Which are the Top CFO Trends for 2023?

Where CFOs should spend their efforts

Seeing possibilities where others see challenges is essential to weather future changes.

While work on the key trends of past years continues, here is a brief overview of the tasks to come, based on CFOs’ current concerns:

• Improvement of supply chain performance and safeguarding of the company against disruption.
• New capital allocation strategies to stand out among competitors.
• Investing in employee-focused initiatives to address talent acquisition and retention
• Continue automation of business and IT strategies to ensure data accuracy and save time.

1. Strategy shifts

Because of the war outbreak in Ukraine and its consequences, it is essential for CFOs to redesign company strategies to tackle the changing scenario. As the role of the CFO continues to evolve, more effort must be spent on strategic leadership, paying attention to sustainability and being aware of environmental, social and government-related issues.

To manage this effectively, CFOs should work on:

• Developing their company’s Environmental, Social and Government Strategy (ESG Strategy), even when it is not officially their responsibility.
• Creating the essential enterprise performance management information and partnering with counterpart sales, product and supply chain managers to grow the company’s profits and strengthen essential customer relationships.
• Improving the company’s enterprise risk management strategy, defining strategic goals and objectives, identifying roadblocks and barriers to success and overcoming them with risk mitigation plans.
• Building business continuity, disaster recovery and remote work plans.

2. Capitalize on digital investment

The smarter the data, the smarter the decisions. Finance team responsibilities are expanding, and maximizing the value of your company’s data and analytics remains one of the challenges faced by CFOs. This calls for a bolder approach to digital technologies, continuing the automation of business and IT processes and using specific software for CFOs to provide actionable benefits that can be measured against business outcomes.

3. CFO Trends for 2023 to enhance competitive advantage

Diversity, equity and inclusion are becoming more of a competitive differentiator. Thus, building awareness and investing in DE&I training should be one of your goals. However, for a truly outstanding performance, you must not forget the following:

• Set aside budget and time for employee development to help to build a growth mindset in your company.
• Learn about strategic planning, best practices and industry trends.
• Invest in business performance management software.

For long-term planning, you will need to set up a defined business plan, evaluate how to execute it and identify the resources you’ll need. The Talentia CPM solution offers support and a tailor-made solution for CFOs to successfully steer corporate performance and thrive in the new scenario.