Among global IPO delays, fast-growing businesses are looking
to bolster last-mile financial readiness, eying eventual economic
recovery
SAN
MATEO, Calif., June 29,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Even with today's economic
volatility, inadequate financial systems and processes are holding
global businesses back from growing at scale, according to new
research from Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP), a leader in Business
Spend Management (BSM).
Nearly three in four (72%) high-growth businesses recognize
their financial processes are not robust and scalable enough to
support growth plans. Compounded with concerns over currently
rising interest rates (according to 32% of businesses), supply
chain shortages (30%), stock market volatility (30%), and
inflation (29%), these companies are curbing growth plans and
delaying IPOs (78%).
"High-growth and pre-IPO phases are major stress tests for any
company," said Tony Tiscornia, chief
financial officer at Coupa. "An uncertain market environment like
we're seeing now doesn't help either. Finance teams can be the
anchor in these storms, providing real-time transparency to
facilitate management decisions, as well as developing processes
and implementing technology to support the way forward."
Manual Processes Cause Slow Downs; The Case for Going
Digital
Companies pursuing high growth need a clear picture
of their cash position and audit compliance. This is true for
companies considering an IPO and those focusing more on margins as
macroeconomic pressures increase. But the data indicate manual
processes and siloed data are holding companies back:
- 60% have manual processes for procurement, 56% for supplier
management, 56% for cash management, 47% for invoicing, and 40% for
payments.
- Only 38% can accurately identify company cash on hand, 75% need
to log into multiple systems to do so, and 42% said it could take
them at least several days to retrieve necessary information.
- Nearly two thirds are not fully confident they can produce
auditable financial information for at least the last 2-3 years
(62%) nor auditable reports for markets on a quarterly basis
(60%).
Finance Leaders Look to Improve Last-Mile
Readiness
Finance teams seek improvements to scale financial
processes to support their company's growth ambitions,
including:
- 85% want to improve risk management processes and controls to
mitigate financial risk that could hinder growth.
- 70% are still building their team of experienced financial
experts.
- 67% want to improve financial controls to protect future
stockholders and prevent embezzlement.
"Regardless of a company's growth plans, whether it's to scale
for an IPO, M&A, or to raise venture capital, a comprehensive
approach to business spend management will provide a single source
of truth that empowers finance teams with full financial visibility
and control. For those companies that have delayed an IPO, now is
the opportune time to digitize back-office functions. This will not
only instill confidence in financial operations and compliance in
advance of being ready to list, but also ease the burden of
increased scrutiny once they become public," continued
Tiscornia.
Coupa has helped many high-growth companies with financial
readiness to list on public markets, including Uber and Slack.
To learn more, check out Coupa's financial readiness checklist
and ebook, which outlines five milestones for companies as they
scale and grow, including their route to IPO.
Methodology
The survey was conducted among 550 finance decision makers at
organizations with revenues of at least $100
million, across the U.K., France, Germany, and the U.S. Interviews were
conducted by Sapio Research in May
2022 using an email invitation and an online survey.
About Coupa
Coupa is the cloud-based Business Spend Management (BSM) platform
that unifies processes across supply chain, procurement, and
finance functions. Coupa empowers organizations around the world to
maximize value and operationalize purpose through their business
spend. To learn more about Coupa, visit www.coupa.com or follow us
on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Media Contact
press@coupa.com
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SOURCE Coupa Software