In addition to their traditional responsibilities of  “running the numbers” and “reporting the news,” today’s CFO should be guiding and influencing decision-making by using financial context as an integral driver and actively partnering with the CEO to Grow the Company.

CFOs of today should be leveraging financial reporting, producing data analytics to achieve more profitable growth, and designing business strategies – all with the goal of gaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

This article will explore why CFOs must expand their traditional finance role to become more collaborative with the CEO and bring more business value and insight to the table.

The CFO of the past was conservative, avoided risk, and spent most of their time crunching numbers and overseeing financial reporting, cash flow, and budgeting. However, the CFO of today requires new tools and skill sets.

Today’s industry-leading CFOs are looking beyond their traditional finance role to become more collaborative and insightful business partners, boosting their relevance and value to the business. CFOs are using financial leverage, tax planning, investment advice, and a variety of other tools to bring additional value to their organizations.

Train Nonfinancial Managers to Perform Like Financial Managers

Most CFOs fall short of taking financial information and generating tactical information that nonfinancial managers can easily understand and turn into actionable tasks. Industry-leading CFOs use simple automated reports and charts to take complex financial information and make it easily used by company managers.

By doing this, nonfinancial managers will gain the crucial skill of being able to read and interpret the financial information and reports that the CFO makes available on a regular basis. It will also demystify the subject of finance and provide other managers with a set of common financial terminology used in the company – enabling the CFO to communicate with their colleagues and internal contacts more effectively.

This means nonfinancial managers should be able to understand the:

• Scope, role, and importance of finance
• Responsibilities of financial managers
• Difference between accounting and finance
• Relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) for their role
• Job cost
• Earned revenue and profit

Train project managers and supporting staff to understand percent of completion, margin fade and gain, and cash flow. If they know these concepts, they can manage them more effectively and avoid typical pitfalls.

One tenet of the most successful contracting companies is financial aptitude, and if a CFO develops this in managers, then they can communicate in meaningful ways to implement financial strategies.

Leverage Information Technology

Today’s CFO role is also being transformed by information technology (IT), both inside and outside of the organization. CFOs who successfully leverage new technologies and serve as change agents throughout this transformation will become the key source for data-driven decision-making, enabling them to help their companies become more agile, dynamic, and successful.