Strategic Finance
VerifiedMagazine
Strategic Finance™ is the award-winning flagship publication of IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants). Every month, our thought-provoking articles offer advice that helps financial professionals perform their jobs more effectively, advance their careers, grow personally and professionally, and make their organizations more profitable. SF articles are written with the practitioner in mind. Our goal is to cover all the important topics and trends that impact accountants and financial professionals in business, including sustainability, risk management, strategy, financial planning, the changing roles of the CFO and the finance function, budgeting, capital decisions, technology, careers, leadership, and more. Source
Actions
Media Outlet details
| Scope | International, Trade/B2B |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
Similarweb UVM
|
Request pricing |
Comscore UVM
|
Request pricing |
| Frequency | Monthly |
Recent Articles
Search ArticlesHow and Why Accounting Teams Should Deploy AI
It’s no secret that the finance and technology worlds are rapidly evolving. From startups to enterprises, the makeup of finance teams is leaner and more tech-savvy than ever before. At the same time, leadership across the C-suite demands new AI-driven solutions across all facets of the business. While independent factors spur both phenomena, their ascent isn’t wholly unrelated.
The Best of Strategic Finance 2024: Leadership
While there was a lot of focus in 2024 on topics like ESG reporting requirements and AI-enabled innovations, our coverage also focused on ways that professionals can grow as leaders—a critical skill for finance and accounting professionals to cultivate.
The Best of Strategic Finance 2024: AI
A major topic of interest for accounting and finance professionals in 2024? How AI will transform their work both today and in the future. AI promises to automate routine, day-to-day tasks, freeing people up to focus more time on big-picture, strategic work instead. But many companies are still figuring out how best to deploy AI to realize these benefits.
The Best of Strategic Finance 2024: ESG
With looming reporting changes on the horizon, the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) landscape was top of mind for Strategic Finance readers in 2024. Here’s a roundup of 10 ESG-related articles that ran in 2024. 1. Sustainability Accounting and Corporate Governance By: Mark L. Frigo, Ph.D., CMA, CPA; Robert Herz, CPA, FCA; Ray Whittington, Ph.D., CMA, CPA January 2024 Sustainability accounting presents new leadership opportunities for CFOs and finance organizations. 2.
Is AI the Cure for Spreadsheet Fatigue
The relentless pursuit of productivity and efficiency across the business world is having a negative impact on the workforce. In the United States alone, half of workers have suffered burnout in the past year, according to a 2024 survey by Grant Thornton. And the biggest pressure points for those people include emotional stress (63%), long hours (54%), and talent shortages (40%). Of course, none of this is news for accounting and finance professionals.
Excel: Improving Pivot Tables with MDX
A manager recently asked if a pivot table could show sales detail by product and average sales, not for each product, but just one average for the entire data set. While the easy way is to hide some rows, you can also use an obscure language to solve this problem. The language is called MDX, or Multidimensional Expressions. There is one entry point in the pivot table interface to write or edit MDX.
Cutting through Chaos with Sensemaking
In my last column, I discussed the concept of “sensemaking”—which, according to organizational psychologist Karl E. Weick, is the ability to make sense of what is happening to us in the world. What does it take to become a good sensemaker?
How I Found My Finance Niche with the CMA
With hundreds of thousands of students graduating as accounting or finance majors every year, I knew one of the best ways to stand out from other college students would be to find a niche. I discovered the answer in IMA’s CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) exam, which I took while I was still a student. Passing the two-part CMA exam in college turned out to be far more favorable than I initially expected—both in terms of how it helped me as a student and in the career opportunities it opened.
How to Build Your Personal Brand
There’s a reason companies like Apple, Visa, and Louis Vuitton invest so heavily in building—and protecting—their brands: It helps them boost engagement and loyalty with their audiences. But creating a powerhouse brand isn’t just for companies. The same principles can work for management accountants who want to advance in their careers. Whether you’re speaking at a conference, posting on social media, or hosting a lunch and learn, you’re putting yourself out there—and creating your very own brand.
How Finance Teams Can Do More with Less
Amid any global economic uncertainty—ranging from inflation to interest rates—CFOs must demand more frequent, accurate forecasts and reporting to stay ahead of volatile conditions. Such efforts can drain resources and lead to ineffective data, controllership, and budgeting/planning. There’s also a growing gap in the skills needed to complete capital management, financial planning, and analysis tasks. That’s why CFOs need to invest in the right strategies and technologies.