Companies must improve the speed of reporting if they are to gain competitive advantage and deal with compliance pressures, warns Cartesis, the business performance specialist.
Almost a third of FTSE 350 directors surveyed are taking between 11 to 25 days to report figures to stakeholders, whereas 43% of respondents are taking between six to 10 days (two working weeks) to report.
The results also found that the majority of those respondents who are efficient and reporting in just one to five days (17%), are using an integrated business performance management system, rather than just spreadsheets or a mixture of applications to support the reporting process.
"Although UK businesses are now reporting faster than ever, these results still raise serious concerns," says John Taylor, managing director of Cartesis UK. "Firstly, it's alarming that so many FTSE companies are taking the best part of the month to report. By the time the finance team has delivered the results, they immediately have to start again to ensure they meet the next deadline. Not only is it difficult to see how you can possibly make sound strategic decisions based upon data that's out of date, but such inefficient processes are a complete waste of talented resource.