“As the CFO role continues to evolve, an increasing number of finance chiefs are taking on new responsibilities that focus on company-wide strategy.”
Even though this observation comes from a Business Insider article about a recent global survey by EY, we couldn’t agree more about its relevance to the local economy here in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. CFOs are increasingly needed more a broader role than just accounting and finance in order to help companies improve revenues, reduce costs, and increase profits and cash flow.
Here are some other interesting stats from the survey:
65% of CFOs said collaboration with their CEO has increased over the past three years.
The CFO / CEO collaboration and business partnership is "one of the defining characteristics of a well-run, market-leading organization.
“The CFOs revealed that much of their collaboration has been focused on new growth opportunities (34%), changes to company strategy (33%), and new products and services (27%)."
76% of CFOs said they are more involved in corporate strategy.
In terms of strategic priorities, here is the list of what CFOs said are their most valuable contributions:
Managing costs and profitability (43%)
Setting budgets / costs (39%)
Financing (33%)
Measuring performance (27%)
Building the business case for new initiatives (23%)