As the financial crisis has developed, greater responsibilities and demands have been placed on finance and its leadership by boards that want finance to be more strategic, in addition to fulfilling more traditional roles such as finance stewardship.
‘In forward-looking organisations finance is evolving from a focus on the transactional and cost efficiency areas to a real strategic focus where it can make a massive impact,’ said Ana Barco, author of The Fast Track to Leadership a report from CGMA, the joint body of the AICPA and CIMA.
‘This evolution is influencing the capabilities that finance professionals now need to demonstrate and bring to an organisation,’ she added. Technology has a role to play, but as the report highlighted: although organisations need better information and analysis, the crucial skills required by finance professionals are the capability to turn this information into insight, and then turn this insight into action.
