Behind Every Thriving Organization is a High-Functioning CFO
AAFCPAs, in collaboration with The Boston Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI-Boston), conducted a survey of over 250 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in an effort to capture what issues are currently ‘top of mind’ for senior financial executives in the Northeast region of the United States. Not surprisingly, the role of the CFO continues to become increasingly complex and strategic. Findings include the importance of the relationship with the CEO, growing expectations from diverse constituencies, having more impact across departmental lines, struggles with human resource limitations and challenges in accessing meaningful, on-demand data.
Matthew Boyle, Chief Marketing Officer and Partner, AAFCPAs presented on the findings of a survey conducted by AAFCPAs on the changing roles of the CFO. AAFCPAs, in collaboration with The Boston Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI-Boston), conducted a survey of over 250 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in an effort to capture what issues are currently ‘top of mind’ for senior financial executives in the Northeast region of the United States. Not surprisingly, the role of the CFO continues to become increasingly complex and strategic. Findings include the importance of the relationship with the CEO, growing expectations from diverse constituencies, having more impact across departmental lines, struggles with human resource limitations and challenges in accessing meaningful, on-demand data. Matthew led the meeting participants in a discussion, considering their own roles and how best to meet common challenges.
Some findings from the survey are as follows.
- The success of the CFO in an organization depends on his/her relationship with the Chief Executive Officer. The CEO continues to expect the CFO to play a leading role in almost all aspects of corporate strategy, beyond just financial considerations.
- The CFO needs to have a relationship with diverse agency constituencies, who have increasing expectations about the role of the CFO. CFOs must be the master of managing multiple priorities and collaboration with other organizational centers.
- The CFO has impact and needs support across department lines. A strong financial team is very important and it is increasingly difficult to hire good staff in a very tight labor market. In order to attract good team members, if you cannot offer a competitive salary, you really have to sell the mission and culture of the organization.
- One of the biggest challenges of the CFO is to be able to access meaningful data, on demand, and interpret and present it in a meaningful way to assist the CEO in planning and decision making and to help the company reach revenue expansion and growth goals
Sometimes, the CFO cannot access the necessary date in a meaningful way. When businesses evolve, businesses processes and policies need to evolve also. The CFO need to have a good grasp IT and a good relationship with the IT manager (if the CFO is not in charge of the function). The business processes and IT are inextricably linked. When you do not know what you need from IT or how to get at it, then it is probably time to hire a specialist. When planning changes to IT or any meaningful agency policies or processes, the CFO needs to be in involved in the planning process at the beginning.
Report Here: AAFCPAs’ 2017 CFO Survey Report