How Unit4 Contract Management can help procurement teams collaborate with the CFO

In this blog, we will discuss the CFO’s expectations regarding procurement's contract management, and how Unit4’s Source-to-Contract solution can enable procurement teams to collaborate effectively with other key functions by improving their data management and reporting ability – keep reading to learn more.

What does the CFO expect from procurement contract management?

CFOs use contract data to identify areas of risk, goals for growth, and financial projections. They trust procurement teams to report this data to them accurately, here is just some of the data CFOs expect reporting and analysis of:

Cost tracking of Buy-side contracts 

Buy-side contracts are common procurement contracts that arrange to obtain goods or services from a vendor. 
CFOs will expect reporting on all facets of a buy-side contract and will expect procurement teams to continually analyze how they can reduce associated costs and risks.

Revenue tracking for Sell-side Contracts 

Sell-side contracts are another common contract whereby your organization supplies goods or services to another party. CFOs want reports on expected revenue, associated risks, as well as renegotiations or restructuring of sell-side contracts.

Audit Preparation 

When audits occur the CFO expects procurement to be on top of their contract management. Auditors will scrutinize procurement contracts for compliance, regulations, and standard practices. Naturally, the CFO expects procurement teams to be on top of this, as not to hold up the auditing process.

Click to read Office of the CFO (Gated)

Compliance 

Similarly, a CFO will expect that compliance is upheld in all procurement contracts. They will want to know what processes are in place to do this, and that procurement teams can manage the compliance processes effectively.
The risk of non-compliance is serious so CFOs will take particular interest in compliance processes.

Contract termination and commencement

To keep tabs on revenue and budgets, as well as to forecast an organization’s financial health, the office of the CFO needs clear and up-to-date data concerning what contracts may be commencing soon, and which contracts are ending soon.

If a particularly weighty contract is coming to an end sometime soon, a CFO must be warned about this so that they can prepare for a potential drop in revenue.

Risk management

Naturally, with contracts, there are big risk management concerns, not just fiscal risk, but vendors, suppliers, compliance, vetting, and more. CFOs expect clear reporting on the financial risk associated with procurement contracts, both buy-side and sell-side.

Asset management 

Part of financial control is the control of assets, and when assets are gained or lost through contracts, CFOs need to be able to tie assets to contracts and keep track of them. Without visibility of assets and the relevant contracts they are tied to, the CFO will struggle to plan finances and safeguard assets with documentation.
How can digital tools enable efficient contract management?

Data visibility

Data visibility is perhaps the most important part of contract management. If a procurement function doesn’t have simple procedures to report accurately on contract data, they will not meet the CFOs expectations.

Advanced reporting capabilities

Succinct reporting is required not just to meet the CFOs expectations of contract management, but to ensure that procurement teams are not burdened with poor workflows, manual tasks, and data consolidation that takes unnecessary time and energy.

Standard procedures

Digital transformation of procurement processes can introduce more standard procedures for certain aspects of contract management. Compliance is simple when frameworks are already in place. For example, ensuring contracts follow certain templates can ensure compliance, but also continuity.

How can Unit4 Source-to-Contract by Scanmarket make contract management simple?

Unit4 Contract Management is an ideal solution for procurement contract management, making collaboration with the CFO, and other functions, much easier by integrating data into the Cloud.

Organizations can streamline contract management by unifying all contracts in one system. Unit4 Source-to-Contract centralization helps you accelerate processes, lower risks, and enhance compliance. Gain full visibility of contract versions and the full audit trail of changes. When it comes to contract tracking and contract management, data visibility is key.

Improve contractual compliance by controlling authoring, tracking contract versions, and managing approvals with collaborative workflows. Contract management software accelerates processes with eSignatures, ensures full audit visibility, and streamlines control of contracts, data, and documentation.

80% of organizations report they achieve a medium or high level of value from Contract Management tools, and Unit4’s Source-to-Contract solution has helped many organizations achieve this value. To learn more, visit our dedicated product page, our customer stories, or talk to sales today.