advantages that can help them thrive in this environment. With financial pressures straining

even the most efficient and lean organizations, forward thinking companies should now to turn to

the CFO.

A change in attitude about the value of the CFO, in fact, has been a long time coming. Whether

an enterprise faces an economic boom or protracted downturn, the role of the CFO has been

morphing. This flux reflects both greater CFO responsibility and corresponding more difficultly.

This also translates into financial management that needs to generate real value in the enterprise.

It will not happen by accident but by careful assessment and enterprise and business process

transformations. Enter the concept of the Strategic CFO.

The Strategic CFO is equipped with the proper tools, plans and fiscal philosophy that will

transform the role of CFO into a strategic business asset. Devising and following a roadmap can

create a framework for success with strategic methodology that translates into positive bottom

line performance via financial information. There are specific processes and stages that allow

the CFO to break away from the old paradigm of numbers crunching, get thorough the financial

growing pains and ultimately focus on business strategy and competitive challenges.

The issues on the plate of the CFO are grander yet grittier than ever before. Consider all highlevel

activities that CFOs are expected to coordinate: financial information gathering,

integration, and interpretation as well as overall business process improvement. On top of that,

add ever grown concerns around risk measurement, management and mitigation plus financial

controls and compliance activities.

If that isn’t enough also consider the more ‘mundane’ aspect that need to be addressed such as

accounting, payroll, tax issues, treasury, and the ongoing needs around the financial close

process. Many CFO’s have not progressed past the stage of babysitting ERP systems that only

address these basic functions.

There are also added concerns of IT solutions and support that are in reality intertwined with

supporting the many financial business processes necessary to run a company. In total, the sum

of these issues, both great and small seems overwhelming to many CFOs-and the reality bears

that out.

in this survey, by executive services firm Tatum, LLC, are various but include the sputtering

economy, weakened corporate earnings and the changing role of finance functions what has

increased pressure on the role of finance and the associated role of the corporate CFO. The

takeaway is that there is now widespread belief that the role of the CFO is exceedingly difficult

to perform therefore turnover will become rampant.

This belief- that the office of America’s CFOs will remain the equivalent of musical chairs-only

furthers the necessity for the CFO to become more strategic, marshalling information and not

drowning in it. No matter if the enterprise is trying to weather a bad economy or is facing

internal or external financial pressures, the CFO needs to see its role as that of information

master and innovator.

A Strategic CFO, then, has the foresight, tools and vision to address the processes that fall under

the mantle of the CFO and create competitive advantage for the enterprise. To do this the

Strategic CFO needs to consider methodology models and IT solutions that improve and

transform financial business processes while also taking care of everyday business. But even

before that, there needs to be an honest assessment of ‘current state’ business functions, IT

support and solutions, and enterprise value the role of CFO is providing. This is critical to define

where the enterprise is and how far it needs to progress.

The role of CFO, as mentioned, is changing rapidly but there also basic responsibilities that will

remain constant. The CFO will need to address basic functional processes but also juggle new

ways of looking at financial metrics that monitor financial performance. Going one step further,

this is part of a larger picture to contribute to enterprise business challenges. These challenges

vary and include:

To handle these issues, and others, the CFO must work to develop a strategic plan that collects

financial information for reporting and analysis that positively impacts bottom line performance

of the enterprise. Accomplishing this goal will position the CFO to become an equal among Clevel

executives in fashioning strategic decisions and policy at the enterprise level.

The need for a Strategic CFO in every enterprise is urgent, but this transformation should be

done in stages. Developing a methodical plan requires inventorying current processes alongside

financial issues that have yet to be addressed or that are on the enterprise ‘wish list.’ A fourstage

approach to creating the Strategic CFO will take a company from basic transactions

processing to strategic business partner.

The four stages of the Strategic CFO are evolutionary steps that expand the domain of the CFO

to eventually include all the elements in Figure 1. By following a four-step process, the CFO can

turn concepts into the reality of daily process improvement that then trickles up to be used in

overall enterprise strategy. These four steps are also defined by the steady growth of valueadded

functions that impact the role of the CFO for maximum strategic value:

financial solutions (e.g., ERP systems) the financial close period and associated reports

and statements, and HR, benefits and payroll administration.

compliance, legal and regulatory matters as well as other financial areas like tax

compliance and process automation.

Performance Management, budgeting and planning, and financial and operational risk

management, as well as tax strategies and cash and treasury management strategies.

geopolitical risk factors, high-level data analysis, corporate financing/fundraising

activities, investor/analyst relations, and overall fiscal innovations that directly impacts

shareholder value. Also IT innovation to support ongoing strategic initiatives is a critical

element.

The various elements of these four stages can cut across business processes and IT solutions so

as to broadly cover, create and provide financial data. This cross pollinations of IT and

processes also helps to achieve satisfactory results during any of the four stages. For instance,

Business Performance Management, a ‘Stage 3’ element, enables businesses in the process of

defining financial goals to measure and manage performance against those goals. Core BPM

processes include financial and operational planning, consolidation and reporting, business

modeling, analysis, and monitoring of key performance indicators linked to strategy. These

processes therefore can also impact another Stage 3 element like internal (or external)

benchmarking. However BPM can also impact items like strategic risk (Stage 4) while tax

strategy and tax provisioning (Stage 2) can directly impact cash reserves and treasury functions

(Stage 3). These types of dependencies show the complex nature of the enterprise financial

framework. For that reason a phased approach to the Strategic CFO goal line is crucial to

properly devise and execute.

Another important aspect to remember is that the path to a Strategic CFO is not short. The

Strategic CFO timeline -much like enterprise financial transformation work which also involves

many financial transactions systems- needs to be thought of in terms of months, not weeks. A

reasonable timeframe, as shown in Figure 2, will take the enterprise from Stage 1 “Transactions”

through Stage 4 “Strategic Enterprise Partner” in a 20 month time frame and focus on value

added elements that greatly benefit both the enterprise and the office of the CFO.

This four step process and timeline may differ in specifics and durations depending on need

variations at specific enterprises. However the concepts that need to be followed, along with the

financial information streams that must be created, are largely defined by these business and

technical elements. Following this methodology and calendar increases the odds of success

when attempting to create a Strategic CFO.

For CFOs, mastering the basics of their job role is not enough to be considered a true and equal

partner at the C-level. Traditional data processing and control functions will not provide the

insight to successfully work across the customary executive level boundaries. The Strategic

CFO will throw off the shackles of a mere controllership role to become and enterprise leader.

For this reason, becoming a fully formed Strategic CFO is crucial to become a master of your

perception-and your true value to other C-level executive and to the enterprise.

However, creating the Strategic CFO office can be fraught with dangers that produce failed

results. Many CFOs may be damning themselves to the ‘road to hell’ with good intentions but

bad execution. The reasons for failure vary but many times include:

improvement has not been ‘sold’ to the rest of the enterprise or finance personnel

          Figure 2 - CFO Responsibility Elements That Create Increasing Value

but also change from technology usage, corporate and employee buy-in, and process and

workflow redefinition

will need some level of IT support (either internal or external)and how it is valuable to

finance processes to succeed

negatively impact the requisite change that is required to create a Strategic CFO

environment.

Yet another important factor is a lack of dedicated resources. Businesses need to dedicate the

best and brightest to CFO initiatives; otherwise the Strategic CFO initiative is not a business

imperative. Quality resources help make the Strategic CFO process successful and achieve

stated objectives.

This important element of success is, in many cases, not within reach of many CFOs. The talent

pool for many areas of finance is thin, in the best of times, and nearly non-existent for specialty

areas (such as tax, cash forecasting) Therefore many enterprises will need to look elsewhere for

resources to fill the gaps in talent and processes that need to be in place for the Strategic CFO to

succeed.

Different elements of business process outsourcing (BPO) and Software-as-a-Service (Saas) will

make sense for many enterprises. And now there is also a third, hybrid approach that promises

to bring the best aspects of BPO and SaaS together with cloud computing concepts to address

both needed software solutions and with domain expertise in financial services.

One such vendor, Corefino, has created a financial solution set that packages just such an

offering to address core accounting, payroll and tax functions that most CFOs face. This hybrid

approach offers enterprises a way to address daily finance process needs, through an outsourced

solution in conjunction with actual finance personnel on call and provided by Corefino. A CFO,

who is looking to create a more strategic position for finance and for the CFO role itself, will be

able to concentrate on higher-level business functions with supplemental help in this type of

scenario.

By utilizing an IT solutions/service provider, like Corefino, for basic yet necessary ERP type

functionality, an enterprise will be able to enjoy benefits through this model such as:

The vendor that offers outsourced solutions in tandem with best practices and domain expertise

in all things finance is a valuable resource to any enterprise. However going forward, this hybrid

will prove more valuable to companies that are not only looking to create the framework for the

Strategic CFO, but also for enterprises that want to move beyond the old ERP paradigm of

buying, installing and upgrading software. That model keeps many companies fettered and

unfocused on improving finance processes and only makes them caretakers of existing software

solutions. New approaches to these old problems, such as that offered by Corefino, will help

enterprises realize the vision of the Strategic CFO.

In most cases, the CFO will need to juggle new processes, old employees and longed for IT

services and solutions while also being the project champion for a Strategic CFO project to

succeed. Many times the CFO will also need to import some level of financial expertise or

financial IT solution during the project to bridge and create the ‘before’ and ‘after’ state.

Because of this reality enterprises now need to strongly consider the new breed of

application/service providers that can supply these types of hybrid solutions in finance for all

types of industries. Going forward, these vendors will carry the load for many types of financial

functions and can create great value. It is this type of forward thinking solution strategy for

finance that will enable the reality of the Strategic CFO.