Interview with Darren Cran of AccountsIQ
Finance management is coming into its most consequential shift in a long time. On this interview, Darren Cran shares how AI and automation are redefining the position of the fashionable finance director. You’ll uncover why know-how alone isn’t sufficient, learn how to keep away from transformation fatigue, and the place automation delivers measurable strategic benefit.
You’ve had a protracted profession scaling groups and main finance features. What private classes from that journey most affect the way you strategy management as we speak?
One of many largest classes is that funding in know-how at all times requires an funding in folks. You possibly can choose the ‘greatest’ system on paper, however it would nonetheless fail if groups aren’t correctly supported by coaching, clear possession, and ongoing enablement. I’ve seen firsthand how poor adoption results in handbook workarounds, workload inflation, and burnout, which is the precise reverse of what transformation is supposed to realize.
The second lesson is to steadiness ambition with practicality. It’s straightforward to overreach – particularly once you’re scaling quick and underneath strain – so I attempt to maintain anchored on outcomes: does this enhance choice-making, or does it add complexity? For me, the finance operate of the longer term isn’t about extra tech for tech’s sake; it’s about giving groups time again and making information simply accessible and correct to considerably enhance outcomes.
Trying again at your early roles in skilled follow and senior finance positions, what habits or abilities proved most useful for navigating advanced programs and transformation initiatives?
Two habits stand out. The first is getting forensic early – mapping processes, integrations, and information realities earlier than you decide to a plan. Hidden complexity tends to point out up late (and painfully) for those who don’t floor it upfront, particularly the place a number of programs and stakeholders are concerned. That’s why I’m a giant believer in de-risking early with sensible testing and clear scope boundaries.
If folks don’t perceive the aim, they’ll default to outdated methods of working, even with a brand new system.
The second is communication self-discipline: translating the ‘why’ into language that is sensible for every group – finance, IT, operations, and management. In transformation, you’re always aligning expectations, making commerce-offs, and retaining confidence excessive. If folks don’t perceive the aim, they’ll default to outdated methods of working, even with a brand new system.
Many finance administrators are underneath strain to ship deeper enterprise perception alongside operational management. The place ought to groups focus first when introducing AI and automation to create a tangible influence?
Begin the place friction is most seen: information assortment, reconciliation, and handbook reporting – the work that consumes time with out enhancing choice high quality. If you happen to take away these bottlenecks, you shortly create capability for larger-worth evaluation and partnering.
I’d additionally encourage leaders to separate hype from utility. Lots of what finance groups want is already accessible in confirmed automation (e.g., guidelines-based mostly approaches, OCR, smarter reconciliations). That may ship fast features with decrease danger, then you may layer extra superior AI use circumstances as soon as your information foundations and controls are robust.
As transactional and reporting work turns into more and more automated, how can finance leaders reposition their groups to contribute extra strategically to the enterprise?
Automation ought to give finance bandwidth again – and one of the best use of that bandwidth helps the organisation perceive the story behind the numbers: what’s driving efficiency, the place dangers are rising, and what selections will form the following quarter. Finance can transfer from producing stories to producing perception by constructing a stronger narrative round information and asking ‘’what story are we attempting to inform?”.
That shift additionally depends on having a single supply of fact and related programs, so folks belief the numbers and may transfer quicker. When finance can shut faster and clarify variances with confidence, they’re a core ingredient to a enterprise that makes higher choices.
Change administration is commonly the largest problem in finance transformation. What sensible steps can administrators take to information their groups and preserve confidence throughout system and course of upgrades?
First: proper-measurement the change. One widespread pitfall is assuming that larger robotically equals higher and consequently choosing a very advanced system or strategy that the organisation isn’t able to adapt to. That’s the place confidence erodes, timelines slip, and other people disengage.
Groups want structured studying, accessible assist that they’ll refer again to at any time in the method, and a transparent “that is how we do it now” course of definition in order that they don’t retreat to outdated spreadsheets and shadow workflows.
Second: make investments early in coaching, assist, and clear possession. The system doesn’t create worth – adoption does. Groups want structured studying, accessible assist that they’ll refer again to at any time in the method, and a transparent “that is how we do it now” course of definition in order that they don’t retreat to outdated spreadsheets and shadow workflows.
Third: scale back danger by being pragmatic about information migration and integrations – deliver what you might want to function and report properly, and keep away from importing poor-high quality historic information that creates downstream confusion. Confidence grows when go-reside is clear, and other people can see fast wins.
Over the following few years, which areas of finance – comparable to forecasting, reporting, or controls – do you count on to be most remodeled by AI and automation, and the way ought to leaders put together?
We’ll see main change in steady shut and reporting (much less handbook consolidation and extra actual-time visibility), plus forecasting and planning (quicker situation modelling, higher variance explanations, and extra dynamic rolling forecasts). However the true leap is when these capabilities sit on clear, related information – then the organisation will get quicker at choice-making, not simply quicker at producing outputs.
To organize, leaders ought to deal with: (1) information foundations and a single supply of fact, (2) automation of repeatable processes first, and (3) clear governance – so controls strengthen as pace will increase, relatively than weakening.
For finance administrators wanting forward, what capabilities, abilities, or mindsets ought to they prioritise as we speak to make sure their groups stay resilient, efficient, and prepared for the longer term?
The first shift is redefining efficiency. It’s not about how exhausting the staff works to provide correct numbers – it’s about how shortly and clearly finance can translate information into choices. Which means investing in robust information foundations, constant processes, and a real single supply of fact, whereas constructing business storytelling abilities so groups can clarify not simply what occurred, however what it means and what ought to occur subsequent.
Simply as importantly, leaders must create area for trustworthy conversations – about abilities gaps, system limitations, and readiness for change. Automation ought to enhance folks’s capability, however that capability have to be intentionally redirected into forecasting, situation planning, and proactive enterprise partnering. The finance operate of the longer term shall be outlined by readability, adaptability, and the boldness to problem current methods of working earlier than circumstances drive change.
Government Profile
Darren Cran has been with AccountsIQ since 2012, becoming a member of when the corporate had simply 14 workers and has performed a key position in scaling the enterprise to over 150 workers supporting greater than 35,000 customers worldwide. A Chartered Accountant who skilled with KPMG, Darren’s profession in finance and business previous to becoming a member of AccountsIQ concerned senior finance positions at Kefron, Crowe, and IRBC. As COO and now as CEO at AccountsIQ Group, he has overseen main milestones for the enterprise, together with main investments from Fitch and Axiom Group and the acquisition of main Expense Administration software program, ExpenseIn, in 2025.
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