CFOs shift focus from manual month-end to live insight

AccountsIQ has published an analysis suggesting that greater board scrutiny and tighter margins are pushing mid-market finance leaders away from traditional month-end reporting and towards faster, more standardised reporting.

Its research indicates that many finance leaders spend significant time on manual reporting and work extended hours. It also suggests that, despite that effort, decisions are sometimes made without enough data.

In the analysis, 64% of finance leaders said they work evenings or weekends, and the same share said financial decisions are sometimes made without enough data. AccountsIQ also found that 69% spend at least five hours a week recreating reports, while 58% spend at least five hours transferring data between systems.

AccountsIQ linked these pressures to the reporting packs often expected by boards and senior leadership teams. It said the packs can take days to compile and longer to review, even as business conditions change rapidly.

Shift in reporting

AccountsIQ said high-performing CFOs are reducing the volume of reporting and focusing on a smaller set of measures linked to strategy. It also described a shift away from reporting focused on historic numbers and towards reporting that clearly explains changes in performance.

Darren Cran, Chief Executive Officer at AccountsIQ, said: "Leading CFOs do not just report the numbers. They provide clear, reliable insight to support decision-making, focusing on a small set of KPIs tied to strategy, straightforward explanations of performance changes, and consistent definitions."

AccountsIQ also highlighted operational risks it associates with spreadsheet-based reporting, including version control and traceability issues, and the potential for errors when data is extracted and worked on outside core systems.

"When reporting is slow and manual, decisions are often made using information that is already out of date or lacks the detail needed to act with confidence. Data extracted into spreadsheets, reworked offline, and circulated in multiple versions introduces error, creates version-control issues, and makes it difficult to trace figures back to source transactions. Over time, this erodes trust, even when the underlying data is technically correct," Cran said.

Digital priority

AccountsIQ said the push for change is also reflected in wider industry research, citing Deloitte's CFO Signals survey, which found that 50% of CFOs said digital transformation of finance is their top priority in 2026.

AccountsIQ said the goal is faster close cycles and more frequent access to actuals. It also pointed to the use of early warning indicators across cash, margin and risk as part of a broader shift in how finance teams inform leadership discussions.

Cran said, "Simplified visibility removes uncertainty from decision-making. When reporting is clear, consistent, and easy to understand, leaders can focus on what the numbers are telling them rather than questioning how they were produced. With earlier insight, performance conversations happen sooner, and corrective action can be taken while there's still time to make an impact."

Beyond finance

AccountsIQ said some finance leaders are extending reporting beyond financial statements and management accounts by linking financial outcomes to operational drivers such as customer behaviour, operational efficiency, and working capital and funding decisions.

"In 2026, the most effective CFOs are designing reporting that goes beyond finance by connecting financial outcomes to the operational drivers behind them. This means linking revenue performance to customer behaviour, cost trends to operational efficiency and cash flow to working capital and funding decisions. This multi-dimensional reporting allows organisations to analyse performance by department, project, fund or cost centre without relying on complex spreadsheet workarounds," Cran said.

AccountsIQ also pointed to reporting tools that maintain live data connections with commonly used analytics and spreadsheet products. It said this reduces repeated exports and manual refreshes, and changes how often business users can access updated figures.

Group complexity

Multi-entity reporting remains a major source of manual work in growing organisations, according to AccountsIQ. It said finance teams often consolidate entities in spreadsheets, including aligning charts of accounts and managing intercompany eliminations.

Cran said: "For growing organisations, multi-entity reporting is often one of the most complex and time-consuming areas of finance. Many CFOs' teams are still manually consolidating entities, aligning charts of accounts, managing intercompany eliminations, and pulling everything together in spreadsheets. The result is a slow, risky and stressful process."

"Right now, leading CFOs are recognising that the challenge is not organisational complexity, it is using systems that were not designed to manage it. With standardised reporting structures, automated intercompany eliminations, and one-click consolidation, finance teams can produce accurate group and entity-level reports quickly, with full drill-down to the underlying transactions, significantly reducing complexity and allowing them to focus on their board's needs," he added.

AccountsIQ said finance leaders are also standardising core elements such as data sources, charts of accounts, reporting templates and reporting cadence. It said this reduces the risk of results differing depending on who runs a report, which can undermine confidence in the numbers.

"Reporting is an integral leadership tool for financial leaders. Reports that set CFOs apart are not necessarily more complex, but clearer, faster, and more relevant, providing insight and not just information. Reporting influences decisions, drives performance and supports long-term growth. The smartest CFOs are moving away from traditional models to achieve this, allowing them to focus on meeting growth targets and prioritise performance," said Cran.