97% of SMEs say the role of their CFO has expanded due to the current financial climate

Pleo – one of Europe’s leading business spending solutions – found for 97% of UK SMEs the role of their CFO has changed due to the current financial climate. CFOs have taken on greater responsibilities and are now supporting multiple business divisions including Operations (27%), Marketing (25%), Compliance and Legal (25%), Product (25%), Technology & Innovation (25%), HR (23%) and wider business operations.

The current economic uncertainty has resulted in business leaders relying more heavily on their CFOs, with a quarter disclosing that their financial leader is now more of a strategic partner than ever before. As the role adapts, CFOs are becoming greater custodians of the businesses and putting into place strategies that have a holistic view of the entire business. Given that businesses are looking at revenue and cost a lot more closely than they were a year ago, this shift in responsibility perhaps feels fitting.

A fundamental component of a CFOs role is to deliver better performance, and that requires having the tools in place to support efficiency and growth. Yet further findings from Pleo’s State of Spending report highlighted that UK businesses are struggling with the technology supporting their finance teams; nearly a third (32%) are complaining of software overload. Too many financial tools have reduced the capacity for leaders to effectively make data-driven decisions, with over a quarter (29%) feeling frustrated by the number of platforms and poor integration and nearly a third highlighting issues with their current financial solutions’ usability. Lack of training was also cited as an issue by 29%, likewise the same significant proportion of business leaders do not understand what features are available to them from their service providers.

Thorbjørn Fink, Chief Operating Officer, Pleo said: “When it comes to looking at what is required to run a successful company, business leaders we’ve spoken to have called out efficiency, predictability, control and accuracy as being critical – all of these qualities are also what the best finance teams work towards. As such, it comes as no surprise that business leaders are elevating their CFOs, giving them greater responsibility to help the wider business navigate this challenging financial climate.

But, as strategic partners, CFOs shouldn’t just be narrowly focused on cost-cutting to navigate this economic turmoil. They need to be looking to drive growth and innovation over the medium and long term as well. Over a quarter of CFOs we’ve spoken to said their main priority is to grow revenue over the coming year; but these additional responsibilities – on top of keeping costs in control – will undoubtedly be causing additional work leading to more pressure.

A clear driver to mitigate financial uncertainty control. A financial leader’s greatest asset is having the people, tools and data around them to make strategic decisions. This is crucial, yet so many leaders find their current financial platforms are overly complicated, reducing their capability to make well-informed, data-driven decisions effectively. Now is the time for those leaders to reflect on the financial tools they have deployed and evaluate whether it will enable their teams to succeed.“