Every investment proposal arriving on a CFO's desk has to answer the same question: what is the return? Finance modernisation should be judged by the same standard. So the question, therefore, is what measurable return will an investment in modernising your finance function deliver.The most compelling business cases are built on returns that begin to accrue from day one, and this is not a pipedream. Corpay’s research engaged with 300 UK CFOs and they agreed that finance modernisation can deliver this. Not eventually or after a multi-year transformation programme, but from the moment payment strategy begins to change.Getting more from your modernisation: improving liquidity before it improves technologyWorking capital is often discussed as though it’s created through borrowing. Yet some of the quickest gains come from changing how money leaves the business. Card-led payment strategies can extend payment timing, which means organisations retain cash for longer without disrupting supplier relationships. That is liquidity improvement with minimum impact on technology, straightforward implementation, and limited upfront investment.Working capital is a strategic asset. Finance teams with greater liquidity can respond to opportunities quicker, manage unexpected costs more comfortably and approach investment decisions from a position of greater confidence. Unsurprisingly, 99% of the CFOs in our research said that additional working capital flexibility would be at least somewhat valuable but getting there requires a more deliberate approach to how payments are executed.Every payment can be the beginning of value creationEvery payment has traditionally been treated as the end of a transaction. Increasingly, finance leaders are recognising it can also be the beginning of value creation.When organisations consolidate qualifying spend onto card-based payments, they create the conditions for rebate income, creating a direct financial return on operational spending that would otherwise generate nothing beyond the transaction itself. When CFOs in our research were asked how they would reinvest a 1% rebate on qualifying spend, they prioritised automation, employee development and training.Taken together, improved working capital and commercial card rebates can turn operational spending into a source of financial value. That value can then be reinvested in further modernisation. Payments become a commercial lever, with returns beginning from the first qualifying transaction and growing as more eligible spend moves onto card.The capacity question: what is reclaimed time actually worth?Earlier this year, we called this hidden operational burden the Manual Tax because every finance team pays it, whether it appears on a budget line or not. The hours absorbed by administration across expenses, invoices and supplier payments cost UK finance teams the equivalent of a working day per person, per week. 86% of finance teams are living with that reality right now, according to our research.The next question is what that reclaimed capacity is actually worth to the business. When CFOs were asked how they would redeploy time if administrative workload were reduced by 25 to 50%, the answer was consistent: Forecasting, strategic planning and business partnering. These are the activities and work that define what a finance function can contribute to an organisation's overall performance.Reducing that burden doesn’t require a full system replacement. Instead, it’s structuring spend at the point of payment rather than reconstructing it downstream. When transaction data is captured automatically, the reconciliation workload reduces significantly, control moves closer to the moment of spending, visibility improves in real time and finance teams recover capacity that can be directed toward higher-value work from the following week, not the following year.Building the case for more working capitalI hope the examples I’ve provide show that finance modernisation does not have to begin with a large-scale and expensive transformation programme. The strongest business cases with immediate returns are often built through smaller, deliberate decisions that tackle less traditional finance functions.Working capital flexibility and rebate income are all available to any organisation willing to take a more deliberate approach to how spend is authorised, executed and recorded. The returns are fast, measurable and more accessible than most CFOs assume.For many organisations, that journey starts with payment strategy. Making modernisation pay is about making better decisions about how money moves through the business with as much attention on payment channels as other areas.No#Investment Piero MacariVP Product Corporate PaymentsCorpay11 Nov, 2026