From artificial intelligence to sustainability: the 'new' CFOs grappling with the business transformation process

Approximately one third still resort to Excel spreadsheets to draw up a preliminary balance sheet, only a few more (just under 40%) confirm that they have a budget for digital transformation. What's more, only one in five work in a company that has already developed solutions involving the use of artificial intelligence and 60% confirmed that ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) issues are part of their company's strategic plan. The subject figure of the "Survey Cfo 2024" conducted by Salone d'Impresa in cooperation with Andaf Nord Est and ADP Italia is, as the title states, the CFO, and the intent of the survey was to understand the further evolution of this role in relation to the growing complexity of organisations.

The key to understanding the transformation of this function responds to a well-known scenario, which saw the Cfo move from an operation focused on administration and accounting to high-level strategic management tasks involving negotiation and public relations.

The change, as is consistently stated in the note accompanying the research, has far-reaching roots, because it is already since the 2000s that financial directors have worn the clothes of all-round business consultants, becoming protagonists of the business and participating in the first person also in operational decisions, both short and medium to long term, and no longer only in financial choices. However, this role of corporate partner is constantly developing, as well as becoming increasingly important in the organisation's economy, and requires a deep knowledge of strategy and human capital, strong leadership skills and, last but not least, the ability to communicate complex financial messages and to collaborate effectively with the CEOs and other members of the C-Suite, HR managers and IT managers in primis. Technology, as it happens, has proven to be a strong discontinuity factor for the work and role of the Chief Financial Officer: data, in particular, is the thermometer to be consulted in real time to verify production trends, supply chain behaviour and the level of efficiencies achieved, and can help finance managers gain a 360-degree perspective on costs, benefits and the overall structure of the corporate workforce.

Digital, however, is not yet such a widely deployed resource, and this is demonstrated by the fact that cases of companies in many respects still lagging behind in the use of new-generation technologies and software are not uncommon. According to the survey, in fact, 90 per cent of the Cfo's surveyed draw up a business plan or a strategic plan (80 per cent prepare a monthly plan) and always a good majority adopt a control model, always plan the budget, monitor KPI's and prepare company forecasts. The problem is that 34 per cent of them still use Excel and not dedicated applications to manage all these activities. The limited availability of funds to invest in digital transformation projects, which affects just under four out of ten Cfo's, also affects the possibility of accessing technologies such as artificial intelligence, which is only included in the strategic plan by 34.2% of respondents, while 58% do not plan to make use of it. Of the portion of companies (21% of the total) that have already applied AI to some of their processes, projects that fall in the area of administration, finance and control are limited to 20% of the total, although more than 60% of respondents believe that the use of algorithms helps their work. And while more than half of the companies sampled (56%) will implement artificial intelligence solutions in the next two years, only a fraction (14%) currently have a dedicated budget.

Another weak link concerns the provision of cyber security and business planning systems, two areas where delays occur. Only 55% of the financial directors surveyed work with a risk mapping and management platform, and even fewer (34%) have dedicated spending resources for cyber security projects. And if just over half (52%) use business intelligence and analytics tools for analysing sales, margins and forecasts, the percentage of Cfo's who work with corporate performance management tools, on the other hand, stops at 16%. Evident delays, finally, also emerge with respect to highly topical issues such as sustainability. While more than half of the responding companies confirmed that they have already considered ESG issues from a strategic perspective or have begun assessing their impact, the figure of the 'sustainability manager' is only present in 30% of cases, and only one organisation in three has set aside a budget for projects that have to do with the environment, the social component and governance. In this regard, it is striking to note that 51% of Cfo's 'admitted' that these funds do not exceed EUR 50,000 and that only 17% of them are able to spend more than EUR 200,000.