The finance and accounting industry is evolving. As digital automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and other technologies transform our workplaces, the role of the CFO has changed too.
Technology has helped open up the CFOs’ time to be involved in all facets of a company, allowing for more strategic and successful business outcomes. CFOs are playing an increasingly crucial role within companies, and together with the CEO, they can be the foundation for which all other executives are supported.
It’s never only one thing that drives productivity and increased strategic insights. CFOs today have much more technological and technical acumen than ever. CFOs are able to serve the company better from an analytical standpoint, driving better decision-making tactics for the business. All of this is crucial for a CFO in his or her drive towards improving margins, efficiencies, overall profitability, and cash flow.
CFOs today need to understand much more about business than just the financial aspects. They are responsible for budgeting, forecasting and financial analysis of all kinds. CFOs are also often responsible for transactional accounting, financing, invoicing and collections (Accounts Receivable), vendors (Accounts Payable), inventory, and payroll.
Technology is helping to streamline processes for finance teams and make the data transparent and accessible. With that access, decision-making involves less guesswork and becomes more data-driven, especially coupled with the expertise of an experienced CFO that understands the financial and organizational impact of each possibility.
As companies realize that more budgeting and forecasting is needed in order to make accurate business decisions, the CFO has had to step in and get involved with every arm of the organization in order to fully understand the financial and strategic implications of each decision made.
Today’s CFO needs to be involved in the interactions among every aspect of the company— operations, sales, marketing, manufacturing, development, accounting, etc. Technology makes it more practical and time-efficient to become involved in all facets of a company, and companies have come to recognize that the involvement of a CFO is vital to their success.
Because every business requires a solid level of financial skill and understanding to be successful, the CFO should be involved in every single business decision. This helps the CFO solidify the financial success of the company in addition to ensuring that every other department chief understands the financial metric of their respective departments’ work.
If you are a small business or middle market business owner or CEO within the San Francisco Bay Area or Silicon Valley, in need of an experienced part-time CFO to help your company scale effectively, while improving cash flow and profit margin, our highly skilled outsourced CFO services provide direct access to high-quality expertise in a cost-effective manner.
CFO Growth Advisors (CGA) specializes unique and highly effective growth strategies that are tailored to help companies grow more quickly and efficiently while improving sales & profit growth. Contact us to learn more.