These are the skills a CFO should have for the future
Four skills help the CFO to become a strategic partner to the management - and the next contender for the boss's chair. Because in the future, more than just accounting skills will be in demand.
More dynamic markets with completely new business models are putting pressure on CEOs: They have to make decisions faster, more globally and more data-driven. No CEO can handle this task alone any more - he will involve the CFO even more from now on. Advances in technology are making purely administrative accounting obsolete anyway - creative and strategic thinking is now also required in the finance department. The CFO is becoming the finance CEO. Along the way, the CFO cannot avoid developing four essential skills and abilities. Now it's a matter of continuing education and using technology to one's own advantage. Then not only will the future be open to the CFO, but also the CEO position itself: Just under half (47%) of the CEOs surveyed cited in a KPMG study (1) the CFO as a pretender to the throne.
- Navigation
Companies today sail in a sea of data - with the CFO as navigator (2): In the future, CFOs and their teams will need to understand data about customers, markets and the competition and be able to put it into a meaningful context with the company's finances. Analytical techniques and predictive modeling will become standard to make better predictions. The CFO must be able to provide real-time insights into company figures as well as strategic proposals - for example in the M&A area - which he develops on the basis of his overview of the figures.
- Communication
The CFO of the future will be more extroverted. He or she will be more interested in the challenges of other departments and seek exchanges, for example in the form of work experience in marketing or sales. This is not only beneficial for his Career (3) but above all also strengthens its ability, Contexts (4) to recognize. In the future, it will be crucial for him to be able to explain correlations even to "non-financial experts": Instead of showing how a quarter went, the CFO should rather be able to present financial and corporate performance in a meaningful and generally understandable way and present it to internal and external stakeholders.
- Strategy
Those who gain experience and navigate the sea of data with ease can think critically and globally. Armed in this way, the CFO can more easily understand how fundamental upheavals and changes in the market affect his own business model. He assesses risks and possible effects on the company's finances in order to invest in the right innovations. To do this, he has to take risks - and even if they are calculated, this is traditionally not one of the CFO's favorite challenges. It is therefore all the more important that he can rely on his global overview of all the figures in the company to carry out the risk calculation in a well-founded manner and weigh them up correctly.
- Leadership
Being open to taking risks is a key to the leadership role - the basis for this is knowledge and experience. So, in addition to their own expertise and the aforementioned data overview, the CFO should acquire extensive knowledge of operational processes, market dynamics, innovation and transformation in the company as a basis for making risky decisions. With this broad foundation, the CFO can sharpen his business acumen and, in a sense, think "with the CEO cap on." He thus finds ways to tap new capital, plans expansions and has the best cards to succeed the CEO when the time comes.
Author
Christoph Kull is Business Manager Sales and Marketing DACH of Workday, a provider of cloud-based solutions in the field of Human Capital Management and Financial Management. He has more than 17 years of experience in the software industry. Prior to his current position at Workday, he spent eight years at SAP as Vice President Database & Technology DACH and in various other sales leadership roles. Prior to that, Mr. Kull founded and led a management consulting firm (alsus).
Sources
(1) KPMG: The view from the top. CEOs see a powerful future for the CFO. Are CFOs ready for the challenge? Online at: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2015/11/view-from-the-top.pdf
(2) Association of Chartered Certified Accountants: The changing role of the CFO. Online at: http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/finance-transformation/pol-afb-croc.pdf
(3) Odgers Berndtson: Developing the CFO of the Future The Changing Role of Finance Executives in Leading Canadian Companies. Online at: http://www.odgersberndtson.com/media/2498/cfo_of_the_future.pdf
(4) Association of Chartered Certified Accountants: Future pathways to finance leadership. Online at: http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/other-PDFs/Future-pathways-five-minute-summary.pdf
