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Associated Press
05-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Finance Systems Slammed by Professional Services Firms for Wasting Time and Money
44 hours per week wasted on financial discrepancies and two days per week on year-end financials LONDON, June 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Unit4, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for people-centric organizations, has unveiled part two of its international research study, 'The Back Office in 2025.' Conducted by Vanson Bourne, it highlights major difficulties for professional services firms in managing key financial systems, such as cash flow management, year-end financials and project financials. 100% of senior finance and IT decision makers experience discrepancies in year-end financials, with the majority (77%) saying they occur often. Significant resources are being wasted in investigating errors, consolidating financial information and on manual processes. Data consolidation, back-office integration and automation are seen as key to improving performance. Year-end discrepancies affecting morale There is a clear human cost to financial errors, as 61% say year-end reporting negatively impacts the wellbeing of the finance team, while a further 73% say reducing workload at year-end would help prevent burnout. The top three challenges related to discrepancies are: 'At a time when productivity and efficiency are bywords for every Professional Services firm, these findings reveal concerning shortcomings for organizations that want to be more competitive,' said Bryce Wolf, Strategic Growth Director, Unit4. 'The firms that drive greater consolidation of financial information will be closer to gaining a single source of truth about their business performance. Combined with greater automation to aid faster decision-making, this will be critical to survival and growth in the years ahead.' Project financials are draining resources Project financials, as well as year-end reporting, are adding to the burden. When dealing with year-end preparations, senior finance decision makers are spending two full working days per week consolidating year-end financials, while respondents say they are wasting 25 hours a week investigating project financials and 19 hours per week on correcting or updating issues. The top three challenges for improving project financials are: Slow and risky manual processes are to blame A possible cause for discrepancies and wasted time could be that 84% of finance teams are spending too much time on manual processes that should be automated. In cash flow management the top three processes affected by this are payment reconciliation, approving workflows and data consolidation and integration. It is no surprise, then, that 88% say cashflow management is difficult, blaming inadequate financial reporting tools, complex approval processes and high operating costs. In turn, this is leading to increased processing times, operational costs and risk of errors. Globally respondents see real value in automating financial processes, saying the top three benefits will be: Today, though, only 46% of cash flow management processes are automated. Among the subsectors within Professional Services, Management consulting (49%) comes out top in wanting to increase automation, followed by IT and tech (48%) and Media and publishing (46%). Similarly, 92% of respondents agree that automating processes would speed up consolidation of year-end financials. Generally, there is agreement that consolidating data, greater integration of back-office systems and automating processes should be prioritized to overcome the challenges outlined in the research. Embracing AI and automating manual workflows can provide a single source of truth for financial data - something that is lacking for 73%. Globally, respondents also say that finance systems could be improved with: Respondents believe that adopting these recommendations will help to improve the accuracy of financial decision making, reduce workloads and ultimately free up teams to focus on strategic growth. Further Reading Read the eBook for more detailed information on the Professional Services research. Vanson Bourne Methodology The research covered the US, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Nordics and DACH regions and took responses from a range sectors, including IT and technology, architecture and engineering, media and publishing and management consultancy. It was conducted between 11th February and 10th March 2025, and the findings were based on a total of 600 senior finance and IT respondents. About Unit4 Unit4's next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions power many of the world's mid-market organizations, bringing together the capabilities of Financials, Procurement, Project Management, HR, and FP&A to share real-time information, and deliver greater insights to help organizations become more effective. By combining our mid-market expertise with a relentless focus on people, we've built flexible solutions to meet customers' unique and changing needs. Unit4 serves more than 5,100 customers globally across a number of sectors including professional services, nonprofit and public sector, with customers including Southampton City Council, Metro Vancouver, Buro Happold, Devoteam, Save the Children International, Global Green Growth Institute and Oxfam America. For further information visit For more information, please visit follow us on, Facebook: Unit4 Business Software, Instagram: @unit4global or visit our YouTube: Unit4 and LinkedIn page Media Contact: Lisa Stassoulli Global Communications Manager, Unit4 Mobile: +44(0)7870 916827 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Unit4
Techday NZ
25-04-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Professional firms face long M&A integrations due to old systems
A new international research study conducted by Vanson Bourne for Unit4 examines the challenges faced by Professional Services firms during mergers and acquisitions, highlighting the impact of outdated finance systems on integration efforts. The first part of the study, entitled "The Back Office in 2025," canvassed senior IT and finance decision makers in the Professional Services sector. According to the findings, although 58% of respondents' organisations have pursued acquisitions in the last five years, 86% expressed frustration that the process of merging businesses has taken longer than anticipated. Growth through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has become increasingly critical for Professional Services firms as they look for sustainable business models amid ongoing economic uncertainty. The research showed that 81% of organisations surveyed have either been acquired or have acquired another company within the past five years. However, the report notes that M&A activity often does not deliver the expected value, with one in five firms reporting that integration took over a year. The average integration period among all respondents was eight months. Commenting on the findings, Bryce Wolf, Director of Strategic Growth at Unit4, said: "Every professional services firm is laser-focused on growth and extracting value wherever possible, which means M&A is a strategic weapon in building more robust business models. Unfortunately, IT and finance systems are hindering their ability to assimilate acquisitions quickly to realise value. It is essential that Professional Services firms address this limitation by modernising their core back-office systems to remain competitive into the future." Respondents outlined a range of business concerns they encountered during the integration process. The top three issues identified were inconsistencies with financial data, complications associated with personnel changes and redundancies, and misalignment among key stakeholders. The survey also highlighted several technical challenges playing a role in slowing the post-merger integration process. Among these, difficulties in efficiently allocating IT talent and resources ranked highly, alongside incompatible finance systems and a lack of standardised back-office processes. According to those surveyed, these obstacles combined to generate multiple negative impacts for their firms. The most prominent of these consequences included increased cybersecurity risk, potential damage to the firm's brand reputation, slower decision-making, and increased employee turnover. The research findings emphasised that improving core back-office systems could prove valuable, particularly when undergoing M&A. Professionals taking part in the study indicated that demonstrating real-time financial insights, adopting automated processes, and ensuring scalability would not only benefit internal operations but could also make a firm a more attractive proposition for potential buyers. Respondents identified clear priorities for streamlining future M&A activity, naming a focus on clear and transparent communication as a key factor. Other areas of emphasis included the deployment of scalable and flexible cloud-based IT and business solutions, as well as adoption of streamlined financial tools and systems. To progress towards smoother integration, the report points to several key priorities beyond technology upgrades. These include thorough consolidation of financial data to enable more precise reporting, integration of back-office systems as a route to cost and time savings, and further process automation to speed up year-end financial consolidation activities.
