CFO STRATEGY MEETING

More strategically-focused, more value-focused, more future-focused
Shift from historical capabilities reporting, performance management and investor relationships to turning data into insight and turning insight into foresight
Key role for business transformation – has to be both fiduciary and visionary
Collaboration across all areas of the business

How will CFOs calculate an organization’s footprint?
How to align sustainability efforts with financial priorities and tell a cohesive story to stakeholders
Determine the timing of implementation
Compliance with emerging reporting requirements

What kind of talent is now required – different skills, more business acumen, more insight, more forward-looking capabilities
Most people are not looking for transaction type of work – has to be interesting/challenging/rewarding; knowledge workers – move from doers to thinkers
People want to move quickly in their careers – need to set out plans, milestones
Competitive salary, along with competitive benefits are not enough – people want to work for a business that has purpose and is socially responsible

Improving visibility into the breakdown of corporate costs
Need to set benchmarks and extend accountability to departmental and divisional levels
Understanding how to position the organization vis-à-vis issue such as ESG (e.g., how will wthat affect the T&E Policy)?
Budgets and forecasts as a key control for spending

The importance of business intelligence
Who needs information and when
How does data become information and information become knowledge for decision-making
Tools, processes, skills required

How much space does the company need now that we have a work/home hybrid model?
Expectations for the next 5 to 10 years?
Depending on your location(s), positioning the company considering the state of the commercial real estate market
Lease Accounting – ASC 842
Default Positions

Are your procurement teams on the leading edge?
Aligning goals with your suppliers and ensuring you understand where you rank in your supplier’s customer base
Increased focus on ESG – know who you are doing business with – due diligence on suppliers
Supply chain management and the role of Finance

Centralized vs. decentralized – Which is more efficient and effective?
Outsourcing considerations
Digital Impact and support of shared services
Cost allocations to business units for shared services to assess profitability of business units

It’s table stakes and it’s everyone’s role – not just IT and Finance
How to engage the whole organization and make it exciting…can be scary for employees who will need to upgrade their skills
What investments are required

What is the right level of cash to maintain given current market dynamics and interest rate volalitilty?
Balancing day-to-day working capital needs with longer-term capital investment to fund business growth
Forecasting inflows and outflows in an uncertain and volatile environment – continuing impact of Covid, inflation
Debt vs. Equity Financing

Shift focus to forward-looking information instead of historical – so much change in recent years that historical trends may no longer be relevant for decision-making
Give transparent, clear and consise messaging and hold business unit leaders accountable for their forecasts
Difference between budgets and forecasts; forecasts are constantly evolving based on updated information
Who is responsible for preparing budgets and forecasts; need link to strategic objectives and buy-in from business leaders

What are the key drivers of your business
What metrics do you need to measure performance of the key drivers (consider fewer metrics, with more impact, that everyone understands)
What are the targets for the key metrics – what impact will reaching or missing targets have, what else needs to happen as a result of these outcomes

Avoiding financial reporting risk without overly reducing the speed of implementation and processing
Ensuring your organization has the right controls around robotic automation (RPA)
Increased reliance on systems for controls – set up proper authorizations, create alerts, exception reports, diagnostics to prevent and detect fraud
Training of all employees to prevent/detect fraud

Establishing an ERM Governance Framework
Creating applicable risk assessment and mitigation categroies based on industry, size and culture
Implementing functional ERM visualization and reporting systems

When is it time to upgrade? Downstream impact on financial applications (general ledger).
Is it best to go with an ERP or a patchwork of supporting systems?
Integrated ERP as a key tool for digital transformation in an organization

What information has the most value to the organization; why; how is it used to make decisions
Need to align Business Intelligence and Finance to ensure consistency in data gathering
Need to package data meaningful reports to Executive Management to facilitate decision-making

It’s everyone’s job to find efficiencies
Time efficiencies, cost efficiencies – balanced with proper controls
Placing greater reliance on systems to do the work; need controls to ensure reliability of information
Accelerate timeliness of delivering financial information – what needs to be delivered hourly, daily, weekly, monthly

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