These were the top priorities for CFOs in 2022 and beyond

A new study by Tradeshift - in cooperation with CFO Dive - highlights the challenges finance leaders face as they grapple with an expanding role and a range of strategic responsibilities that until recently were outside the purview of the finance department. A highlight of the study is that nearly half of CFOs (45 percent) cite attracting and retaining talent as their top concern in 2022 and beyond. Other top concerns include the increased cost of goods and services (42 percent) and the adoption of new technologies (39 percent).

The right investments made, but: "Afterwards you are always smarter".

For the most part, respondents were positive about their recent technology investments. But well over half (59 percent) admitted they would have taken a different approach if they could have anticipated the events of the past few years. This tension highlights how CFOs are coping with the sudden evolution of their roles and responsibilities triggered by the seismic events of recent years.

"The upheavals of recent years have brought the evolution of the CFO role to the forefront. CFOs now have to deal with an ever-increasing range of strategic tasks," says Mikkel Hippe Brun, co-founder and general manager, payment automation, at Tradeshift. "Finance executives recognize the critical role technology must play in addressing a growing number of strategic challenges, from supply chain risk mitigation to ESG. They also recognize that any investment in technology requires an equal investment in human talent capable of handling new technologies and extracting value from new data sets."

The difficulty of identifying the top priorities

The survey further revealed that many CFOs were struggling to juggle changing priorities. Indeed, most CFOs (28 percent) said they spend too much time on traditional finance functions (areas such as treasury, accounting, treasury and controlling), while 35 percent also said they spend too little time on talent development. CFOs, however, believe they have generally done an excellent job, according to the survey. However, they said the transition from efficiency to value creation is critical. Nearly all CFOs (93 percent) are at least satisfied with their company's finance function. More than a third (38 percent) described it as excellent. Still, 49 percent of CFOs ranked providing a more detailed view of the company's cash and liquidity and 41 percent ranked automating processes through intelligent automation as high priority areas for new technology investment. To reach the next level of value creation, CFOs expect to need financial technology expertise (59 percent), followed by data and technology skills (50 percent) and knowledge of business strategy (38 percent).

Further need for investment and lack of resources

Companies are lagging behind in adopting the latest technologies to help their departments do their jobs better and more efficiently. Only one-third (35 percent) of CFOs said their latest technology projects have reached the implementation stage or beyond, with most still in the planning or proof-of-concept phase.

Furthermore, CFOs lack the necessary resources to support their teams in their work. For their teams to work better, they need better data integration (56 percent), better training (48 percent) and more modern technologies (42 percent), according to the survey. As a result of this, another finding can be gleaned: The vast majority of CFOs plan to increase budgets for digital transformation projects within their department. More than one in three respondents (36 percent) said they planned to increase technology spending by more than 26 percent, with one in five CFOs reporting an increase of more than 50 percent. Only 6 percent of respondents planned to reduce their investment in new technologies. According to the survey, CFOs place a high priority on several technology investments, but also acknowledge that their companies' main concerns about adopting new technology are many, including implementation costs (46 percent), ease of integration with an existing technical system (41 percent) and training or hiring employees who can best use the technology (38 percent).

CFOs believe their teams can meet tomorrow's challenges, but they lack skilled talent. While the vast majority (88 percent) of CFOs say they are strongly or somewhat confident that their current team can meet evolving business needs, more than a third (37 percent) say they lack the internal expertise to properly analyze their financial data.

Source reference: 

• https://hub.tradeshift.com/research-and-reports/talent-and-tech-investment-top-the-list-of-cfo-priorities-for-the-year-ahead/
• https://www.cfodive.com