Talent shortages and low retention in finance roles
There’s a clear message emerging from finance departments everywhere, fewer people want to take on traditional finance roles, and the ones who do don’t stay long. Especially in Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR), recruiting and retaining talent is turning into a long-term problem. The cycle looks like this: repetitive work creates disengaged employees, disengagement leads to high turnover, and turnover drives up costs, about €10,600 per employee in Europe. That’s waste, and waste shouldn’t be tolerated.
Entry-level finance work today is stuck in a rut. Too much of it involves spreadsheets, manual entry, and task repetition. It’s not just inefficient, it’s uninspiring. Generation Z professionals entering the job market want more than routine. They look for purpose, growth, and the ability to make an impact early. If we continue to offer them tedious tasks with low upside, they’ll look elsewhere, and they are.
What this tells us is simple: if roles aren’t changing, people will. And as labor shortages continue, the shortage of skilled finance talent is squeezing margins tighter. Let’s not forget, finance isn’t just a back-office function anymore. It drives strategic insights and business planning. Keeping it hampered by outdated workflows is a blocker to any serious progress.
Mandatory e-invoicing laws in Europe accelerate automation needs
Regulations in Europe are changing fast. Starting January 2025, Germany will roll out mandatory electronic invoicing for B2B transactions. France and Spain are next in 2026. If your business touches any of those markets, it won’t matter where your headquarters are, you’ll need to comply. This push toward e-invoicing isn’t a suggestion. It’s the law. And it’s coming.
That means the era of paper invoices and manual logging is closing. Businesses that fail to adopt electronic systems will face penalties and lose visibility over cash flow. This isn’t a minor procedural shift. This changes how finance works at a systems level. Every team still running on manual workflows will need to evolve or risk falling behind, fast.
But compliance is just the starting line. The real advantage comes when businesses leverage these regulatory mandates to rethink their processes entirely. Drop the inefficiency. Implement automation not just to meet the rules, but to improve how finance operates overall. Cleaner data, better oversight, faster processing, this is the kind of infrastructure that supports real innovation.
For C-suite executives, this is a decision point. Make investments now to meet regulatory requirements, and at the same time, set up your finance teams to operate with more precision, more insight, and more resilience. There’s no value in waiting.
Automation enhances employee engagement by shifting focus
Automation isn’t about cutting jobs. It’s about removing the kind of work no one actually wants to do. In finance, that means ending the cycle of invoice entry and reconciliation that has defined Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR) for decades. Left untouched, these roles stay repetitive, difficult to retain, and disconnected from any strategic mission. Implement automation, and suddenly they begin to look like something entirely different, positions that focus on supplier relationships, forecasting, and exercising real judgment.
These changes matter. Because people coming into finance aren’t willing to spend their early careers doing repetitive admin work. And they shouldn’t have to. They want to learn, make decisions, drive change, and they want to do it from day one. When process automation takes over predictable tasks, it frees teams up to contribute higher-value output right from the start.
This shift doesn’t just benefit new hires. It improves the quality and agility of the entire finance function. Giving smart people better tools leads to better analysis, tighter collaboration with other teams, and faster business decisions. It also reduces turnover, because work becomes more fulfilling. And from a leadership standpoint, this creates a feedback loop, stronger roles attract stronger talent, which produces stronger results. That’s the real payoff. It’s the difference between an operational cost center and a performance lever.
Automation improves productivity and morale in finance teams
Slow software and manual processes are still frustrating a lot of finance professionals. Most people know where the pain points are, it’s just a question of whether anyone is doing anything about them. Ricoh Europe’s research confirms it: one-third of European employees don’t have access to the automation tools they want. Finance directors also say underinvestment in automation is one of the top barriers to productivity. So while expectations continue to rise, support systems haven’t kept pace.
This is exactly how burnout builds. If you’re a CFO or CEO, you should care, because disengagement isn’t just bad for morale, it’s expensive to fix. Teams stuck doing tasks software should already handle aren’t only slower, they’re less accurate, less motivated, and more likely to leave. And if finance talent leaves, your compliance, reporting, and cash management performance weakens with it.
Fortunately, the trajectory is changing. More than a third of finance leaders now say they’re prioritizing automation that improves workflows, not just reporting. That focus helps teams shift from reactive to proactive. They get to focus on strategic questions, not clean-up work. The results? Fewer errors. Faster cycles. Higher engagement. You won’t need to chase productivity when it comes as a result of well-placed investment.
Automation as a key driver for a resilient, future-ready finance function
The future of finance isn’t defined by how many transactions you can process. It’s defined by how well your team turns data into action. Automation is what gets you there. It moves finance out of maintenance mode and into a central role in strategic execution. It reduces errors, standardizes processes, and makes it possible for people to focus on analysis, forecasting, and decision-making instead of unproductive busywork.
As regulations shift and markets become more volatile, finance functions need to be more agile. Automation gives teams that flexibility. It reduces the noise and manual overhead that slow businesses down and opens the door to dynamic planning, cross-functional alignment, and stronger financial intelligence. You can’t build a forward-looking company on outdated spreadsheets and disconnected systems.
This matters for more than just operational performance. Today’s finance professionals, regardless of generation, want roles where they contribute directly to growth. They don’t accept a model where finance just reports on performance. They want to help define it. Companies that modernize their finance functions through automation attract and retain these people. Companies that don’t will fall behind, gradually, then suddenly.
Here’s what it comes down to for executives and boards: automation is not a technology initiative, it’s a leadership one. It’s a choice to design roles around where people can have impact, not around what the processes used to require. It’s also the most direct way to preserve institutional knowledge, reduce attrition risk, and deliver the consistency modern finance demands. Wait, and you’re playing catch-up. Invest early, and you’re ahead by design.
Key executive takeaways
- Talent roles are losing relevance without change: Entry-level finance jobs with heavy manual tasks are driving turnover and deterring new talent. Leaders should modernize workflows to reduce attrition and attract purpose-driven professionals.
- Regulation is forcing digital readiness: Mandated e-invoicing in major EU markets makes automation non-negotiable. Executives must act early to ensure compliance and avoid operational penalties or cash flow disruption.
- Strategic roles require automation: Automating repetitive finance tasks enables professionals to contribute in forecasting, analysis, and strategic planning. Companies that redesign roles around impact will improve retention and team value.
- Admin overload is hurting productivity and morale: One-third of employees lack access to automation tools, leading to disengagement and inefficiency. Leaders should invest in tech that frees up teams for high-value, fulfilling work.
- The future of finance is insight-driven and people-powered: Automation is foundational to transforming finance from a cost center into a strategic partner. Organizations that move now will build more agile teams and protect against long-term talent and operational risk.
