Infographic: How Digital Disruption is Changing the role of the CFO

Any CFO that still thinks their main role is to produce accounts and lodge tax returns will soon be out of a job.

Digital disruption is changing the world’s economy, companies, and every job function they contain.

We surveyed a number of CFOs and collated research from other experts around the world to produce this infographic.

The CFO’s role has Transformed Significantly

Although 84% are focussed on long-term cost reduction, CFOs cannot remain as “bean-counters and compliance managers” any longer.  The real focus should be on what “moves the needle”, which requires the CFO to firstly know what this is!

In a world of rapid change and innovation, it’s also no longer acceptable to simply follow what was done last year, or use last year’s annual budget.

73% said their primary role is now to act as the strategic financial partner assisting the CEO to navigate an increasingly complex landscape.

What does this mean?

This means:

• New responsibilities.
• Increased prominence within the organisation.
• Providing advice and analysis to support critical business decisions.
• Increased importance on internal and external partnerships.

Get the data!

To fulfill many of these responsibilities, the CFO needs to ensure the organisation has better systems that analysts can use to gain access to data that is accurate, timely, reliable and integrated.

Indeed, 82% of CFOs said they could see significant value in integrating enterprise-wide data and using this for analysis purposes.

The data could reside internally or externally and encompasses both financial and non-financial information.

The analysis of this often requires new approaches to data capture, analysis and synthesis, using new, best-of-breed software tools.

It’s no longer sufficient to leave important business information sitting in individual silos.  This needs to be integrated with other business information and made available in a controlled manner so that users can draw insights from it.