Redefining Traditional Finance

The traditional financial close is being re-examined as finance teams push toward faster, more continuous reporting cycles. Advances in automation, system integration, and data availability are reducing manual effort and enabling more frequent, real-time visibility into financial performance.

For controllers, this shift changes both the pace and the expectations of the role. The focus is moving from periodic reporting to ongoing validation, where accuracy, consistency, and control must be maintained continuously rather than at a single point in time.

In this keynote, you will learn:

• How organizations are accelerating the close while maintaining accuracy and control
• Where manual processes still create delays and how to eliminate them
• What it takes to move toward a more continuous, real-time finance model

Diana Turkina

Global Financial Controller, Intercompany, Governance and Transformation

PayPal

Finance teams are moving toward real-time data and continuous reporting, reshaping how organizations monitor performance and make decisions. Controllers are at the center of this shift, responsible for ensuring that increased speed does not come at the expense of accuracy or control.

As systems become more connected and data flows across platforms, maintaining consistency and trust becomes more complex. Leaders must determine how to standardize processes, align data definitions, and ensure that insights generated across the business are reliable and actionable.

Join this panel discussion to learn:

• How organizations are improving financial visibility through real-time data and reporting
• Where inconsistencies in data and systems create risk and how to address them
• What it takes to balance speed, accuracy, and control in modern finance environments

Panelists:

Thomas DeFabrizio

Chief Financial Officer

Impellam Group

Amita Jhunjhunwala

Finance Controller

Essilor Luxottica

SAP Autonomous Finance transforms traditional month-end closing into a continuous, intelligent process that empowers controllers with real-time governance, accelerated close cycles, and embedded audit readiness. By leveraging AI-driven automation, process standardization, and integrated close orchestration, organizations reduce days to close while strengthening controls and improving accuracy.

Cecilia Hibbard

Senior Director, Finance Transformation

SAP

As finance organizations adopt automation, AI, and increasingly complex digital systems, the role of the controller is expanding beyond traditional oversight into a more strategic, forward-looking function. Controllers are expected to enable transformation while maintaining the rigor and reliability that finance depends on.

This shift introduces new challenges. Leaders must integrate emerging technologies without compromising accuracy, ensure consistent controls across evolving systems, and establish clear ownership over data and processes. The focus is no longer just on closing the books, but on creating a finance environment that is both agile and dependable.

In this keynote, you will learn:

• How to integrate automation and AI into finance workflows while maintaining strong controls
• Where innovation introduces risk and how to manage it effectively
• What leading controllers are doing to modernize finance without sacrificing discipline