As a CFO, your schedule is packed with lots of meetings, from setting priorities for your team to keeping tabs on the financial close process and reviewing financial reporting. That’s a lot to juggle at once, so finding time for strategic thinking and innovation can feel nearly impossible.
You're not alone—67% of CFOs have admitted that they're often overwhelmed by the sheer number of decisions and choices they need to make. It’s no wonder that long-term strategic planning sometimes gets pushed to the back burner.
But here's the thing: those strategic tasks are just as important as the day-to-day operations, and finding a balance between the two is crucial if you want to be truly effective in your role.
So, how do you make it happen?
Start by intentionally setting aside time to dig into the business’s performance, your internal processes and what’s happening outside of the company and reflect on opportunities for added growth and efficiency.
When you do this, you’ll find yourself becoming a more strategic leader who:
Looks beyond the daily grind and anticipates future trends
Understands what's happening in the industry and how it could impact your business
Spots opportunities for innovation that can improve existing processes
Addresses potential issues that could affect the business’s growth
Empowers and transforms your finance team into strategic partners to other departments, such as HR, IT, sales, and operations
Below, we cover how to make the transition to becoming a more strategic CFO who provides the level of insight your team and entire company need.
A strategic CFO plays a very active role in determining the direction of the business and the most critical actions individual teams need to take to increase efficiency, productivity, profitability and growth.
The CFO role and its scope of responsibilities have expanded significantly over recent years. Before now, CFOs and finance teams have been thought of as number crunchers, with accounting and analytical thinking being among the top two valued skills for the profession.
Today, however, finance teams are no longer expected to sit quietly in a corner. Instead, they are at the forefront of the business, helping the organization move forward.
CFOs, for their part, now oversee everything from traditional tasks like risk management, corporate strategy, and regulatory compliance to newer strategic functions like business process automation, cloud computing, data visualization and advanced analytics.
It’s no wonder the number of functional areas reporting to the CFO increased from 4.5 in 2016 to an average of 6.2 in 2018, increasing again in key areas such as investor relations, procurement and digital in 2021.
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Source: McKinsey
This trend continues even in 2024; beyond operations, the CFO role, particularly in smaller businesses, involves strategy development, information technology, risk management, mergers and acquisitions, ESG, procurement, and business transformation.
Nicolas Herman, CFO of Microsoft America's enterprise, explains the evolution of the CFO role this way in an episode of the CFO show:
The CFO is the steward of the business, responsible for understanding its performance and ensuring we connect the dots across all areas. You have a unique 360-degree view of the business, which provides a unique perspective on what’s happening. This position carries the responsibility to steer the business in the right direction, so the strategic element of the role is crucial to answer the questions, ‘How do we innovate, move forward, and decide the direction we want to take? What technology supports these goals?’
These are key considerations for a strategic CFO. Your role extends beyond overseeing the bottom line and daily financial processes to being a strategic advisor who leads cross-functional teams, drives company-wide transformation, and contributes to revenue growth.
While an operational CFO focuses primarily on getting the numbers right and reporting them on time, a strategic CFO provides strategic oversight that affects decisions business-wide and on equal footing with their C-suite colleagues.
The operational CFO focuses on immediate financial tasks, such as managing cash flow, budgeting and forecasting. They respond to issues as they arise and ensure the smooth day-to-day functioning of the finance department.
However, this focus on immediate needs can sometimes lead to a cycle of short-term problem-solving, where the team continuously moves from one forecast cycle to the next without the opportunity to take a step back and address more strategic, long-term goals.
As a result, the finance team can become trapped in a reactive mode, dealing with issues as they come up, rather than proactively shaping the future financial strategy of the company.
The strategic CFO, on the other hand, takes a broader view of the organization's financial health and future. Instead of just reacting to immediate issues, they focus on building systems and processes that can address recurring problems and prevent future ones.
This involves pausing to:
Reassess current approaches to identify issues
Develop forward-thinking strategies that align with the company's long-term goals
By adopting this proactive mindset, a strategic CFO drives meaningful progress within the organization, ensuring Finance supports and helps to shape the company's future direction.
This strategic approach lets you strike the right balance between short-term needs and long-term vision. It also allows you to assess whether you’re operating in the most effective way or innovating on and moving the business.
Tom Seegmiller, former VP of FP&A at Vena and current CFO at Texada Software, calls this “maniacal prioritization” during an episode of the CFO Show.
“We want to be people pleasers. We want to partner within the organization. We want to do right by people all the time. And so I think maniacal prioritization is the thing that we need to do. We need to learn how to say ‘yes, and’ to the organization. Don't say ‘no’ to something; say ‘yes, and this is where it comes in the prioritization stack’.”
Strategic CFOs also minimize their never-ending list of projects by creating a backlog for anything that’s not an immediate priority; they maintain focus by having a visual reminder of what's currently being worked on, what the priorities are, and what's next in line. And they finish tasks in progress before moving on to the next.
Melissa Howatson, Vena’s CFO, describes the importance of finishing tasks in the same episode of The CFO Show:
“When you're juggling too many things at once and not completing any of them, productivity takes a hit. Our workload in finance is seasonal, which affects our scheduling, but understanding how these cycles work allows us to identify windows for progress. For instance, the third week of the month could be an opportunity to make headway on important projects, since the first and last weeks are often tied up with closing, forecasting and reporting. Recognizing and utilizing these periods helps us keep advancing our work despite the cyclical nature of our tasks.”
Finance is at an interesting intersection within the business.
The team has to optimize how they run their own functions, help the overall business optimize operations and track performance to identify areas where the company needs to invest.
And the CFO leads these efforts, leveraging their financial expertise and business acumen to shape the company’s strategic direction and financial future.
Here’s how CFOs influence their company’s strategic decision making to drive growth and profitability:
Providing financial expertise to shape the company’s long-term vision and strategic goals
Collaborating with executives to align financial plans with strategic objectives
Measuring and evaluating performance against these plans to provide helpful insights
Ensuring resources are appropriately allocated to support strategic initiatives and maximize returns
Identifying and developing strategies to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks
Communicating the company’s financial performance and strategic plans to stakeholders such as the Board
Optimizing overall business operations to ensure performance and continuous improvement
Arguably the most important item from this list is the ability to collaborate cross-functionally. Melissa Howatson, Vena’s CFO, describes this skill in action:
You have to genuinely be interested in understanding the other parts of the business and what they're doing and be willing to get out of your own pure lane of Finance to understand what Sales and Marketing are trying to accomplish operationally. How do I understand that broader piece so that I can figure out where we could lean in and offer value in Finance?
Being actively involved in the business’s strategic planning allows you to influence your company's direction directly and positions the whole finance department to be a strategic business partner to the broader company.
Let’s go over five ways to maximize your involvement in your business’s strategic planning as a CFO.
Knowing the details of your company's internal operations helps you:
Make informed financial decisions that align with business goals
Identify potential financial issues before they become critical (for example, as a manufacturing CFO, spotting inefficiencies in the production process can help avoid costly overruns)
Allocate resources to areas that have the most significant impact on your goals
Build trust with internal department heads—they’ll start to see you as a knowledgeable partner who understands their needs and challenges
Some of the best ways to become an internal and industry expert are to:
Block time to spend with various teams within your company, from operations to sales, to understand their workflows, challenges, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Occasionally join departmental meetings and strategy sessions to stay informed about ongoing/upcoming projects, current issues and future plans.
Analyze internal reports such as financial statements, operational metrics and performance reports regularly to assess the company’s financial health.
Regularly listen to CFO podcasts and read industry journals, magazines and newsletters to stay updated on the latest trends, innovations, and regulatory changes.
There's nothing we do in Finance that only affects the world of finance.
For example, in payroll, we need to know a lot about HR and understand HR processes and trends that affect our function. Similarly, we share what’s in our world with them so they’re aligned, and together, we create the best experience for employees and the most efficient ways to work together.
When your finance team understands the broader business context behind the reports they create, they can provide more valuable insights and support. This helps build trust and credibility with other departments, who will see the finance team as valuable partners who contribute to the success of the entire organization rather than just gatekeepers of company spend.
Becoming an effective business partner takes a lot of listening and learning.
To achieve this, start with an honest assessment of your team. What soft skills are they already exhibiting or have the potential to show? If they're not exhibiting these traits at all, this is something you’ll want to address. You can nurture these skills in your team and help them grow by showing up and demonstrating the behavior you want to see in them.
Tom Seegmiller, CFO at Texada Software, puts it this way in this CFO Show episode:
"Actions speak a lot louder than words, so it's important to show up. For example, if [your finance team] is having challenges building a relationship, show them how it's done, but don’t just tell them. Show up and lead through a meeting. Have them shadow you and take part in those conversations. Help them be a part of the solution and be there for them.
One of the things we can do as leaders is remove roadblocks for our teams. Figure out where they’re having a challenge, focus on those roadblocks and enable them to thrive and succeed in their role. Soft skills can be fostered and grown over time; you need team members with a genuine interest in building the skill set and who see the value."
You can also look across the rest of the business and have experts from other teams teach yours to fill skill gaps they may have. For example, if you have an effective project manager in your organization, you could have them teach the topic to your team, as that’s an essential skill that tends to be overlooked in finance.
Business partnering work can be very rewarding. Teaching your team how and when to show up and how to partner with different departments, even in areas they may not have experienced:
Drives better outcomes
Presents a huge opportunity for them to learn and grow
Moves them closer to achieving a much higher level of fulfillment in their role
Cross-functional collaboration helps you deeply understand different departments' needs, challenges, and opportunities beyond just the financial perspective. These teams can also share their ideas and insights, likely resulting in creative solutions and innovations.
Dan Crumb, Kansas City Chiefs’ CFO, explains what makes this type of collaboration successful in this CFO Show podcast episode:
"Effective collaboration and a better team approach start with the goals you set and how clear you are about those goals. Then, you have to ensure everybody's on board with those goals and understands their role in achieving them. Also, you have to ensure everybody's doing their job, getting the resources they need to complete their own tasks, and taking the steps and measures to do that. Plus, you need to interface with the other departments to see how they operate."
To build a strong relationship with other teams, you’ll want to:
Schedule regular meetings with department heads to discuss ongoing projects, challenges, and opportunities.
Ensure that all departments understand and are aligned with the company’s strategic vision and objectives.
Develop shared performance metrics that reflect the contributions of different departments towards common goals.
Implement systems that allow for easy sharing of information between departments, such as cloud based FP&A software that makes it possible for even non technical individuals to access reporting and insights.
Offer cross-training opportunities to help employees understand the roles and responsibilities of other departments.
During Excelerate Summit 2024, Vena’s CFO, Melissa Howatson, shared that finance leaders' top two tech investments for 2024 are:
Data visualization and BI
Workflow automation and AI
Both technologies are helping the business move faster by eliminating tactical tasks and providing the insights you need to make data-driven decisions. This way, you spend less time creating reports and more time reviewing the data with other executives to convert insights into recommendations, plans and actions.
Finance teams today can use AI-driven FP&A tools for routine tasks like identifying trends within large data sets and predicting future sales with higher accuracy. And 50% of companies who use AI for these tasks see a 20% decrease in their overall forecast error.
Nicolas Herman, CFO of Microsoft America's enterprise, explains the value of adding AI to your workflow:
"Technology and AI are playing a part in making finance processes more efficient, faster, and easier without relinquishing responsibility. We still need humans to review, make sense of the data, feed the models, interpret results, and communicate with the business. That's why I like the notion of a "copilot," because it implies that we are still in the driver's seat. Technology and AI are here to help, support, and create conditions for us to make better decisions, understand what's happening in the business, and anticipate and control risks better. But we are still in control—we make the decisions."
We need to strengthen trust around AI productivity and do it in a way that is responsible and safe for our businesses. There are several use cases for AI, including financial modeling, revenue forecasting and scenario planning, so you can spend more time on strategic tasks.
Bottom line?
Invest in FP&A tools with AI capabilities, as they can automate and streamline tasks that would typically require significant manual effort and time. This way, you’ll have more time to concentrate on high-impact, strategic initiatives and partner with other departments to drive the business’s success long-term.
The most successful finance leaders understand that their role isn't just about managing the numbers; it's about using financial insights to influence the company's strategic direction. When you focus too much on daily tasks, you risk missing the bigger picture—how finance can drive innovation, support long-term planning and contribute to competitive differentiation.
Strategic CFOs continually reassess which tasks have the most significant impact on the business and which do not. By deprioritizing and automating routine work, you can allocate resources more strategically, allowing your finance team to focus on initiatives that align with the company’s overarching goals and giving yourself the bandwidth for high-impact strategic work.
This shift in focus is essential for the financial and overall health of your business, especially in a constantly changing environment influenced by technological advancements, regulatory changes and economic shifts.
To learn more about how the role of the CFO is evolving, watch Vena CFO Melissa Howatson and Vena Director of FP&A Thomas Krolak’s session from Excelerate Finance 2024, “The Future of Finance Leadership.”
Explore the CFO's evolving role and what strategic finance leaders can do to unlock the potential in their people and data.
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