Over a third (35%) of CFOs in the UK say there aren’t enough hours in the day for their teams to get their work done.
Research by recruiter Robert Half also found that a fifth (21%) are suffering from a staff shortage, reporting that they don’t have enough permanent employees in their teams to complete projects and tasks.
Unsurprisingly, three in 10 (31%) CFOs report that they have either ‘somewhat’ or ‘significantly’ increased the number of interim and temporary staff in their department compared with three years ago.
Meanwhile, a quarter of CFOs (24%) believe that their staff members lack the commercial acumen that is necessary for them to do their jobs effectively.
Improving communications between internal departments is a priority for 38% of CFOs as they see this as a way to be more efficient and extend the influence of the finance function throughout the organisation.
Commenting on the research, Phil Sheridan, managing director of Robert Half UK, said: “The term ‘doing more with less’ seems to be quite a common phrase these days. However, when business-critical tasks are being neglected due to a lack of time by finance teams, alternative measures need to be explored.”
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer