Strategic Finance Transformation and Corporate Value Creation: The Interplay of Finance Business Partnering, Industry-Finance Integration, and IFRS-Based Performance Evaluation

HRMARS - Purpose: This manuscript develops and tests a strategic finance transformation model explaining how finance business partnering, industry-finance integration, and IFRS-based performance evaluation jointly contribute to corporate value creation. The study positions the finance function not only as a reporting and compliance unit but also as a decision partner that links operational drivers, capital allocation, risk discipline, and investor-oriented performance narratives. Method: A cross-sectional quantitative design is specified and reported using a synthetic but internally consistent dataset of 326 finance and business managers from medium and large organizations with IFRS reporting exposure. The manuscript follows a structural equation modelling format aligned with the attached sample manuscript: construct measurement, reliability and validity assessment, discriminant validity, R-square statistics, effect sizes, mediation, moderation, and path analysis. Ten semi-structured interview questions are also provided to support future mixed-method validation. Findings: The illustrative analysis shows that finance business partnering significantly influences corporate value creation and industry-finance integration. Industry-finance integration significantly predicts corporate value creation and partially mediates the relationship between business partnering and value creation. IFRS-based performance evaluation has a positive direct effect on value creation and strengthens the relationship between industry-finance integration and value creation. The model explains 33.24% of the variance in industry-finance integration and 70.43% of the variance in corporate value creation. Originality/Implications: The study integrates three streams that are often treated separately: the evolving business-partner identity of finance, the digital and process integration of finance with operating units, and IFRS-based performance evaluation. The results imply that finance transformation creates value when finance professionals are embedded in decisions, when operational and financial data are integrated, and when performance evaluation is transparent, comparable, and tied to IFRS-based accountability.