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Those in chief financial officer roles are now expected to drive business decisions and reporting in non-financial areas of operation.
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CFOs deal with more than just finances: BDO
13 June 2023
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10 minute read
CFOs are having to deal with more than just a business’s financials according to research from BDO and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
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The research found the role of the CFO is expanding to include making business decisions and reporting on non-financial areas along with a shift to the financial officer needing to be the lead in sustainability and a firm’s social agenda as companies push to make their operations greener.
A roundtable of over 100 CFOs and business leaders occurred where many shared how the traditional role of the chief financial officer was being shaped beyond managing just a firm’s financials.
Business services partner at BDO in Australia, Nick Fox, facilitated the Australian round-table and said a clear theme is there was now a need for additional value to come from the CFO role, more than just monitoring and managing a company’s financials.
“Successful and sustainable businesses increasingly need to combine economic, environmental and social equity, and the best CFOs of today have expertise in all three areas. From our discussions there was agreement that a successful CFO today is more of a chief value officer, adopting a growth mindset,” said Mr Fox.
“It is an evolution from someone who traditionally would maintain the financials of the business, to someone who is driving a range of performance based decisions, and leading a company’s environmental and social strategy and initiatives.”
“This led to a discussion about the future – is there a need for a new role of chief value officer or is this something that today’s top CFOs are already fulfilling?”
Mr Fox said as CFOs are having to take on more ESG responsibility they are increasingly adopting a value-centric approach to their work, which he said displays a shift towards a chief value officer role rather than a more traditional CFO position.
“Our research shows that across the world, and right here in Australia, there are many leading CFOs already taking on this broader chief value officer role, embracing and driving the sustainability agenda and developing their companies for a positive future,” he said.
“What this suggests for the development path for aspiring CFOs is that getting an increasingly broad range of experience, which embraces both formal and informal learning activities, specifically through working in different business units beyond finance, is important.”
“There is opportunity here for professional bodies and practices to provide this type of learning and development, custom-made for this new breed of CFO.”
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