More than 6 in 10 CFOs still use Excel for reporting

Our 2023 survey reveals that 65% of CFOs still use Excel for their financial reporting.

In 2023, 65% of CFOs still prefer Excel for their financial reporting, according to an EMASPHERE survey of 62 respondents, including 52 finance directors. Yet the move toward automation has caught the attention of three out of four finance directors. Let's dig into the details of this eye-opening survey.

As we head into the second half of 2023, many finance directors are getting to work on their half-year financial reporting. Surprisingly, the vast majority of them (65%) still rely on good old Excel to do it. Even more striking: 6 in 10 CFOs surveyed also say they are dissatisfied with the forecasting and simulation tools available to them. It's hard not to connect the two. Excel is certainly very useful, but it falls well short when it comes to producing comprehensive financial reports. These findings come from an online survey conducted by EMASPHERE among 62 financial reporting leads, including 52 finance directors.

The goal of the survey was to better understand a striking finding from a study by PwC and the DFCG, which showed that no less than 93% of finance department heads plan to invest in digitizing their department in the short term. Recent years have been marked by significant uncertainty (Covid, the war in Ukraine and inflation), which makes the need for accurate forecasting tools all the more pressing.

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Plenty of work ahead

The respondents' clear wish to further automate financial reporting (so they can access reliable figures quickly, at any time) will come as no surprise. What may be more surprising is that barely 4 in 10 finance directors surveyed had already heard of EPM software. There is, however, a rational explanation. Finance directors themselves do not see the ability to work with digital tools as an important skill. We can therefore assume that these tools are actually used by a member of the finance team rather than by the head of finance. The CFO, on the other hand, is the right person to carry out the analysis.

EMASPHERE is a Software-as-a-Service solution that connects directly to your systems (accounting, HR, CRM...) and includes preconfigured dashboards that are fully customizable and always up to date. The finance director's added value clearly lies in analyzing data and making sound, well-founded decisions. Sharing relevant reports with the various stakeholders in your company (CEO, executive team or managers) takes just a few clicks.