The role of the CFO is expanding globally, with finance leaders balancing an influx of added responsibilities in response to growing demands, according to a new global report.
The Super CFO: A Report on Shifting CFO Responsibilities, from Egon Zehnder, a global leadership advisory firm, found that these pressures are not contributing to a poor work/life balance. However, the additional experience also is not necessarily making it easier to advance their careers, the report found in its survey of nearly 600 CFOs.
And even though the evolving role requires CFOs to do more with less, the changes have not dampened finance leaders’ enthusiasm about their roles.
“The CFO role is bigger than ever before, with 82% noting that they have taken on additional responsibilities, including environmental, social, and governance; mergers and acquisitions; and corporate development duties in the past two years,” the report said.
Some leaders say they want more time to focus on core financial aspects, which include strategy (47%); developing finance talent (46%); partnering with other business leaders (42%); and capital allocation (33%).
They also anticipate that artificial intelligence and machine learning will influence their roles significantly, the report said, and that they need more time to experiment in these areas.
However, many leaders do not take these pressures home. Most CFOs rated their work/life balance as “OK” (51%) or “good” (29%), the report said. From an industry perspective, services CFOs report a better balance, with 41% rating it “good,” compared to only 25% of consumer CFOs.
Finance leaders said that maintaining a healthy lifestyle, pursuing unrelated hobbies, spending time with family, and having a passion for their career help them keep work and home lives separate.
Talent attraction is top of mind
Managing this expansion calls for a strong finance team, and many CFOs are focused on attracting suitable talent to navigate the evolving landscape.
Two-fifths of CFOs said it’s harder to attract top financial talent today than it was two years ago. Layoffs, tough labour markets, increase in demands of roles, and skills gaps are some of the major reasons behind this struggle.
“To build that bench of talent, CFOs shared that open and honest feedback (63%) was the most essential strategy followed by rotating top employees into other parts of the finance department (55%), and ensuring employees have access to targeted development programs (52%),” the report said.
CFOs who are not facing a shortage shared their strategies for attracting talent: raising the profile/reputation of their organisation; establishing a track record of strong financial performance; embracing remote hiring; and being at the forefront of the sustainability transition.
As the path narrows, mindset has shifted
Driving change within their teams and organisations does not guarantee a CEO position, the report found.
“CFOs are clear about their goals. For many, the move to CEO is imminent, with only a few steps remaining until they reach their next career destination,” the report said. Sixty per cent of CFOs want to be chief executives, and seven in ten say they are ready to become CEO now.
But many obstacles limit promotion opportunities, the report noted. Nearly half (46%) of CFOs said that networking and visibility were the biggest barriers, followed by customer and market knowledge (30%), and operational expertise (25%).
As a result, many finance leaders are reassessing their priorities, the report said. In North America, half of the CFOs surveyed have considered early retirement, at least partially driven by the role’s increased complexity.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.
