Pouring billions of dollars into information technology does not help business if chief financial officers (CFOs) and chief information officers (CIOs) don’t have the right information quality (IQ), according to a new global research report launched today by Deloitte and CFO Research Services.

Donal Graham, Deloitte Consulting Partner and leader of its CFO Services, said the research, Do executives have the right IQ? highlighted poor information quality as one of the most critical problems facing businesses today.

"We found that of the 140 finance and IT decision makers surveyed in Australia and New Zealand, 82 per cent said timely access to higher quality information would improve profitability, and 86 per cent said it would reduce costs.

"Yet the majority of decision makers said they felt they did not have ready access to reliable and quality information on operational and financial performance. 

"As a result, 40% of Australasian respondents said they were forced to spend time building special reports and analyses, or reconciling the ‘multiple versions of the truth’ provided by their disparate, non-integrated business processes and IT systems."

The survey found that CIOs and CFOs saw real value in improving the quality of their management information and were increasingly investing in process simplification and tighter integration of their IT systems. 

In fact, 69% of people surveyed reported that their companies conducted explicit, documented ROI analyses for IT and process improvement projects.

"Boosting the timeliness, accuracy and transparency of information has multiple benefits including making operating decisions quicker, improving annual planning and greater confidence in business process controls."

Doing so, say executives, requires time, money and attention. 

To download the full news release and report please click the links below.