The CFO-CEO partnership is one of the defining characteristics of market-leading organizations. Over the last decade, the dynamics of this relationship have shifted as the CFO has taken an increasingly broad role within many organizations. Our new report, based on a global survey of 652 CFOs and a series of interviews with CFOs and CEOs from companies including American Express and Coca-Cola, examines this changing relationship, and explores how CFOs and CEOs are working together on key value-creation activities. Our survey shows that:
- The majority (64%) of CFOs we surveyed say collaboration with their CEO has increased in the last three years.
- But they also highlight significant relationship barriers, including organizational boundaries, CFOs’ dominant focus on cost management and a perceived lack of demand from CEOs for insights from finance into strategic issues.
- CFOs also appear to underestimate the significance of the shift to digital, and their role within it. Only 50% consider a shift to digital will be a significant priority in the next three years, and only 49% consider they have a significant contribution to make.
Through a series of articles, our report illustrates how CFOs and CEOs are overcoming these barriers to create value through collaboration on four strategic business activities:
- Driving and enabling the shift to digital
- Measuring performance against strategy
- Redesigning the operating model
- Developing M&A strategy
Visit
ey.com/cfoandceo to read our study.
Partnering for performance is a series of studies that explores how CFOs can collaborate with their C-suite peers to grow, protect and transform their organizations. Part 1: the CFO and the supply chain, Part 2:the CFO and HR, Part 3: the CFO and the CIO and Part 4: the CFO and the CMO are available on ey.com/cfo.