The responsibilities of CFOs typically include the planning, implementation, managing, and running of all financial activities in a company, but today we’re seeing many more responsibilities falling to CFOS. It is incredibly important that CFOs have the needed support and tools to be successful in their positions as added responsibilities pile up.
As for most things in the 21st century, technology plays a huge role in providing data and answers that companies use to make critical decisions. The technology used to inform CFOs with significant information has also been a root cause for the additional responsibilities we see in the role today. We’re now seeing CFOs and their direct reports engaged with supply chain management, information technology, hiring, operations, and process improvement.
One of the most important aspects to stay focused on is communication and collaboration.
Especially as we see a large majority of the population working from home due to the pandemic. Regardless of the pandemic causing workers to shift to remote working, it is still likely that some employees may already work from home or work at different locations across the globe. We talk about the best strategies to simplifying communication in our blog post here. With projects and reports piling up, it’s especially important that everyone knows their role and what they’re working on. Without clearly defined roles and action items, employees may not know that they need to be working on a specific item or there could be multiple people working on the same thing, wasting valuable time.
Another area of focus should be balancing attention between short-term and long-term goals.
Both are important, but if one takes precedent over the other you may see problems pop up. Setting up long-terms goals as a strategic-plan is the best place to start and then creating short-term goals to support the overarching goals of the company is a fool-proof set-up. Short-term goals should be looked at once a week or at least once a month but it’s critical to go back and look at the long-term goals of the strategic plan to make sure these smaller goals in fact lead you to the larger goals that have been set. It’s likely that strategic plans and long-term goals will involve several sectors of the company so checking in with other departments is essential in delivering the desired results and outcomes. These tactics can lend to increased productivity if done correctly.
Stress testing your company assumptions remains valuable outside of COVID-19.
Other events do and will happen that affect companies, whether that’s an industry event or other unplanned disaster. That’s why it’s important to conceptualize and problem-solve a multitude of problems that have the possibility of occurring. This can be accomplished via computer models or a meeting between management to discuss impacts and procedures based on probable events. Risk remains a dire essential in financial roles.
Although the above areas of focus are important and will remain relevant to CFOs as time continues, its important to realize that there are some areas that CFOs have little control of costs including telecom, wireless, and internet. Verify! has the unique experience of analysts with decades of industry knowledge to extensively investigate your companies accounts. A Verify! analysis starts with an inventory of accounts and provides cost-cutting and efficiency recommendations. CFOs have enough to focus on so let Verify! lower your utility bills so you have more room in your budget and more time in your day to complete the objectives that keep your company thriving.
