Avoid Surprises in 2024 With These Predictions for Finance

At Planful, we help you avoid unwanted surprises, both big and small. That’s the entire purpose behind our financial performance management platform: to help you plan, close, and report to drive more impactful business decisions across finance, accounting, marketing, and HR.

We recently surveyed over 1,000 CFOs and finance and accounting executives to understand their performance today and their preparation for tomorrow.

Four findings stood out as trends financial leaders can expect to see in 2024. Let’s look at each finding, paired with a financial prediction from a Planful executive team member.

To learn more about these predictions for finance, download our new report, “How Finance Leaders Can Avoid Surprises in 2024.”

1.) Workforce planning will be at the forefront for finance teams.

Constant uncertainty can be really disruptive to organizations and workers. Having tight alignment between finance and people teams is an important way to invest in and cultivate a workforce that’s both resilient and productive.

2.) CFOs will take the lead as strategic advisors to the entire business.

To really understand your top-line, you not only need accurate data and projections from across the business, you need the story behind those numbers. You won’t get that from spreadsheets or even emails. The only way to get it is by becoming a dependable teammate fighting for the same goals.

3.) AI won’t be an option for finance; it will be an expectation.

AI is already removing the slow, tedious work finance teams dislike, and can error check millions of data points in seconds. What CFOs want now is finance-specific AI that delivers more accurate forecasts, builds seasonality-adjusted baseline budgets, and focuses their limited time where it matters most.

4.) Finance leaders will trust planning software over spreadsheets.

Our customers tell us again and again how much value they gain when they move onto a modern FPM platform. It increases their accuracy, improves reliability and speed, and allows them to better focus on connecting with their business partners to align and support their most strategic initiatives.

Make 2024 the year of no surprises

It’s safe to say you’re already stressed with year-end planning and 2024 forecasting. Get our 2024 predictions for finance and take action now for a smooth and surprise-free year.