Is your finance and accounting team ready to drive your success throughout 2014? Robert Half’s fifth annual Benchmarking the Accounting & Finance Function report provides metrics on staffing, financial systems, outsourcing and more. Find out how your company measures up to its peers.

1. © 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

2. 2
2
Paul McDonald
Senior Executive Director
Robert Half
www.roberthalf.com
Tom Thompson
Senior Associate, Research
Financial Executives
Research Foundation
www.ferf.org
Report Authors
© 2014 Robert Half. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V. All rights reserved.
This material is the confidential property of Robert Half Technology.
Copying or reproducing this material is strictly prohibited.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

3. 3
Benchmark Report Overview
Workforce Management
Sourcing
Internal Controls
and Compliance
Financial Systems
Accounting Operations
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

4. 4
Methodology and Demographics
Company Type
62%
Private
3%
Government
15%
Nonprofit
20%
Public
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

5. 5
Methodology and Demographics
Annual Revenue
35%
Less than
$25M
6%
$500M-
$999M
20%
$100M-
$499M
27%
$25M-
$99M
8%
$1B-
$4.9B
5%
$5B
and over
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

6. 6
Workforce
Management
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

7. 7
Staff Allocation
21%
Accounting
15%
A/P
11%
A/R
Top 3:
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

8. 8
Percentage of Financial Staff Who Are Temporary
8%
of staff in U.S.
are temporary.
5%
of staff in Canada
are temporary.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

9. 9
Interim Staff Fluctuation
The largest companies ($5B
and up) are most likely to flex
up and down their use of
interim professionals.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

10. 10
Accounting
Operations
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

11. 11
General Ledger Accounts
19%
Among executives surveyed
this year, 15% in the U.S. and
19% in Canada indicated they
reconciled anywhere from 501
to more than 10,000 accounts
at least quarterly.
15%
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

12. 12
Tool/System Used For Account Reconciliations
66%
of Canadian
executives said
they reconcile
accounts
manually.
59%
of U.S.
executives said
they reconcile
accounts
manually.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

13. 13
Financial
Systems
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

14. 14
Primary Financial System
ERP
90%
78%
More than three-quarters (78%) of U.S.
companies and 90% of Canadian companies use
an ERP system as their primary financial system.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

15. 15
Long-Term Planning Tools
70%
of Canadian
executives use
Microsoft Excel.
73%
of U.S.
executives use
Microsoft Excel.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

16. 16
Sourcing
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

17. 17
Outsourced Functions
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.
Payroll
42%
37%
47%
42%
Taxes

18. 18
Internal Controls
and Compliance
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

19. 19
Number of Key Controls
21%
of companies with revenues of $5B and higher
manage between 1,001 and 2,500 key controls.
In comparison, none of the biggest companies
reported managing such a high number of key
controls last year.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

20. 20
Cost of Compliance
48%
of U.S. companies surveyed said their cost of
compliance is rising, while only 1% said costs are
falling.
41%
of Canadian companies surveyed said their cost
of compliance is rising as well, while only 3% said
costs are falling.
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

21. 21
Putting The Data To Work
• Not just what you know – but what you do with the
knowledge
• How will you use this data?
• Which areas of focus are most critical?
– Business processes and efficiencies
– Workforce management approach
– Technology
• Determine priorities and next steps
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.

22. Download Full Report
© 2014 Robert Half International Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V.