CFO leadership in an era of transformation

In brief:

• CFOs are shifting from traditional financial scorekeepers to strategic value architects
• Financial reporting is evolving into dynamic, data-driven storytelling

Global complexities and rapid advances in disruptive technology are reshaping the role of CFOs from traditional financial scorekeeper to future value architect for the business.  Finance leaders are grappling to find the smartest pathway to capture value for their company and stakeholders. 

The days of static reporting are over, replaced by the need for dynamic, data-driven storytelling that positions the business as a compelling investment – agile, transparent and forward looking.

It’s a substantial shift in financial reporting, and currently many CFOs are either sitting on the fence or trying to make decisions about migrating to the cloud after having made major investments in technologies that are not cloud based. Right now, it’s all about the trade-off. Do they live with the current legacy within the business, are they thinking about motivating a massive 3-year project, or is it better to get started by addressing critical areas in their finance function? 

Every action, every insight and every recommendation made by today’s CFO is made to ultimately enhance market perception and shareholder value. It’s a major responsibility, and finding the way forward starts with CFOs being clear about what they want  business outcome to be, and secondly, what they want the finance process to do to make those outcomes happen.

The solutions are unique to each business, the wisest choices specific to circumstances, but the pain points emerging from weekly discussions I’m having with CFOs working to find the smartest pathway for their financial transformation strategy - are exactly the same for every industry,

The four pain points common to CFOs in every industry

These are the challenges finance leaders are facing in a role required to transform financial and management metric information into actionable insight that informs and shapes strategic choices:

1. The pressure to provide a single, dependable source of truth.
2. Putting a finger on the pulse to turn insight into business performance.
3. Untangling a complex ecosystem to produce easier more efficient reporting financials and management metrics. 
4. Ways to refocus the CFO’s calendar to inject an element of superhuman into the role.

In summary

In this era of finance transformation, finance professionals are grappling with these burning platforms because their advisory role is not just operational; it is existential in a landscape where every decision takes aim at the company’s share price.