It has never been easy being an insurance company CFO. In addition to the issues created by complex legacy systems and organizational models–and the move to digital transformation–CFOs in recent years have had to deal with new risk, regulatory and compliance requirements. 

As part of Accenture's 2014 High Performance Finance Study–in which we spoke to more than 600 CFOs and senior finance officers in multiple industries–we surveyed more than 75 individuals from major P&C and life insurance companies worldwide. We found that insurance CFOs, like finance officers in other industries, have added "achieving growth" to an already long list of high priorities. This means that, in addition to their ongoing focus on operational cost management, insurance finance executives are making plans and investments that will create a solid foundation for future growth. Executing on these plans, however, will not be easy.

Respondents highlighted managing business complexity as a key challenge. In particular, dealing with legacy systems and environment was highlighted by 59% of insurers as a key issue. Legacy systems paired with the need to optimize the capital structure of the enterprise were the top two issues named by respondents. The overall challenge of managing the needs of diverse stakeholders was the third most commonly identified concern, named by 49%. Complexity cannot be avoided, but managing complexity requires concerted action to simplify, standardize and optimize business information, processes and tools.