Cambridge Business Association
Lessons from Best-In-Class CFOs
Report

Lessons from Best-In-Class CFOs

Alexander Roos, James Tucker, Marc Rodt, Sebastian Stange, Philipp Ego, Aissa Boudadi and Hardik Sheth
Boston Consulting Group, 2020
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Overview
  • For Experts

Recommendation

Too many chief financial officers focus on fine-tuning the data instead of interpreting and acting on it, according to this incisive analysis from professionals at the Boston Consulting Group. They advise corporate CFOs to step back and see the bigger picture, so that they can uncover the efficiencies that can add to shareholder value. Understanding the story behind the numbers, and actions they support, will enable these executives to contribute more to corporate success.

Summary

The financial reporting tasks in many firms have become mundane and serve little to no purpose.

Many functions within corporate finance departments have become rote chores, often lacking in value. Chief financial officers and their staffs spend an excessive amount of time tweaking spreadsheet inputs rather than attempting to understand the businesses generating the data and how those figures could affect the well-being of the corporation.

Chief financial officers need to rethink their roles and how their departments can add value.

To escape this drudgery, CFOs need to approach their departmental tasks from a perspective that spans external firms, sectors and regions...

About the Authors

Alexander Roos et al. are directors at the Boston Consulting Group.

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