The DNA Of A Growth CFO

Fast-paced and risk-intensive environments need CFOs with unique skillsets, capabilities, and backgrounds. Plenty of CEOs and owners of companies don’t understand what makes the modern Growth CFO unique from traditional accounting executives.

Growth CFOs bring a unique mix of financial acumen, entrepreneurship, and scaling profit insights to the table that broaden businesses and help CEOs meet their goals more quickly and effectively.

In short, they bring a strategic advantage that companies nowadays look toward to break free from the status quo.

So, how does this all work?

Where Does Innovation Count?

Some companies need wholesale transformation. As part of a multi-step process.

CEOs often need help identifying the right options for their firm to continue.

This could be automation or resizing, rearchitecting databases, and streamlining data generation.

More importantly, prioritizing the right kind of data and being able to read it and rely on it quickly, meaning it is readable to everyone in the company’s hierarchy, not just the numbers expert.

What’s Next? COVID and Changing Landscapes

Change is accelerating. COVID drove unexpected change across industries. For instance, new customer expectations, remote work environments, safety concerns, different supply chains, uncertainty, and a deep need to shift how companies deliver products and services to their customers.

For many CEOs, this highlighted the adverse effects of relying on outdated models and irrelevant historical data. In a way, this was positive, as it allowed some to rethink how they do business.

For leaders less agile and able to pivot, a Growth CFO can powerfully align them with new principles and strategies that allow them to think boldly and rethink the work environment.

Overall, this makes them more durable and receptive to change.

Defining the Next Generation of CFO

Who many think of as CFOs are really accountants with a big title. Chief accountants are CAOs, not CFOs.

Many owners still think of accountants; a CFO goes beyond, reflected in the marketplace, internet search terms, and the need for a new type of leadership at a CEO’s right hand, adopting a horizontal mindset.

The right CFOs facilitate cross-functional collaboration with the added clarity that only the numbers provide. Growth CFOs guide the accounting function’s development. They help owners define the destination outcomes that they want, including household income. They work with managers to evaluate customer acquisition and delivery options. They establish mechanisms to optimize follow through such as the daily dashboard and monthly financial scorecard. They are accountable.

Is this the time to remaster your organization’s effectiveness?