Hatton calls for financial intelligence layer in enterprise software

Steven Hatton, co-founder and director of Trusek and Authentiq8 Me, has argued that enterprise finance software lacks a layer designed to interpret financial relationships across corporate systems. In an external opinion published by Finextra, Hatton said the gap leaves finance and treasury teams relying on spreadsheets, meetings and reconciliation work to assess cash, liquidity and foreign exchange risk.

Hatton’s argument is aimed at a long-running problem for large organisations: core financial information often exists inside the business, but sits across separate systems used by sales, procurement, legal, human resources, finance and treasury. According to Hatton, that fragmentation can make it difficult for treasury teams to see future commitments, expected receipts, contractual obligations and commercial decisions that may affect liquidity.

Systems record activity, Hatton says

Hatton said enterprise software has delivered clear gains over several decades. He cited accounting platforms, enterprise resource planning systems, treasury management systems, customer relationship management tools, procurement applications and HR platforms as examples of software that improved control and productivity in specific functions.

His central distinction is between recording events and understanding their combined financial effect. ERP, accounting and treasury systems operate as official records for invoices, payments, journal entries, purchase orders, contracts, bank statements and funding arrangements. Hatton said those systems perform their intended roles, while leaving finance teams to assemble broader organisational insight from multiple places.

A common example, according to Hatton, is a chief financial officer asking what the company’s financial position may look like six weeks ahead. No single operational system can answer that question, he said, because the answer depends on information spread across invoices, purchase orders, cash balances, sales activity, contractual commitments and other operational data.

A proposed category: financial intelligence

Hatton proposed a software category he called “Financial Intelligence”. In his description, such a layer would connect existing systems rather than replace them, using information from ERP, accounting, treasury, procurement, contract management and banking platforms to create a more coherent financial view.

The proposed layer would sit above systems of record and focus on context. Hatton said it could help explain how outstanding invoices affect future liquidity, why cash balances are expected to change, and how commercial activity creates forward foreign exchange exposure.

That mechanism matters for treasury because cash and risk decisions depend on timing, certainty and exposure, rather than on static records alone. Borrowing needs, investment choices, liquidity buffers and hedging discussions can all be influenced by the quality and timeliness of those connections, according to Hatton.

Existing platforms would remain in place

Hatton stressed that his proposal is complementary to existing enterprise architecture. Under his model, operational platforms would continue to execute and record transactions, treasury systems would continue to support treasury operations, and accounting systems would remain responsible for financial control.

He compared the potential shift with earlier enterprise software categories, including database management systems, ERP, CRM, business intelligence, data lakes and cloud data platforms. Hatton said new categories have emerged when existing tools were not designed for new organisational requirements.

Finextra identifies the post as external content and says it was provided without editing, representing the author’s own views. The proposal remains an opinion rather than a product launch, market forecast or confirmed industry standard.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.