The CFO’s Guide to Connected Enterprise Planning

Gone are the days of the “grow at all costs” mindset. Today’s focus is on long-term, sustainable growth, with CFOs and their teams expected to guide the organization in a way that better balances growth and profit. They’re asked to identify strategic investments while also helping the company reduce costs and allocate limited resources as effectively as possible. 

For CFOs, the pressure on profitable growth means they’re equal parts finance leader and operations executive. Setting both short- and long-term goals requires alignment between financial and line-of-business planning. The CFO’s team is still leading budget planning and managing day-to-day financials, but they’re also using their data and insights to help operating teams throughout the company chart their plans and make the right decisions. Finance helps pull all those plans together. Yet too many companies are still planning in silos or relying on disconnected software systems. 

Siloed line-of-business planning might have sufficed before. Departments could send fixed templates to finance to periodically consolidate for a corporate plan and then focus on executing their individual plans. However, the discipline and responsiveness needed to achieve profitable growth has highlighted the shortcomings in traditional budgeting, planning, and forecasting processes.