2024 New Year’s Resolutions for Finance Leaders

A new year gives us all a fresh start and a chance to do things differently. It also comes with a realisation that we never really know what the future will hold. Although one thing is usually certain – uncertainty!

For finance leaders, 2024 is the opportunity to manage this ongoing uncertainty, boost efficiency, compliance and productivity, and look to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to relieve some of the pressure, and help fuel forward momentum.

If you’re starting to think about finance management best practices and your professional development, here are some areas you may want to add to your own New Year’s resolutions.

Make 2024 the year you…

1. Take Time to Understand how AI will Impact Your Business

AI will continue to dominate innovation in financial services. Continue to explore AI's strengths, such as its proficiency in capturing and auditing finance data, and identify its limitations, for instance where human intervention works better.

Nearly 62% of CFOs see AI as an essential tool in managing the unexpected. In 2024, the exploration of automation and sophisticated, intelligent technologies will continue to reshape our lives in many exciting ways, for you personally, for your organisation, and for the environment.

For ideas on where SAP Concur and AI are heading and how together they can help speed up your processes and unlock opportunities for innovation, read our whitepaper.

2. Spot Prior Pitfalls and Make Informed Decisions

This time of year provides a fresh start but some things will inevitably stay the same, namely economic pressures and the challenge to do much more with much less. Managing uncertainty is a daily challenge for CFOS, as detailed in this CFO insights report, and analytical skills and insights will become even more crucial to bottom line success.

90% of senior finance leaders agree their key task is to prepare for the unexpected.

Increasing complexity in financial forecasting, growing demands for sustainability, and the need to work more closely with HR are all things to add to your list.

3. Boost your Professional Network and Learn from your Peers

We know that being armed with analytics and insights is the best way to navigate whatever lies ahead. Whether your sales or customers shift, taxes and regulations fluctuate, or your spending behaviours change, it’s a perfect time to get future ready.

What better way than to learn from your peers? Take this time to research and attend some key events and benefit from peer insights. For more inspiration on how to prepare for change, read our whitepaper about four ways to future-proof your business.

4. Take Time for a Policy Check Up

The New Year is the perfect time for a financial policy review, considering new travel initiatives such as New Distribution Capability (NDC) that transforms the way airline products are retailed to leisure and business travellers. Or you might be considering different types of carbon markets or how to deliver on sustainability promises.

This is something your employees want to see happen, with 91% of business travellers expecting to be allowed to make travel choices outside of company policy for reasons like safety, work-life balance and sustainability.

Whether you’re updating your T&E policy, or just getting started with your sustainability initiatives, the journey must start now. A great place to begin is with our Expense Policy Template and Sustainability Policy Template – we’ve done the hard work for you!

5. Book Time with the SAP Concur Team to see Where You Might be Leaving Money on the Table

Nobody wants to see missed opportunities, lost profits, and wasted resources. Better financial planning along with more efficient and effective processes is key to  saving time and money.

The solution could be automated pre-approvals, within your invoice processes, or something else, but sometimes you don’t know what the problem is without closer investigation. On average, you could see a 26% reduction in budget overspending because of increased visibility into spending data by using SAP Concur solutions¹

Contact us today to find out how to identify and solve your issues.

6. Set Personal Development Goals

With so many business and financial challenges ahead, the importance of establishing your professional development goals must not be overlooked.

If your own productivity needs a boost, we recommend reading this useful eBook exploring six galvanising productivity tips, including the 80/20 rule, Eisenhower Box (or Matrix), SMART goals, and Time Blocking.

And of course, the New Year is a great time to curl up with a good book. As Bill Gates once said, “Reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.” Why not pick a book from this list of books on leadership development for CFOs and start as you mean to go on?

How will you Rise to the Challenges of 2024?

SAP Concur infuses AI and machine learning into spend management solutions and throughout 2024 will continue to drive seamless processes and provide rich customer data that fuels your innovation. What will you do to help unlock opportunities for your business and yourself?

1. Analysys Mason 2022, Travel, Expense, and Vendor Invoice Management Study