As organizations try to navigate economic uncertainty, CFOs have taken center stage, advising other company leaders on strategy, and collaborating with colleagues. This has undoubtedly had an impact on the CFO’s job, which was historically seen as a numbers role. A pandemic, inflation and now fears of a downturn have given finance leaders the opportunity to collaborate and communicate with a much broader set of stakeholders.
To learn how CFOs are managing current conditions while raising their profiles and extending the reach of the finance department, the research team at Oracle NetSuite surveyed 500 executives and managers from companies with $250 million or less in annual revenue. Here’s what our survey found.
Several years of challenging conditions have increased the influence of CFOs.
As CFOs get more responsibility and greater influence, senior executives want to see improved communication and management skills.
As companies continue to manage through uncertainty, senior executives are encouraging CFOs to be communicative and collaborate more.
Success here means finance leaders need to not only provide data on company performance, they need to add context to help all employees grasp the ramifications of the numbers, communicate likely future scenarios, and recommend strategies the organization can take to come out ahead.
The most successful CFOs will move beyond their comfort zones and embrace technology and automation to manage day-to-day tasks, freeing up time to hone the soft skills that are in high demand.