The days of the traditional number-crunching finance department have ended. Finance professionals can no longer stand apart from the organisation. World-class companies are demanding that the finance unit adds positive value to the business, playing a critical role in shaping and driving its success. Creating the Value-adding Finance Function points the way forward for finance professionals who are ready to take up the IT challenge

World-class enterprises which delight customers, business partners, vendors, stake holders and constituents, rely on the efficient and effective sharing of information, including goals/expectations, status and ultimately knowledge. Making this happen is mission critical to many enterprises… and making it happen as it should happen requires leveraging IT.

IT plays an important role in the following areas:

• e-commerce :Fundamentally alters the dynamics of a business and creates opportunities for the finance personnel to add real value by helping to save costs and create business opportunities.
• e-governance: Used as a synonym for an information technology driven system for governance that works better, costs less and is capable of servicing peoples’ needs.
• e-securities : Electronic trading has changed the face of traditional “outcry” trading, resulting in faster delivery, settlement and transfer of securities. This has forced the intermediaries to adopt a new approach to conducting business.
• e-banking: With the emergence of e-banking, issues like payment gateways, security and cash management have taken a new dimension. This has made banking services more accessible, resulting in huge volumes of transactions.
• ERP: Enterprise wide Resource Planning is now emerging as an easily accessible and affordable tool. Now, even small companies can use this to manage their businesses. This has thrown tremendous challenges and opportunities to the finance world.