IT and talent management are a crucial part of a modern CFO’s job, but often the finance leaders fall short. Global experience is paramount for a high level CFO and the role of the finance leader will increase in significance over the next three years. Those are some of the conclusions of KPMG’s View from the Top report, which surveyed over 500 executives from six continents.
Here are the 7 most important conclusions - and they're not all comfortable reading for our CFOs
- Two-thirds (63%) of the surveyed CEOs believe that the CFO's role will increase in significance over the next three years, as compared with other C-suite roles.
- 30% of the global CEOs say their CFOs don't understand or assist them enough with the challenges they face with running their organisations.
- Global experience is the most important attribute a CFO can possess, says 48% of all surveyed CEOs. European CEOs (60%) value global experience even more.
- CEOs named the regulatory environment as the external factor that will most influence the future role of the CFO. That is not necessarily a negative: 61% of CEOs also see regulation as an opportunity to derive competitive advantage.
- Leveraging IT, such as cloud-enabled ERP systems, should be the main focus of CFOs in the future, say CEOs. Yet, less than half of CEOs from these organisations think their finance functions are doing a good job in exploring and implementing the best new technology.
- 85% of CEOs say applying financial data to achieve profitable growth is the greatest strategic value a CFO can bring to an organisation.
- Almost all (97%) of CEOs say that attracting and retaining top-notch finance talent is the most or equally important contributing factor in improving the finance function, yet only 33% give their CFOs a passing grade in talent management.
- Read the full report (pdf), CEOs see a powerful future for the CFO. Are CFOs ready for the challenge?
- Email Kobus Venter, KPMG's Financial Management Service Line Leader for South Africa
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