According to the firm's Finance of the future - looking forward to 2020 study, stakeholders will want increasingly standardised information to support their personal decision-making.

'More frequent external reporting is on the cards with monthly reporting in some organisations,' the report argues.

In its 2000 forward-looking statement, the firm predicted that the finance function would be obsolete by 2008.

It now concedes that it was off the mark, but suggests the finance function still leaves a lot to be desired.

The firm red-flagged inefficient business processes, a lack of investment, poor IT systems and senior management not understanding the finance's function role and value.

After polling FDs, KPMG believes that the most damaging aspect of the current climate stems from the fact that the most successful staff in the finance function often end up being poached by other divisions.

'If finance truly is adding value it will be a source of leadership talent for other parts of the business,' one CFO says in the report.

KPMG also says that finance functions need to stop spending the majority of their time toiling with financial data, and need to concentrate more on helping management make strategic decisions.

'Finance must critically challenge the business to channel the most effective decisions that drive both long and short-term value creation,' the report adds.

'And once business decisions are made, finance must help manage the resulting change and ensure that anticipated value is realised.'