Your finance function isn’t just bookkeeping and spreadsheets. It’s the system that supports your entire business strategy. It guides decisions, monitors performance, and helps you keep things stable and running smoothly. It doesn’t mater if your company is big or small, improving your finance function means more efficiencies, better knowledge, and more stable long-term growth.

At Gravitate, finance functions are our speciality. So here are 10 practical ways to improve your finance function and make it a core part of your strategy.

These tips are suitable for companies of any size too!

1. Automate Repetitive Financial Processes

First, if your team still spends hours on manual, repetitive tasks like invoice entry, reconciliations, or payroll, it’s time to get these automated.

Cloud-based platforms such as Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage can manage these everyday processes with minimal input once set up properly. This reduces errors and frees up time for analysis and planning.

If you’re new to automation, you can start small. Automate one or two tasks that consume the most time or cause the most trouble, measure the results, then expand.  

Automation isn’t about replacing people; it’s about allowing your people to focus on higher-value activities that make a real difference to your business.

2. Invest in Financial Training for Your Team

Your finance function is only as effective as the people behind it. Investing in high quality financial training means you get a capable, confident team who can interpret data accurately and make informed decisions.

Upskilling doesn’t have to mean long courses or excessive costs either. Training can range from short workshops, online modules, or mentoring to company wide, comprehensive education.

You should encourage employees from other departments to learn the basics of financial management too. When your sales, marketing, or operations teams understand how their actions affect profitability, they to can make better, more responsible choices.

3. Improve Financial Planning and Forecasting

Effective forecasting helps you anticipate trends or risks, allocate resources well, and adapt quickly to changing market conditions.

You can start with your historical data and use that to model realistic financial scenarios. Then, you can develop multiple scenarios like best case, conservative, and worst case, to understand how different conditions might impact your business.

Digital tools like Fathom can automate a lot of the process, using predictive analytics and real-time data to give you confidence in what’s ahead.

Good financial planning means you can be proactive rather than reactive. This distinction gives your business a real competitive edge.

4. Improve Data Management and Accuracy

Your financial data is only useful if it’s accurate. Incomplete or inconsistent information can lead to bad decisions, wasted effort, and lost money.

We recommend centralising your financial data so that your team always works from a single source of truth. It’s important to set clear data governance policies: clearly define who enters data, who verifies it, and how often it’s reviewed.

Accurate and well-managed data gives you confidence in your reports, improves forecasting accuracy, and provides a solid foundation for good financial decisions.

5. Move to Cloud-Based Accounting Systems

If you’re still using spreadsheets or outdated desktop software, migrating your finance function to the cloud can completely transform how you operate.

Cloud-based systems like Xero give you real-time access to high quality financial data from just about anywhere. These tools improve collaboration between teams, data security through automatic backups, and integration with CRMs and other tools you already use.

Critically, cloud tech can also scale as your business grows, meaning you can add functionality without having to overhaul your entire setup. It’s modern, flexible, and much more user friendly.

6. Streamline Your Financial Reporting

With the right systems in place, reporting becomes a streamlined, insight-driven process rather than a quarterly scramble.

Tools like Power BI or Tableau can automate report generation and create visual performance trends. Visual dashboards make it easier for non-financial colleagues to understand key figures and make decisions.

It’s important to always keep your reports focused on metrics that matter, like cash flow, profitability, and ROI. Clear, consistent reporting positions your finance function as a trusted advisor rather than just a number-crunching department.

7. Strengthen Your Internal Controls and Compliance

Robust internal controls protect your business from a huge range of risks, including fraud, mismanagement and regulatory breaches. By reviewing areas like your approval processes, spending limits, and audit trails regularly, you can ensure they’re fit for purpose.

It’s a good idea to share duties so that no individual controls a process from start to finish. This simple measure greatly reduces the risk of error or misuse. Combining this with regular internal audits will help you maintain transparency and accountability.

Staying compliant with tax laws and reporting regulations is just as important. Non-compliance can lead to severe financial penalties and reputational damage. Whereas building strong internal controls helps you safeguard your finances and maintain stakeholder trust. This is also an important aspect of audit readiness.

8. Encourage Collaboration Across Departments

Your finance function shouldn’t operate all on its own. When finance collaborates closely with other teams, you get a more connected, financially aware business overall.

For example, finance can help marketing assess the return on campaign spend, guide operations on cost management, or support sales in setting achievable targets. Regular cross-department meetings promote understanding and alignment between business strategy and budget.

9. Monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Regularly

Keeping track of your KPIs, particularly your key financial metrics, gives you reliable insight into how your business is performing.

Your finance function should focus on core indicators (if relevant) like:

• Gross profit margin

• Operating cash flow

• Debt-to-equity ratio

• Accounts receivable turnover

• Return on investment (ROI)

Reviewing these KPIs monthly or quarterly helps you identify patterns, address issues early, and adjust course when necessary. Knowing these numbers is one of the simplest, most effective ways to strengthen your financial performance.

10. Engage Professional Advisors When Needed

Sometimes, an external perspective can make a big difference. An accountant or Outsourced Finance Director can bring specialist knowledge to the table that complements your internal finance function.

External advisors can contribute to a wide range of projects, including tax planning, restructuring, or preparing for investment. They can help you make well-informed decisions and avoid potential pitfalls.  

Think of them as strategic partners - experts who help you shape the financial direction of your business and maximise performance over time.

Build a Culture of Financial Responsibility

Beyond the right tools and processes, what truly strengthens your finance function is your culture. When financial awareness becomes part of your company’s mission statement, every decision becomes smarter and more closely linked to the company’s overall direction.

It’s good to encourage openness around budgets, share results with transparency, and recognise teams that manage resources efficiently. When your people understand how their choices affect the bottom line, they can take more ownership. That collective accountability builds long-term financial resilience.

How Gravitate can help

Improving your finance function isn’t a single project; it’s a continuous process. By automating repetitive tasks, investing in skills, strengthening forecasting, and embracing technology, you can transform your finance function into a strategic driver of growth.

A strong finance function doesn’t just record where your business has been. It helps shape where it’s going.

Gravitate helps businesses with all of the areas listed in this blog, and more. So if you want to improve your finance function and ensure it is fine tuned to your overall business goals, get in touch and arrange a consultation!