Governance. You may already be at risk without knowing it.
SUMMARY
This article outlines the three major challenges that corporate finance teams face in mid-sized companies due to the lack of governance in financial operations.
Reading time: 4 minutes
Poor financial governance: a silent but strategic barrier to performance
For mid-sized and larger companies, a lack of governance in financial processes (reporting, month-end closing, budgeting...) has deep impacts, often underestimated. Without a clear structure, defined roles, and well-framed processes, teams work in silos, errors multiply, deadlines stretch out, and leadership lacks reliable visibility to make strategic decisions. Addressing these challenges is not just about efficiency—it's a necessary condition for healthy, agile, and scalable business management.
Challenge #1: Loss of control over data accuracy and quality
Without governance, each department generates its figures using its own rules, assumptions, and formats. Consolidations become tedious and error-prone. This usually happens because growing companies have not yet formalized standard reporting structures or unified financial data formats. The quality of information becomes a variable, not a reliable foundation.
To mitigate this risk, it's essential to standardize processes and data formats across the organization. A specialized platform can centralize financial structures (chart of accounts, cost centers, KPIs), automatically validate entries, and ensure consistency among contributors—regardless of department or location..
Challenge #2: Lack of role clarity and responsibility
Another major issue is the lack of clarity around who does what, when, and with what level of responsibility. Without formalized processes, follow-ups happen through scattered emails, deadlines are vague, and tasks fall through the cracks. This ambiguity is typical in organizations undergoing transformation, where structures evolve faster than processes.
To address this, companies should establish visible, well-defined governance of processes, including roles (contributor, reviewer, approver), shared timelines, and control points. Advanced platforms offer built-in workflows, automated notifications, differentiated access rights, and dashboards for real-time status tracking.
Challenge #3: Inability to audit and explain decisions
Without governance, it's difficult to trace changes in budgets, the assumptions used, or who made which financial decision. This lack of traceability undermines transparency, auditability, and the ability to understand what was decided—and why. This issue often arises because most processes are handled in Excel or via informal, undocumented exchanges.
To solve this, companies need to establish full traceability of financial processes. Modern solutions enable tracking of every change, documentation of justifications, and maintenance of a clear audit trail. This strengthens compliance, boosts team confidence, and reinforces the reliability of both internal and external financial presentations.
Conclusion
LThe consequences of weak governance in financial processes are numerous: inconsistent data quality, unclear accountability, and poor auditability. To regain control, it's crucial to structure processes, roles, and tools within an integrated framework. The FP&A SwiftFinance solution directly addresses these issues by providing a secure, collaborative, and governed environment. With SwiftFinance, finance becomes a true strategic driver—not just a report-producing function.
Simplify your work
Ensure healthy governance across all your financial processes—starting now!
Make the right choice with EXIA's FP&A SwiftFinance solution!
Impacts of poor governance in corporate Finance