Top financial leaders from across South Africa gathered at this year’s CFO Day, a high-impact event focused on the evolving role of CFOs in business transformation, AI integration and strategic leadership. From candid panel discussions to collaborative group sessions, the day explored how finance leaders are driving value through communication, innovation and reinvention.
South Africa’s top finance minds gathered at the luxurious Marriot Hotel in Melrose Arch on 29 May to engage on issues around the CFO’s role in transforming a business and reinventing finance.
The CFOs talked about how important it is to add value to the organisation. They said that boosting staff morale and understanding that AI adds value to the firm, and being a key translation officer were two ways to do this.
The day kicked off with a panel discussion about the CFO’s role in transforming a business. Momentum group CFO Risto Ketola highlighted the importance of smooth communication.
“You need to make sure that you communicate well when you make decisions about problem-solving during transformation. Ultimately people hate decisions that are not clear and are complicated,” he said.
Ashona Kooblall, CFO at iOCO, shed light on the importance of having a strong workforce and team work.
“A CFO wears many hats during transformation and for me it’s all about having a good team that’ll be able to implement those key decisions they have made, and doing it in an effective manner,” she said.
In the interactive group discussions, CFOs discussed how to master the art of ERP implementation, how seismic global events are shaping the future of South African-centric investment stocks (SA Inc), the CFO’s role in saying no, and reinventing finance.
In the group discussion about reinventing finance, CFO of Kumba Iron Ore Bothwell Mazarura expressed how much less interest there is in accounting from the youth.
“Accounting is not perceived as cool. It is now seen as boring, data driven, it takes long hours and has pay issues and the work-life balance is not attractive either,” he said.
"However, there are positives, which are not impressing the youth. The positives include getting opportunities to travel and there are opportunities that open up for a qualified CA," he added.
In the group discussion titled From planning to profit: Mastering the art of ERP implementation, Sandi de Souza, CFO Africa at SAP, said, “Almost all organisations have been through some form of ERP today. We are starting to get a little bit smarter in terms of the pitfalls and the need to communicate with end users, explain why it’s important to involve them from the start, and also consider the cost of training as part of the implementation.”
Speaking at the group discussion about how seismic global events are shaping the future of SA Inc, CEO at Anchor Capital Peter Armitage said: “In South Africa [there’s a perception that] there’s a Black Swan event hanging over our heads – ‘What if we become Zimbabwe?’. We have clients phoning us concerned that they’ve lost money, but they’ve actually made money this year; the rand is a few percent stronger than it was at the beginning of the year. It’s difficult to predict the future, but things are not as bad as they seem.”
PG Geldenhuys, an author and business coach, delivered an address about the bomb squad blueprint for CFO-led alignment, followed by Abdullah Verachia, the CEO of The Strategists closing off with an address about the importance of CFOs being able to transition along with time, in order to keep the business running.
The day closed off with attendees slowly making their way to the common area to share a drink or two, network and reflect on the different expert advice shared throughout the day.
CFO Day was made possible by principal partner Marsh, executive partners Anchor, BDO, Coupa, Stanlib and Workday; and associate partners AICPA & CIMA, Caseware, Oracle and Yellow Card.
