An excellent, recent guest post on VentureBeat by a prominent VC in Silicon Valley (Sergio Monsalve of Norwest Venture Partners) reflects on the growing and changing role of the CFO in a company:
“Elevated in large part by the convergence of data analytics and finance, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is increasingly taking center stage in the strategy and direction of the organization.”
This is definitely a strong trend that we’ve witnessed as well working with SMBs (Small- and Medium-sized Businesses) here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Monsalve further observes that:
“Over the last decade, CFOs have been taking on more corporate responsibility and expanding their influence far beyond their original number crunching roles. As business strategies and boardroom decisions become more dependent on real time financial analysis and insights, the CFO naturally becomes more central to the heart of business operations….
“With a data-driven eye on all areas of a company’s business performance, the CFO is well positioned to foster innovation, drive company growth, and manage business transformation.
“Adaptive Insights’ CFO Indicator Survey of more than 325 CFOs shows how finance chiefs are thinking about and acting on their evolving role. A large majority (70 percent) report that finance is already at the center of business and driving strategic decision-making, and nearly as many (69 percent) intend to take on more strategic leadership roles in the next two years. More than half cite a culture of analytics as a key competitive advantage in today’s business climate.”