“As a finance team we have put a lot of effort in working on the business strategy not just on the numbers. Our input is extremely valued.”Paul Anderson, CFO, Ten Network Limited

CFOs must also find time to manage a far more complex stakeholder universe. Managing market expectations is critical in this environment as building trust in a company’s financial performance is a key priority for CFOs.

Stakeholder communications is now seen as a joint CEO/CFO responsibility, with 69% of CFOs believing they are better placed than CEOs to provide stakeholders with accurate guidance on the organisation’s financial performance. However, many have yet to build strong relationships with stakeholders.

High performing organisations’ approach to enhancing stakeholder confidence includes:

• Transparency in strategy and reporting
• Greater attention on long-term reputation management
• Detailed data gathering to enable “real-time” decision–making
• Enterprise risk management embedded in planning with detailed risk analysis and reporting
• Embedding attraction and retention of key talent in external reporting and communications, their next career steps and how they plan to get there

Creating value

The region’s CFOs believe their greatest contribution is in providing strategic advice to help steer their organisation through financial crises, thus increasing investor confidence.

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