When do finance offices create more organisational value? How does the finance function’s digital maturity affect organisational performance?

Abstract

Digital maturity can be defined as the measure of an organisation’s ability to respond to, take advantage of, and create value through digital technologies. It is commonly accepted that companies with high levels of digital maturity have a competitive advantage along multiple performance indicators: revenue growth, time to market, cost-effectiveness, product quality and customer satisfaction. In contrast, organisations with low levels of digital maturity struggle to exploit the benefits of digitalization. In this white paper, we discuss the possible benefits of an increase in the finance office’s digital maturity level. To do this, we develop a construct that represents the digital maturity of the finance office. Further, we examine the impact of the finance function’s digital maturity on the organisation’s performance, and we discuss the finance function’s ability to take on a strategic role in steering the organisation. We believe that the findings in our white paper, based on a survey among CFOs and finance leaders of Belgian firms, are highly relevant for all finance leaders who want their finance office to become true value generators for their organisations. The study is part of a master’s thesis by Jan Foncke and Anouck Willemoons (Master students, KU Leuven), together with supervisor Kristof Stouthuysen (Professor of Management Accounting & Digital Finance, Vlerick Business School) and coach Lennert Van der Schraelen (doctoral researcher, Vlerick Business School).