?The days of the CFO acting as a financial policeman are numbered, instead,.CFOs will increasingly become strategic business advisors with greater influence on corporate strategy. This is just one conclusion from the most recent global CFO survey by IBM business consulting.
But to become the strategic business advisor, according to the survey, CFOs must strongly improve a number of areas in finance. Half the respondents claim they lack key skills and staff and only 19% believe they have adequate IT.
Part of the problem is performance management. Although two thirds of respondents view performance management and the improvement of shareholder value as their main priorities, it still seems the complexity of business issues is running ahead of the techniques used to manage its performance, and as a result, CFOs are losing out on investment.
“CFOs recognise that they are central to driving performance management and governance processes that lead to competitive advantage,” said Gregor Pillen, partner and EMEA financial management leader at IBM business consulting. “The challenge is making those significant changes in service while at the same time dramatically restructuring the cost of service.”
The survey reached over 450 CFOs across the globe.