5 Actions CFOs Can Take Now to Fuel Growth and Profitability

CFOs today find themselves trying to navigate an economy full of contradictions. The world political environment remains fraught, and almost all CFOs (93%) are planning for a mild recession, according to Deloitte, as global inflation persists and operating costs continue to rise. Yet unemployment across the 38 countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was running below 5% in the first half of 2023, with a near-record low 33 million people unemployed, and a survey from ManpowerGroup showed nearly four in five companies worldwide have difficulty finding the talent they need. Attracting and retaining finance talent looms as a top CFO challenge. 

Even as they brace for recession, finance chiefs polled by Deloitte in early 2023 were notably more optimistic about where the global economy would be in one year than they were just a few months earlier. Whatever adjective you choose to describe this situation—uncertain, unpredictable, bizarre—it's most certainly not an easy environment for business planning and investment.

This collision of events creates a definitive moment for CFOs and the companies they guide. Research from management consulting firm Bain & Company shows that, during the 2008 downturn, many more S&P 500 companies moved either up or down in terms of operating margin—rising to the top quartile or dropping to the bottom quartile—than during the more stable period that followed. In other words, the decisions that leaders make during economic downturns magnify the gap between top and bottom performers.

All of this has put CFOs in the spotlight and in control. CFOs and their teams are the keepers of and experts on the data that business leaders lean on to make decisions. They depend on finance insights to decide where to allocate resources and make trade-offs that boost profitability without impeding growth. As growth at all costs becomes a distant memory, stakeholders including CEOs, investors, and employees are counting on finance leaders to help the organisation simultaneously identify investments with long-term payoffs and trim costs in the right places. To help CFO teams succeed in this high-pressure, highprofile role, below are five strategies and specific actions CFOs can adopt to help their organisation emerge stronger from today’s uncertainty.