The CFO role continues to evolve, with the new generation of finance leaders driving a broader view of business performance and purpose, said ACCA recently.
New research by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and BDO has revealed how the role of the CFO is growing to include driving business decisions and reporting on the non-financial areas of their operations, ACCA pointed out.
More than 100 CFOs and business leaders from around the world took part in roundtables and in-depth interviews to contribute their insight into how the traditional CFO role is changing, resulting in the report “Chief value officer – the important evolution of the CFO”, according to the accountancy body.
To be successful and sustainable, businesses and other organisations increasingly need to combine economic, environmental and social equity, said ACCA.
Those that don’t, face risks and their value can diminish – there is a very strong link between value creation and strategy, the accountancy body noted.
Key findings
According to ACCA, there are three key findings about the CFO role from the joint research.
- The concept of value is fundamental to the management of performance in organisations and its adoption is a key element in their path to a sustainable future.
- CFOs are increasingly adopting a value centric approach in their work and this represents an evolution towards encompassing the chief value officer role within a more traditionally financially focused remit.
- The development path for those aspiring to be CFOs requires an increasingly broad range of experience which embraces both formal and informal learning activities: professional bodies and practices need to engage with this.
Creating sustainable organisations is a key priority for all organisations and CFOs have a fundamental role to play in delivering this, said report author Clive Webb, who is Head of Business Management at ACCA.
“The perception of the CFO and the finance team needs to change from being Dr No to Dr How,” Webb noted. “It’s s pleasing to see how many finance teams are working towards this agenda”.
