TCS 2021 Global Financial Leadership Study

Industry

Banking

Regional spotlight: North America

Our study findings show most North American finance leaders are anticipating their FP&A teams will play a key role in driving recovery and supporting sustainable growth in the post-pandemic era. Are they ready for the challenge?
In this article, you’ll uncover unique insights about how large enterprise finance leaders in Canada and the U.S. compare to other regions.

Insights in this article

Insights in this article

Essential takeaways

TCS surveyed 750 global financial leaders across the 9 countries.

Specifically, we asked about their:

Current FP&A strengths and weaknesses
Priorities for investment and improvement

Essential takeaways

North American FP&A functions have invested in a range of capabilities and tools to support their organizations’ drive for sustainable growth.

54% of the North American businesses we surveyed are confident that they can rapidly create multiple, detailed “what-if” scenario models based on a range of possible internal and external factors, compared with 38% in Asia-Pacific and 43% in Europe & UK
50% say their organizations can develop aligned and robust budgets, compared with only 40% in both APAC and Europe & UK.

Organizations

But for most North American organizations there’s still work to be done.

Only 45% of North American organizations overall say they are able to use advanced FP&A technologies, like AI and machine learning

North American organizations are heeding the call and prioritizing investments to modernize FP&A functions

58% are planning further investment in advanced FP&A technology capabilities, like AI and machine learning

Infographics

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams have a key role in post pandemic recovery. But are they ready for the challenge?
FP&A teams are successfully forging ahead in the post-pandemic world. But there’s still work to do
Trendsetters have higher FP&A maturity levels and rely more on data and analytics, and less on intuition, when planning and forecasting.
Finance executives revealed what they consider their biggest gaps in FP&A capabilities.