Meeting finance priorities in an ERP implementation

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are often pitched as game-changers for finance transformation. But as Miles Ewing, principal, Finance & Performance at Deloitte Consulting, reports in The Australian, around 70% of finance leaders say their ERP initiatives have been slower or less impactful than expected. Why the gap? Ewing’s interviews with 26 CFOs suggest a key reason: unclear or unmeasured finance goals. Projects that focused on specific, measurable outcomes—like cost reduction or enabling M&A—delivered real value. But vague goals such as “reducing manual effort” or “improving analytics” were often deprioritized in favor of hitting go-live deadlines. In many cases, the urgency to launch on time meant finance priorities were sidelined. Some CFOs admitted they had no way to quantify whether finance actually improved post-implementation. Other recurring issues included poor-quality data from upstream functions, limited system scope, and lack of change management. Even with modern ERP systems, teams often reverted to manual processes due to these gaps.

Ewing identifies three persistent challenges:

1. Finance is broad, but ERP systems often cover only slices like accounting.
2. Finance depends on external data, which tech alone can’t fix.
3. Transformation needs policy/process change, not just new systems.

The lesson here is without clear goals, cross-functional coordination, and strong change leadership, ERP investments may not deliver the finance transformation CFOs expect.

(This is part one of a two-part series. The next article explores how CFOs can lead more successful transformation efforts.)

 

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