CFOs Increasingly Linked to Growth as Stress Levels Rise
CFOs are being increasingly linked to business growth and investor confidence, reveals the results of a study by OneStream, a provider of enterprise finance management platforms.
The release of the findings follows the publishing of separate data by Yooz, provider of automated finance services solutions, which found that CFOs’ stress levels are on the rise.
OneStream’s research reveals that investors are willing to increase their investments by an average of 2.6% when CFOs are seen as strategic growth drivers. For large asset managers, this premium rises to 3.6%, demonstrating the growing importance of CFOs in attracting investment and driving business strategy. The company surveyed 2,000 global business leaders and investors across Europe, Australia, the US and Singapore.
CFO competence outweighs CEO importance
Investors now consider CFO competence as the second most important factor when considering investments, ranking above CEO competency, and second only to market expansion, reveals the survey.
It also found that 67% of CEOs believe an organisation's success or failure now rests on the shoulders of the CFO.
The shift highlights the evolving perception of the CFO's role in organisational success, as their responsibilities expand and the challenges they are met with grow in complexity.
The CFO role is evolving
A substantial 75% of CEOs surveyed believe expectations on CFOs have multiplied over the past three to five years, while 67% think CFOs are expected to be the "masters of everything" by understanding all business risks and opportunities. Some 72% think a holistic understanding of the whole company supersedes technical finance skills in importance.
The research reveals that 67% of CEOs believe organisational success depends on CFOs. However, 69% of CFOs report struggling to drive strategy and growth due to expanding responsibilities. CFOs face challenges including:
- Limited cross-functional collaboration
- Legacy systems and technology limitations
- Growing skills gap in finance departments.
Future of finance and technology
By 2035, 74% of business leaders believe data will be their organisation's greatest asset, the report reveals.
It also indicates that AI and automation will reshape finance functions, with 74% of CFOs expecting significant changes.
A substantial 88% of investors and 65% of business leaders believe the CFO role will become more critical to business success over the next decade, while 80% of investors and 70% of business leaders agree that international regulatory efforts will be mostly harmonised and that there will be global financial reporting standards.
OneStream CEO Tom Shea states: "Our research found that the large majority of investors believe the role of the CFO will be even more important in ten years than it is today".
CFO stress levels on the rise
AI may be set to play more of a role in aiding CFOs in the near future, but many financial directors are currently reporting they are stressed in their roles, according to a Yooz survey.
It found 88% of those it surveyed said they were stressed as a result of shifting business priorities, with 66% saying their stress levels were moderate to extreme.
Yooz surveyed 135 CFOs and 365 other US finance workers, finding that budget constraints accounted for 92% of finance professionals' ability to meet strategic goals.
Meanwhile, 74% of respondents stated they regularly worked overtime throughout the six months up to the survey, which was conducted in August.