The Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

What makes a successful CFO?

The CFO plays an integral role within the finance function by ensuring their team and the data they generate or analyze can form strategies that align with organizational goals as well as adhere to financial standards and regulations.

It is the CFO’s priorities and initiatives that determine what their office focuses on and how they operate. They must ensure that the data presented to other executives and teams is accurate, correctly analyzed for scenario planning and forecasting, and can be clearly understood and interpreted across the organization.

Storytelling through data is a crucial skill amongst finance professionals that determines effective decision-making, future-proofing, and operational business resilience.

The CFO must also ensure that these financial processes can be realistically achieved, that operational roadblocks can be navigated, and that value-adding strategy within the finance function takes priority.

To achieve this, they must work with the C-suite to empower the office of the CFO with tools that ensure strategy can be both adapted and executed where necessary.

Which of these would you say is your greatest priority within the Office of the CFO currently?
_{Please rate the following categories from one to three (1 = most important and 3 = not a priority).}

_Planning_{for profitable growth & lowering costs}

1 – Most important
2 – Somewhat important
3 – Not a priority

_{Tracking & reporting}_{on robust financial data}

1 – Most important
2 – Somewhat important
3 – Not a priority

_Ensuring_{governance & compliance}_obligations

1 – Most important
2 – Somewhat important
3 – Not a priority

_Enhancing_{business partnerships}_{to create value}

1 – Most important
2 – Somewhat important
3 – Not a priority

Why does the CFO need digital transformation?

Ultimately, the CFO sets out the tools their team uses to consolidate financial data, analyze financial performance, present and circulate reports, and form strategy.

The top priorities for 70% of CFOs are: improving finance metrics, data insights and storytelling, leading change management efforts, and optimizing costs.

Gartner – Top Finance Trends and priorities for CFOs in 2024

When all organizational data is succinctly integrated into the Cloud’s common data model, other departments can easily access the financial data they need. This is where advanced reporting capabilities in the Cloud become crucial, ensuring that all teams are working with a single source of truth for financial data.

To remain competitive, CFOs today must be able to interpret raw financial information and translate it into meaningful commentary and strategy, using new technologies to automate and streamline financial reporting processes.

Cloud capabilities ensure that data is easy to understand and that strategic insights are clear to everyone in the organization, from the executive to the employee level. This then fosters stronger relationships within an organization and provides clear strategic insights for all.

Finally, CFOs must cultivate a culture of continuous learning and development in the finance function by establishing a strategic vision and updating the roadmap. These are essential steps for CFOs to guide their teams toward the finance function's future vision.

Successful training can be accomplished by identifying the finance team's strengths, growth potential, and digital expertise in order to proactively address skill shortages and build a strong foundation for the finance function's value within the organization.