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Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are gradually
seeing their roles expand into new business areas
as the job itself becomes more encompassing—a
position that heralds more responsibility for the
candidate in the role.
As a recent article in the Washington Post
details, the role of the CFO no longer revolves
solely around ‘number-crunching’, but can include
responsibility for various other tasks, such as data
security, data analytics and marketing.
The role of the CFO no longer
revolves solely around ‘number-
crunching’
There are a number of possible reasons behind the
expansion to the role of CFO. The requirement
for both CEOs and CFOs to sign-off official
financial statements for businesses, as passed in
the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, helped to raise
the profile of CFOs within companies and thus
led to board members and company directors
becoming more involved in candidate selection.
Also the shrinking prevalence of Chief Operating
Officers and the need for CEOs to become more
aware of operational details has helped to propel
CFOs upwards within business hierarchies.
Some of the most prominent influences, however,
are rapidly evolving technological capabilities
and the growing need for companies to better
manage their data.As online security of consumer
and business data becomes more important,
CFOs are also having to demonstrate an ability to
understand and manage various IT and security
functions, data analytics and overall corporate
intelligence.They need to delve deeper into the
data and look at it in new ways.
This is leading to the hiring of candidates—
or the ascension of employees—with diverse
backgrounds into the CFO role. Having an
intimate knowledge of not only financial matters,
but data, IT, security and management within a
company are all considered essential traits for the
modern CFO.
Having an intimate knowledge
of data, IT, security and
management are all essential
traits for the modern CFO
And with the role evolving so dramatically in the
present, businesses and candidates need to begin
considering what else the role of the CFO will
encompass in the coming years. In the past, a
decided focus on accountancy and finance skills
was all that would be required, but nowadays
far broader experience is needed. Rather than
only having experience of working within finance
departments, time spent in other business units is
also important.
Prior experience in other
business units is also important
for the modern multidisciplinary
CFO
Having a robust digital skillset and being tech-
savvy are two key traits that will only grow in
importance as the use of the cloud, big data and
data analytics continues to expand. Social media
is also playing a key role; modern communications
platforms are able to drive cost efficiencies and
allow businesses to better recognise risk in real-
time.
THE EXPANDING ROLE OF THE CFO
3. www.dsjglobal.com | enquiries@dsjglobal.com Industry Insight | Enabling Exceptional Careers
Similarly, CFOs will require adaptable,
multidisciplinary skills to encompass all of the
above; they will need to not only have the skills
to utilise and understand complex IT functions,
but also be strategic, flexible—possibly with
international experience—and have managerial,
marketing and possibly even sales skills, too.
With these new responsibilities, however, come
monetary gains—CFOs benefitted from raises
that far surpassed those of their bosses,with those
in the SP 500 receiving a median pay increase of
13.9% in 2014 compared to just 6.9% for CEOs.
This makes the median compensation package
for the group worth $3.8 million; an increase of
$500,000 compared to the previous year.
And as collated in the GrantThornton CFO Survey
for 2015,those in the role state that the top three
needs of a business looking to expand are: being
able to retain the right talent (70%); maintaining
efficient processes (64%);and establishing efficient
and integrated systems (54%).With these points
in mind, hiring the right candidate into the role of
CFO will help establish business growth.While in
the past the movement of CFOs into the business
functions mentioned in this article would have
been rare, the expanding skillsets of CFOs mean
they are almost interchangeable with CEOs,
amongst others.The modern CFO is more than
their job title suggests.
At DSJ Global we specialise in the recruitment
and placement of individuals within this space.
4. This guide has been brought to you
by DSJ Global, part of the Phaidon
International group.
DSJ Global is a specialist provider of
Corporate Leadership recruitment
solutions across Europe, the US, Asia
and the Middle East.
We believe every professional should
benefit from the advice of a trusted
partner throughout their career.
Contact DSJ Global, for more
information about career opportunities
in this sector, or if you are looking to
expand your team.
Contact us today:
www.dsjglobal.com
enquiries@dsjglobal.com
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