Finance teams are under more pressure than ever, but the problem is not necessarily that they are not working hard enough. In many cases, the way the finance function is structured is what is holding them back.
Only 2% of finance teams consider themselves fully optimised, while half still take more than five business days to close the books. That means leadership teams can end up making decisions based on financial information that is already out of date by the time it reaches them. (FP&A Trends Survey, 2025; Ledge, 2025).
At the same time, the role of the CFO has expanded. Finance leaders are increasingly expected to contribute to strategy, guide decision-making and help shape the direction of the business, rather than simply report on what has already happened. The problem is that the capacity to do this has not always kept pace with the expectations placed on finance.
Why the obvious fixes have not worked
When a poorly designed process is automated, the result can simply be a faster version of the same problem. Many finance teams have automated parts of their workflow, but that does not necessarily mean they have freed up significant capacity. If the underlying processes and responsibilities have not changed, people can still spend much of their time doing work that could be handled differently.
Headcount presents another challenge.
Accounting and finance remain among the most constrained skills areas in South Africa, while globally, 60% of finance leaders say hiring finance and accounting professionals has become more difficult. Of those surveyed, 41% reported that roles take between three and six months to fill. (CFO Brew, 2026).
Simply deciding to hire more people does not guarantee that the right people will be available when they are needed. There is also a growing skills gap. The challenge is not necessarily a shortage of qualified accountants. It is finding people who combine strong financial knowledge with the technical, analytical and commercial skills that modern finance functions require. That is a more difficult gap to solve with a single training programme or another round of recruitment.
What higher-performing finance functions do differently
Finance functions that are successfully creating more capacity are looking at the way work is divided. Instead of expecting the same internal team to manage transactional and compliance-driven activities while also providing strategic insight, they are separating these responsibilities within the operating model.
Deloitte’s 2026 CFO Signals survey found that freeing staff for higher-value work through automation was the most frequently cited talent priority for 2026. It was identified by 49% of CFOs, ahead of AI adoption itself.
In practice, this means looking at which activities genuinely require internal business knowledge and which are process-driven. Routine activities such as reconciliations, month-end close and certain statutory reporting processes can often be handled through specialist external capacity. This gives internal finance teams more room to focus on forecasting, cost strategy, performance analysis and supporting leadership decisions.
The quality of that external capacity matters. A managed service staffed by experienced and qualified finance professionals gives internal teams greater confidence when handing over important processes. The objective is not simply to move work somewhere else. It is to make better use of the people within the finance function.
How AFA addresses this
AFA’s Flexible Resourcing solution addresses one of the biggest challenges facing finance leaders: access to qualified people when they are needed. Rather than entering a three to six-month recruitment process and hoping the right candidate becomes available, finance leaders can access AFA’s team of more than 250 finance professionals, the majority of whom are chartered accountants, CA(SA), for a defined period or scope.
Outsourcing can address the structural challenge as well as the capacity challenge. Activities such as reconciliations, financial reporting, payroll and financial statement preparation can be managed through AFA’s outsourcing services. This allows the internal finance function to focus its time and expertise on activities where its understanding of the business adds the most value.
AFA’s Level 1 B-BBEE status and 100% black ownership can also be an important consideration for organisations where B-BBEE requirements form part of supplier selection and procurement decisions.
The question worth asking
The useful question is not whether your finance team is busy. Most finance teams are. The better question is: How much of the work currently sitting within your internal finance function genuinely requires knowledge of your specific business, and how much is process-driven work that could be handled differently?
That distinction can reveal where additional capacity, flexible resourcing or outsourcing could make the biggest difference. For finance leaders looking to create more capacity without simply adding more pressure to their existing teams, it may be worth reviewing the current operating model before the next reporting cycle begins.
AFA can help identify where Flexible Resourcing or Outsourcing could fit into that model.
The goal is not to make your finance team work harder. It is to make sure their time is being spent on the work that matters most.
