Tuesday, July 8

In 2025, the word on everyone’s mind is AI, it’s transforming the way many GBSs’ are carrying out their finance operations by boosting operational efficiency, increasing accuracy, and delivering real-time results that can allow for quicker and smarter decision-making. As we all know financial close processes can be timely and complex, and accuracy is paramount to achieving errorless results. However, the emergence of Generative AI use offers a solution to these issues. In this session, we’ll explore how AI and Generative AI can transform your finance operations, from automating tedious tasks to allowing real-time financial insight at your fingertips and predictive analytics, that can further your organization’s goal towards continuous accounting.  

Key Topics Include:  

• How to shift to real-time data, to overtake traditional accounting processes 
• Use cases of Gen AI integration into areas of R2R such as reconciliation and journal entries 
• Addressing barriers to implementing effective automation and how to overcome them 
• Highlighting the immediate benefits for accountants of using Copilot and ChatGPT 

In today’s fast-paced global environment, navigating the complexities of tax and statutory regulations across multiple geographies can be a difficult task. Organizations that offshore their Record-to-Report (R2R) processes often see significant benefits, such as cost savings and increased efficiency. However, managing cross-border statutory reporting while balancing the local nuances of each country with global requirements can present notable challenges. 

In this session, we’ll dive into practical strategies to help you streamline cross-border statutory reporting, overcome common obstacles, and favor centralization. We will explore how organizations can adhere to compliance processes efficiently and ensure consistency while respecting local laws. 

Key Topics Include:  

• Streamlining cross-border statutory reporting while balancing local and global requirements 
• Acting proactively to keep up with ever-evolving tax and statutory regulations 
• Successful management of tax processes within shared services 
• Best practice for task management: What roles say local which can be done globally? 

As the team responsible for collecting, processing, and reporting an organization’s key data, the record-to-report team holds immense potential to deliver significant value to the organization. With the growing integration of data analytics and advanced technologies like Generative AI, capable not only of analyzing data but also of offering insightful prompts and recommendations, R2R teams now can expand beyond traditional reporting. This evolution enables them to provide valuable decision support on top of reporting. In this session, we’ll explore how R2R teams can transition to a "Record-to-Decide" model, highlighting the key processes, data, and skills required for success. 

Sofía Becerra

Senior Director- Global Business Service Americas Operation
Adidas

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Sibel Ibram

Value Realisation Office Lead Record to Report
BAT

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Accuracy is critical in accounting, to be able to maximize the fullest potential of your data, it needs to be consistent and reliable. Attempting to train an AI model to understand with unreliable input will result in an unreliable output. Discover in this session how to refine your data to a high quality and standardize inconsistent data across multiple ERP systems, to provide optimal insight extraction for your organization. 

• Mastering data Input quality and standardization   
• Understanding the need for automation and addressing the underlying process issues underneath this 
• Homing in on the importance of process design and data cleansing in driving smarter data-driven decisions 

Justyna Matysiak-Belz

Director of Shared Services
Calderys

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The integration of AI into finance roles is not a future concept anymore. It is already happening right in front of our eyes and providing the opportunity to redefine accounting roles. To thrive in 2025 and beyond, a greater understanding of AI tools in your workforce is crucial to adapt to the merging landscape of technology and finance. These skills are also key to staying competitive in a changing job market and improving performance in financial roles. This session addresses ways leaders can effectively upskill their teams, empowering them to navigate the intersection of technology and finance effectively.  

• Merging finance and technology skills to adapt to an evolving environment  
• Empowering your workforce to navigate and effectively use AI to decrease manual workload and focus on more value-adding tasks 
• Teaching your workforce about Prompt Engineering- how to ask the right questions to maximize the value of AI in finance functions 

Afonso Guimaraes

R2R Business Transformation Lead
Marathon Oil

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