How CFO and Finance teams can improve financial processes in 2025

CFO and finance equipment face increasing pressure to rationalize operations, improve decision -making and boost growth.

The challenge is that traditional financial processes, depressed in spreadsheets, inherited systems and manual interventions, do not reduce it anymore.

In 2025, it is absolutely essential for you to rethink how these processes are structured and adopt new approaches that increase efficiency, profitability and scalability.

In this article, we explore strategies that you can implement to improve financial processes, from the automation of manual tasks to adopt avant -garde technology.

Not only are they excellent to help their business stay up to date, but they will also help proof their financial function for the future and support their commercial objectives.

This is what we cover:

1. Advance of manual processes

The manual processes may seem the safe option since they have worked in the past, but generally have been prone to errors and quite inefficient.

If it still trusted a spreadsheet or paper -based workflows, it is likely to lose a beautiful time that could be better to spend better value tasks.

Take a look at which processes in your finance team could be automated.

Things like billing, expenses management and financial reports are main candidates for automation.

And with the right tools, you can automate these functions, significantly reducing errors and releasing time for a more strategic analysis.

And this is not a trend that probably disappears.

As Licia Salice-Jarisch, CFO in Avetar capital United States: “In the future, I believe that finance will be increasingly automated. Organizations waiting to automate their financial processes will be difficult to grow and climb their businesses.

“Finding ways to integrate new technology to perfection that combines well with the existing commercial diagnosis and the general financial system is key.”

Cloud financial management software is excellent for automating some of these repetitive tasks, which means that data can flow without problems and precisely in systems.

This not only reduces the risk of human error, but also improves the speed at which such important reports and ideas can generate.

Practical step: Start by mapping your current financial workflows to identify bottlenecks and tasks that require a lot of time. From there, explore financial automation and software solutions adapted to your needs.

2. Update inherited financial software

It can really be tempting clinging to inherited systems, after all, they have worked for years. But as companies evolve, so do their financial needs.

The financial software often inherited struggles to keep up with the demands of modern businesses, such as handling large volumes of data, offering real -time reports and integrating with other critical tools.

In 2025, updating your financial software is a necessity.

The newest solutions offer real -time data, advanced reports of reports and integrations with other systems (such as customer relations management software and payroll tools), all of which provide a much more complete vision of your company’s financial health.

Practical step: Evaluate your current software battery to identify gaps or areas for improvement and invest in cloud -based solutions that are scalable and designed to integrate with other tools in your ecosystem.

3. Prioritize data, metrics and analysis

Financial decision making is as good as the data behind it.

To prosper in 2025, finance equipment must prioritize data, metrics and analysis to make informed decisions that drive business growth.

In many organizations, financial teams are still operating in the dark, relying on outdated reports or incomplete data.

But it doesn’t have to be so.

With the right tools, you can integrate financial data with other commercial systems, which means that you can track the key performance (KPI) indicators in real time.

This is essential when it comes to proactive decision making.

As declared by John Stumpf, former CEO of Wells Fargo: “Technological innovations will be the heart and blood of the banking industry for many years.”

Many new tools in the market offer advanced data display characteristics that allow you to create custom panels that show critical financial metrics, such as cash flow, operating expenses and profitability.

Having these ideas at your fingertips means that you can quickly detect trends, identify possible problems and take corrective actions.

Practical step: Set KPI clear that align with their commercial objectives and use financial software that allows you to visualize and track these metrics in real time.

4. Make sure the systems are in place to increase sales in a profitable way.

While the objective is growth, it is also important to ensure that its financial systems can handle it without sacrificing profitability.

The rapid growth of sales can often lead to higher costs, more complexity and greater financial tension.

To grow profitably, you must have the right systems to monitor and manage this growth effectively.

The financial forecast plays a very important role here.

When implementing solid forecast models, you can anticipate the financial impact of the scale and make decisions backed by data to guarantee sustainable growth.

Modern finance software allows you to create dynamic forecasts that can be easily adjusted as market conditions or commercial needs change.

Practical step: Use advanced prognosis tools that are integrated with your existing financial software. These tools will allow you to predict the costs associated with growth, such as new hiring, supply chain settings or higher operational expenses.

5. Abrace the AI ​​and technology

The AI ​​is already playing a very important role in the financial sector, and this will only grow.

From automating mundane tasks and administering central finances to providing deeper information about financial trends, it can completely transform how financial equipment operates.

AI, for example, can be used for predictive analysis, helping to forecast future income, expenses and cash flow with greater precision.

Automatic learning algorithms can also detect unusual transactions, marking fraud or potential errors that could otherwise go unnoticed.

Stuart Tait, CTO for taxes and legal in KPMG UKSee the generative AI as a change of play in the fiscal world. He says: “Generation AI for fiscal research and technical analysis will give an efficiency gain similar to passing writing machines to word processors.”

Practical step: Start with little to enter an area of ​​your finance team, such as invoices processing or prognosis. As your team becomes more comfortable, you can expand the use of AI in other functions.

6. UPSKILL to your finance team

As new technologies arise, the skills of their finance team also owe.

To completely take advantage of the tools and strategies mentioned above, it is essential that your equipment is well versed in the last software and financial methodologies in the cloud.

Investing in the UPSKilling will mean that your finance team is equipped to handle the growing demands of modern businesses.

This could mean offering training in advanced data, teaching employees how to use AI tools effectively or helping them develop leadership and communication skills.

Practical step: Regularly invest in training and development opportunities, focusing on both technical skills (such as data analysis, AI and technology) and soft skills (such as leadership, presentation and communication).

Final thoughts

To improve your financial processes in 2025, you need a series of strategies that work together to optimize operations, improve decision making and support growth.

When moving away from manual processes, updating inherited software, adopting data analysis and investing in AI and team development, you can create a financial function that is strategically positioned to boost the success of your business.

The future of finance is here, and it is time to take the necessary measures to ensure that your organization thrives.

Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2025 and has been updated by relevance.