like a numbers game; a lottery where success is dependent on luck more than strategy. But while there’ll always be unpredictable events, they don’t always need to have a significant, negative impact. If finance teams have one thing, it’s numbers – or rather, data. Now they need to make sense of it all.
If I was going to hang my hat on one prediction for 2025 it’s that finance teams will grow increasingly aware of the importance of digital transformation. Not just spend management platforms, but AI-supported tools that drive business insights and identify cost savings. This is how they can continue to evolve and ensure that however much chaos next year holds, control remains at the heart of their business.
