The Buzz 1: CFOs often perceive cybersecurity to be the responsibility of IT, but as more finance processes run remotely, CFOs need to develop security measures specifically for the finance function and not rely solely on the organization’s blanket security protocols to safeguard financial data. (www.gartner.com)

The Buzz 2: Finance leaders in the midst of leading or co-leading a broader transformation initiative (42% of CFOs, per Deloitte’s CFO Signals™ survey for Q2-2021), may want to make modernizing their security model part of that effort. (deloitte.wsj.com)

The Buzz 3: CFOs and their teams are the gatekeepers for the critical data required to generate forecasts and support senior leaders’ strategic plans and decisions…At the top of the four areas of technology that show the most promise for use in finance: automation and robotics to improve processes in finance.” (www.mckinsey.com)

Yes, organizations must find ways to thrive in today’s disruptive business environment, with its shifting geo-political and financial landscapes, the momentum to digitize and automate, and increasing cybersecurity threats.

How? Focus more on internal controls over most business processes as well as corporate resilience in financial and cybersecurity domains. Cybersecurity attacks not only affect normal business operations but add ambiguity to the reliability of financial statements.

Stakeholders are under pressure from due diligence requirements to gain more reliable views of organizational risk, resilience, accountability and transparency. To ensure quarterly and annual reports accurately reflect financial status and to bolster cybersecurity protection, they are automating process controls as part of a financial transformation.

We’ll ask Dr. Neil Patrick at SAP, Mithilesh Kotwal at Protiviti and Tony Robey at Wipro for their insights on Cyber Resilience and Control Automation for Finance.