Operational Constraints Leave One-Third of Finance Professionals Struggling to Meet Executive Expectations, Yooz Survey Reveals

DALLAS — Today's business leaders are demanding more from accounting teams, yet these teams lack the time and resources to meet these demands due to the abundance of manual, repetitive tasks. According to new research fromYooz, a cloud-based procure-to-pay (P2P) automation provider, only one-third of finance professionals are able to meet the growing expectations of C-suite executives, leading to escalating frustration and tension across organizations.

The survey, titled2024 Yooz Survey: Leaders and the Ledger, was conducted by third-party platform Pollfish on behalf of Yooz. To understand this misalignment and its impact on organizational success, Yooz asked a series of questions to C-suite executives and finance professionals to identify differences in perspectives and opportunities for better alignment.

The findings reveal numerous points of divergence between leadership expectations and the realities faced by finance teams. While the C-suite expects finance to provide more strategic guidance, finance teams feel weighed down by manual, repetitive tasks. The report shows that although leaders recognize the strategic voice finance can offer, finance professionals feel their impact is not realized or acknowledged by leaders. However, both sides are highly aligned on the solution: automation is key to unlocking finance's strategic potential.

Key findings include:

• Although C-suite executives expect finance teams to spend the majority of their time on strategic initiatives, only 33% of finance teams report being able to meet this expectation, highlighting a significant gap between leadership expectations and operational reality.
• Finance teams believe their ability to provide strategic value is hindered by a lack of recognition and understanding of their daily operational challenges, with 77% of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with leadership's lack of operational awareness.
• There is disagreement on the primary role of the finance department: business leaders expect strategic guidance from finance, while finance teams see their main task as processing transactions.
• While most respondents spend at least 4 hours per week searching for documents and approvals, nearly a quarter report spending 7 hours or more on this task each week.
• 64% of C-suite executives believe finance teams are effective in influencing strategic decisions, but only 50% of finance professionals believe their strategic input has a real impact, highlighting a disconnect in perception within organizations.
• Both the C-suite and finance teams identify automation as a key solution, with strong consensus that adopting technology to automate repetitive tasks would greatly enhance finance teams' strategic capabilities.

Laurent Charpentier, CEO of Yooz, explained: "Our research reveals a stark truth: misalignment between executives and finance teams is hindering organizational success. By embracing automation, teams can finally move beyond manual drudgery and leverage technology to achieve the strategic decision-making and direction that executives expect, driving the business forward."

2024 Yooz Survey: Leaders and the LedgerConducted by Pollfish in May 2024, the survey included 600 U.S. business professionals, all aged 18 and over, including 300 C-suite executives and 300 finance professionals, with a minimum annual household income of $50,000.

About Yooz

Yooz provides the smartest, most powerful, and easiest-to-use cloud-based e-invoicing and procure-to-pay (P2P) automation solution. It delivers unmatched savings, speed, and security to more than 5,000 customers and 300,000 users worldwide through an affordable, zero-risk subscription service. Yooz's unique solution leverages AI and RPA technologies to deliver an amazing level of automation with extreme simplicity, traceability, and end-to-end customizable features.

Yooz's North American headquarters is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Texas, with global offices in Europe.

To learn more about Yooz, visitwww.getyooz.com。