Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) have different priorities to those of the organisation - as discovered by McKinsey and Co and reported in their December 2022 online article (read it here). Overall though, there are a number of areas where CFOs are sharpening their focus for 2023. The top five risks they identified as key for the next twelve months are:
- Rising interest rates
- Inflation
- Supply chain disruptions
- Geopolitical instability and conflicts
- Transitions of political leadership
While these somewhat align with the priorities of the organisational leaderships, CFOs have indicated they will be spending less time on long-term goals like setting corporate strategy and large-scale transformation. Instead, their priorities ware more about “improving the management of financial risk, liquidity, and resource allocation.” These are areas that CFOs can affect directly and feel warrant their particular attention.
It is important for CFOs and the organisational leadership team to have the conversation about priorities to ensure everyone understands what the major priorities are and why, and to clear up an unwarranted misalignment.