The pace of change has accelerated right across the intersection between geopolitics, macroeconomics and technology in recent years, with these developments being felt sharply by Chief Financial Officers of international businesses. Finance leaders are being asked to adapt their skills to provide a mix of technical expertise and strategic insight, amid a stream of disruption.
It's proving difficult simply keeping up with the amount of information available to CFOs at present, from new and evolving regulation to real-time financial and operational data. While the need to deliver on the basics of accounting, reporting and planning will remain, along with the role of strategic value creation partner to the CEO, a key challenge for the CFO going forward will be to meet the increasing expectations of the role in efficient and effective ways.
This is where technology comes in, according to
Michael Tyroller, who is a Partner and Managing Director at AlixPartners: “There is a fundamental change happening in what I would call the routine work which typically has dominated finance.”
Michael, who also has experience as an interim CFO for several multinational corporates, added: “A lot of accounting is standard controlling or generating reports. The challenge is you need to have the deep knowledge, but the processes themselves will be automated, and finance leads will get a lot of support. So, it's more about what are you taking out? You’ll need much more business understanding to support what we call business partnering.”
He encouraged CFOs to explore the potential for AI tools to support the delivery of process-based work, but “in the right way that really supports and adds value to what you are doing. Investing in AI will dramatically reduce the time, but also the cost to provide data or to execute different topics”.
Ed Jones, who is currently Chair of Wightlink Ferries and a Board Mentor with Criticaleye, and was previously CFO of Carnival UK, also commented on the need to have a clear outcome in mind when implementing AI into the finance function. “From a Board perspective … the key question I always ask is: ‘How can AI and other technology help solve key business problems?’
“Without this focus, businesses – including finance functions – can get lost in projects, which cost lots of money and time, but deliver comparatively little. Everyone needs guiding principles and/or a North Star, and [only] then can technology be a real solution enabler.”
Brad Greve, CFO of FTSE 100 giant BAE Systems, struck an optimistic tone when it comes to the potential for AI to help CFOs move quicker: “We can rely on some of that [technology] to give us insights quicker and help render those efficiencies faster. I’m hopeful that technology will make the CFO’s role of providing value creation easier, but that’s still going to be the core of it.”
The ability to employ new technologies across the finance function is not the only aspect of the CFO role that is changing. Increasingly, they are being asked to work across functions with a view to sharing information and effectively communicating the value creation plan to the wider business.
“In order to add value though, the CFO needs a range of … softer skills, including influencing, communication and collaboration, to be able to deliver this business facing role,” Ed pointed out.
Criticaleye’s CFO Lead and Account Manager,
Neya Patel, also recognised the importance of developing strong interpersonal skills as CFOs are asked to be more visible. “It’s often said that CFOs are more reclusive in their nature and purely focused on quantitative data. This is certainly an over-generalisation, however leaders will always benefit from refining their communication styles and EQ, and none more so than CFOs at present.”
There’s no question that the role of the CFO is getting more complex, whether it be understanding the rising tide of regulation hitting businesses right now, getting a grip on use cases for AI technologies in the finance function, or developing softer leadership skills.
But throughout all this change, it remains imperative for CFOs to play their part as a strategic business partner and to remain ultimately focused on value creation.
As
Brad said: “I don’t think value creation at the core will change. I don’t think the need to be an enterprise leader and thinker will change. All these things are just at the essence of what a CFO does. Some of the trimmings around technology will change, but the need to make the organisation a compelling place to work for your teams … is only going to intensify going forward.”
Jacob Ambrose Willson, Senior Editor, Criticaleye
Some of the excerpts from this article have been taken from Criticaleye's 'CFO Interviews' series. You can read the full articles here:
 (002).png "Palo Alto Networks"){kind=logo}
