In The role of the CFO has gained strategic influence over the past three years, according to 71 per cent of CFOs, and converging technologies such as big data, cloud computing, mobile and social media are increasingly important to their ability to deliver cost savings and growth, according to a new report from Accenture and Oracle.
Of the 930 global CFOs surveyed for the report, The CFO as Catalyst for Change, nearly two thirds (65 %) said they had an increasing responsibility for setting and determining strategy. Almost half (47%) said their role in business transformation efforts had increased.
As their roles expand, CFOs are turning to technology in order to meet new expectations. When asked where they could improve their skills and capabilities to execute on cost and growth agendas, CFOs ranked technology knowledge as second only to industry knowledge. Seventy nine percent of respondents indicated that access to information is an important driver of organizational agility, and 57 per cent believe investments in big data and analytics could provide a competitive advantage. Finally, 84 per cent of CFOs noted that cooperation with their CIOs had increased during the past three years.
As CFOs see their zone of influence and responsibilities expand, they can also be under increasing pressure to fuel their corporate growth engines, as reconfirmed in this study, said Donniel Schulman, managing director of Finance & Enterprise Performance at Accenture. As the CFO agenda broadens, finance officers are leveraging back office processes, controls and analytics to provide insight and priorities for transformation. This can allow them to successfully step up and fulfill their role as agents of change.
Despite the growing value of technology, CFOs say that a number of obstacles are hindering their ability to reach their full strategic potential. The top three, according to the report, are the challenging economic environment (identified by 37 % of respondents), a shortage of time (35%) and lack of integration between the finance function and other parts of the business (31%).
Meanwhile, CFOs also say that their priorities are changing. For instance, some worry that further cost cutting could endanger growth, according to the report. Top priorities for the past three years have been profitability, cost management, cash flow and working capital. And while these continue to be the priorities, the report notes that the cost levers that worked in the past may be less effective in the future because the easy wins have already been earned.
In this respect, the role of technology in the CFO agenda seems likely to change. The report reveals that CFOs see a need to shift away from IT maintenance and integration issues to focus on technology as an innovation enabler that can drive strategic, operational and professional objectives. Still, CFOs greatest reported concern about technology was the cost of maintenance and integration, as well as the lack of integration between systems and data quality.
CFOs have always played a critical role in successful businesses, but what we have seen over the last few years is that the role has expanded beyond traditional finance disciplines to increasingly include a broader business strategy and transformation initiatives, said John ORourke, vice president of product marketing, Oracle. As this study shows, CFOs realize that while their role has evolved, there is still scope to expand their influence within the business and further utilize their unique skill set. Technology can play an important part in helping CFOs realize this potential and we hope the insights delivered in this report can help facilitate that process.
CFOs are increasingly recognizing the importance of robust analytics capabilities that deliver the insights to underpin performance management, inform senior leaders and foster innovation to stimulate growth, said Scott Brennan, a managing director in Accenture Finance & Enterprise Performance. This report suggests that further integration should occur across silos to enable CFOs to succeed and it is here that mobile, social media and other technologies can also make a significant difference.
CFOs Key Focus Areas:
- A focus on cost management will remain critical but must be balanced with an increased focus on growth.
Over the past three years, the top priorities for CFOs have been profitability, cost management, cash flow, and working capital. These will remain top of the agenda in the years ahead but continuing to deliver cost savings is becoming more difficult. At the same time, finance leaders must balance this cost focus with the need to identify and exploit growth opportunities in a slowly recovering global economy.
- The CFO role is becoming more strategic and influential, but challenges remain.
More than 70 per cent of CFOs say that their overall level of strategic influence has increased over the past three years. But for now, most CFOs say they still play a supporting, rather than leading, role in strategy, despite an appetite to become more deeply involved. Among our respondents, 35 per cent identify shortage of time as a key barrier to being more effective in their role, which is second only to the challenging economic environment, cited by 37 per cent.
- CFOs are poised to become more effective change agents.
Among our respondents, less than one in three CFOs play a leading role in business transformation, with just 32 per cent playing a leading role in building the rationale for business transformation, and only 18 per cent managing the transformation process. But, given their experience in finance transformation and cost management, and their unique perspective over the business, this is an activity that CFOs are extremely well placed to lead. Becoming an effective change agent requires CFOs to demonstrate strong leadership, commercial and strategic insight, and the ability to overcome organizational resistance.
- Maintenance and integration issues remain the biggest concerns from a technology perspective.
Asked about the aspects of their companys technology that causes them greatest concern, 30 per cent of respondents point to the cost of maintenance, 29 per cent to the cost of integration, and 28 per cent to the lack of integration between systems. Dealing with these legacy problems consumes a disproportionate amount of time and also prevents CFOs and CIOs from focusing their attention on exploiting more innovative technologies that can help improve competitiveness and drive growth.
- Technology innovations provide CFOs with an opportunity to shape IT in a way that supports broader business goals.
Cloud computing, big data, analytics, mobile, and social technologies are having a dramatic impact across almost every business function and activity. Among our respondents, 57 per cent agree that investments in big data and analytics will be a key source of competitive advantage. But many CFOs understand that they may lack the knowledge to play a more active role in how these technologies are adopted. Finance leaders now have a window of opportunity to collaborate with CIOs and other members of the management team to implement these technologies in a way that will achieve vital business objectives: increasing efficiency, improving collaboration and visibility between finance and the business, increasing organizational agility, and fostering innovation.
Methodology
Oracle and Accenture co-sponsored the study with Longitude Research to examine the changing role of the CFO. The findings, published in The CFO as Catalyst for Change, are based on survey responses from 930 CFOs working for organizations of varying sizes in multiple industries. Half of the respondents represented companies with annual revenues in excess of US$1bn, and the remainder had revenues in excess of US$250m.
Thirty percent of the respondents are based in Western Europe, 22 percent in North America, 17 per cent in Eastern Europe, 16 per cent in the Asia-Pacific, 10 percent in the Middle East and Africa, and 5 per cent in Latin America.
To augment the findings and gain deeper insights into the evolving role of the CFO, Longitude Research conducted a series of in-depth, one-to-one interviews with CFOs from leading organizations based in every major geographic region. Their comments are also reflected in the report.
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