IBM’s massive study of over 1,900 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries worldwide revealed that more than 60 percent of CFOs plan major changes to respond to the new economic climate.
CFOs and senior finance executives believe the already intense pressure on three fronts — reducing the enterprise cost base, making faster, more accurate decisions and providing more transparency to external stakeholders — will increase dramatically over the next three years.
The IBM study is the largest sample of CFO sentiment during the worst economic downturn in decades. As part of the impetus for change, Study participants ranked “providing inputs into enterprise strategy” number one when asked what was most important. Surprisingly, cost reduction was not at the top of the CFO agenda. However, they also revealed a major gap in organizational effectiveness, as only 50 percent feel their Finance organizations are currently effective in providing the necessary business insight to support these broader enterprise priorities.
One group of CFOs, dubbed “Value Integrators,” were found to consistently outperform their peers in all key financial metrics by driving two key qualities across their organization:
Finance efficiency – The degree of common process and data standards across the organization
Business insight – The maturity level of Finance talent, technology and analytical capabilities dedicated to providing business optimization, planning and strategic insights.
I think these issues are extremely important to Indian CFOs since they are not operating in a vacuum, and are increasingly interdependent on each other.
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