Despite all the talk of finance'sevolution into a more strategic partner to the business, budgets and staffingremain quite tight. This dichotomy between expandingresponsibilities and shrinking budgets is one of the key challengesrevealed in this year's “Finance Key Issues” study from The HackettGroup. The two issues that survey respondents identified as mostimportant in 2015 are Achieving and maintaining a competitivecost structure and Improving decision-makingeffectiveness.

“Overall, when we talk to business leaders outside of finance,growth is at the top of the agenda,” says Jim O'Connor, globalpractice leader, global business services and finance advisoryprograms, for The Hackett Group. “Senior management is looking atgrowth through innovation, through new products and services, orthrough expanding into new regions. And so finance is focusing onbuilding the capabilities they need to support the company'sexpected growth.”

At the same time, O'Connor recognizes, finance managers continueto face pressure to cut costs. “It's a duality in objectives,” hesays. “As finance is finding ways to be a partner to the businessand bring more value, they are also expected to operate with less,to trim staff, and to maintain a competitive cost structure.”