Finops & Accounting in 2023

What is FinOps?

FinOps stands for Financial Operations, and it is a methodology for managing and optimizing cloud spending. It is a cross-functional approach that involves teams from finance, engineering, and operations. FinOps helps businesses to efficiently manage their cloud spending and maximize the value of their cloud investments.

FinOps involves the use of data-driven strategies to optimize cloud spending, including identifying cost-saving opportunities, setting budgets, tracking expenses, and forecasting future costs. It also involves the implementation of cost allocation and showback systems, which enable businesses to track the cost of their cloud resources and allocate them to different departments or business units.

The aim of FinOps is to provide businesses with a framework to optimize their cloud spending, improve their financial management, and drive better business outcomes. By using FinOps methodologies, businesses can gain greater visibility and control over their cloud spending, and make more informed decisions about how to allocate their resources.

Basic FinOps Principles

Here are some of the basic principles of FinOps:

Collaboration: FinOps is a team effort. It involves close collaboration between finance, IT, and business teams to optimize cloud spending and ensure that resources are being used efficiently.

Automation: Automation is a key component of FinOps. By automating routine tasks such as cost tracking, reporting, and governance, teams can free up time and resources to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Visibility: In order to optimize cloud spending, it's important to have complete visibility into cloud usage and costs. This requires robust monitoring and reporting tools that can provide real-time insights into resource usage.

Optimization: Once you have visibility into cloud usage and costs, you can begin to optimize spending. This involves identifying areas where costs can be reduced, such as by using reserved instances or leveraging spot instances.

Continuous Improvement: FinOps is an ongoing process. By continuously monitoring and optimizing cloud spending, teams can identify new opportunities to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

FinOps Roles and Responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities of FinOps professionals can vary depending on the size and complexity of the organization, but generally, they are responsible for managing the financial operations of the company. Here are some of the key roles and responsibilities of FinOps professionals:

Cost Optimization: FinOps professionals are responsible for optimizing costs across the organization. They analyze spending patterns and identify opportunities to reduce costs without sacrificing quality or performance.

Budgeting: FinOps professionals create and manage the organization's budget. They work with stakeholders to determine financial goals and objectives, and then develop a budget plan that aligns with those goals.

Financial Reporting: FinOps professionals are responsible for creating financial reports that provide insight into the organization's financial performance. They create reports such as balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.

Compliance: FinOps professionals ensure that the organization is compliant with all financial regulations and laws. They stay up to date on changes in regulations and work with other departments to ensure compliance.

Forecasting: FinOps professionals use historical financial data and current trends to create financial forecasts. They use these forecasts to plan for the future and make informed financial decisions.

Vendor Management: FinOps professionals work with vendors to negotiate contracts and manage vendor relationships. They ensure that vendors deliver goods and services on time and within budget.

Business Analytics: FinOps professionals analyze financial and business data to identify opportunities for growth and improvement. They use data to make informed decisions that impact the organization's financial performance.

Finops & Tax Planning

As businesses grow, tax planning becomes more complex, and FinOps can play a critical role in ensuring tax efficiency. Tax planning and FinOps intersect in several areas, including cost optimization, budgeting, and forecasting.

Effective tax planning requires detailed financial data and insights, which can be provided by FinOps teams. By analyzing financial data, FinOps can identify areas where tax savings can be made and where financial waste can be reduced. For example, by using data to optimize cloud usage and resource allocation, FinOps can help businesses reduce costs and avoid unnecessary tax liabilities.

FinOps can also help businesses ensure compliance with tax laws and regulations. By tracking and monitoring financial transactions, FinOps can identify potential risks and help businesses implement measures to mitigate them. This can include ensuring that tax liabilities are accurately calculated, that tax forms are filed on time, and that tax deductions and credits are properly claimed.

In addition, FinOps can assist with tax planning strategies such as tax-efficient investments, asset depreciation, and tax-loss harvesting. By working closely with tax advisors and other financial professionals, FinOps can help businesses maximize their tax savings and minimize their tax liabilities.

Overall, the intersection of FinOps and tax planning is essential for businesses looking to grow while minimizing their tax burden. By leveraging data insights, automation, and strategic planning, businesses can achieve both financial and tax efficiency, leading to increased profitability and long-term success.

What are FinOps Tools?

FinOps tools are software solutions that help organizations manage their cloud spend and optimize their cloud infrastructure costs. These tools provide a wide range of features, including cost visibility, cost allocation, resource tagging, usage monitoring, cost analysis, and cost optimization recommendations.

Top FinOps Tools in 2023

Here are some of the top FinOps Tools in 2023:

CloudZero

CloudZero provides real-time financial visibility and analysis of cloud costs, enabling businesses to optimize their cloud spend and avoid unnecessary expenses. The tool offers a user-friendly dashboard that provides granular visibility into cloud usage and cost data, enabling teams to track their cloud spend and identify areas for optimization.

Densify

Densify is a cloud optimization and management tool that uses machine learning to analyze cloud workloads and recommend cost-saving actions. It provides detailed insights into cloud usage patterns and performance, enabling businesses to optimize their cloud infrastructure for better efficiency and cost savings. 

Cloudcheckr

Cloudcheckr is a cloud management platform that provides visibility into cloud usage and costs across multiple cloud providers. It enables businesses to optimize their cloud spend, automate security and compliance checks, and gain greater control over their cloud infrastructure.

Corvee

Corvee is a tax planning software that helps individuals and businesses save money on taxes. It provides tax planning and optimization tools that enable businesses to maximize their tax savings while remaining compliant with tax laws and regulations. With Corvee, businesses can identify tax-saving opportunities, streamline tax preparation processes, and reduce their overall tax liabilities.