Today’s CFO Priorities must consider adding value to the company and play a more constructive part in the company operations. There is a need to boost efficiency and profitability by cutting costs where necessary and look for new revenue-generating strategies.
One of the most important lessons for all executives to take away from the agitated previous year was that they cannot monitor or even forecast such external events. A CFO’s best bet is to design an agile business strategy that can respond rapidly and decisively if circumstances deteriorate while still capitalizing efficiently on opportunities when they arise.
The most important and consistent priorities identified for a CFO are below:
Digital Transformation
It’s evident that CFOs have a ton of options for bringing their businesses to the forefront of technology. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are now affecting that many expected after years of promise. Finance executives place a high emphasis on robotic process automation. Automation technologies prevail, and CFOs and their teams are taking advantage of them. Cybersecurity has never been more critical, particularly as the work-from-home industry develops. CFOs are being challenged to make smarter decisions quicker in an environment that has never been less stable, and data analytics techniques are even more efficient than they were ever before.
Rebuild Team and Culture
For management, 2020 was a challenging year, but it was also difficult for staff. Employees have been impacted significantly by the effects of a worldwide pandemic, economic collapse, civil instability, and a volatile environment. Many people had to choose between their jobs and their children’s schooling, as well as caring for aging parents and plenty of other issues that no one could have imagined or expected. CFOs are in an excellent spot to re-establish the company’s culture. Without a strong culture, the survival of any company is precarious, at best.
Creating the New Business Model
The financial climate will be different after the situation is over, as it is with any global crisis. CFOs have the ability to build a different and better normal right now. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and CFOs are at the core of it. We’ve already seen this. In 2020, developing a modern post-Covid business model began, and it is expanding in 2021. CFOs may not have been involved in this phase a decade before, but the new generation of CFOs is not only involved but also leading the initiative alongside the CEO.
Innovation can be a major driver of growth in the post-Covid world. CFOs collaborate across departments to ensure that their companies are ready to expand as the economy really takes off. The year 2021 looks to be a watershed moment for CFOs and the businesses they run. As we’ve seen, the challenges of 2020 have taught us a lot of hard lessons, which CFOs will apply to build a faster, more agile, competitive, and increasingly successful business.
Read more: https://www.amaudit.ae/21st-century-ceos-approach/
