ESG primarily a CFO concern
ESG primarily a CFO concern
As a critical concern for today ’ s businesses , ESG strategy is one area finance chiefs have an important part to play , Nadine Pichelot , Anaplan ’ s Interim CFO tells Business Chief .
And a report by Anaplan and Deloitte titled Architects of Business Change : Awakening the Potential of the Modern CFO backs this up . The report finds that a significant portion of business leaders believe ESG is primarily a CFO concern , cited as the second-most frequent challenge that CFOs play a role in addressing ( 66 %), just behind regulatory change ( 68 %).
For CFOs , management of ESG initiatives isn ’ t a particularly high priority however ( ranking fifth ), with just 78 % believing they have successfully delivered in this area , compared to 91 % of wider business colleagues who say ESG is one of their CFO ’ s top three successes .
“ This is clearly an opportunity for CFOs to act with more confidence and take on a bigger role in driving their organisation ’ s ESG initiatives forward ,” says Nadine , adding that to do so successfully they must first embrace ESG as one of their core priorities .
Driving digital transformation The digital transformation of finance and accounting can create a seismic shift for CFOs bold enough to embrace it , giving them more time to analyse data and make more informed decisions .
“ In recent years , as their role has evolved , we ’ ve seen more CFOs call into question the idea of an annual operating plan or an annual forecast ,” says Nadine . “ The type of change we ’ re experiencing , and the rate at which it continues to happen , has proven that CFOs can ’ t create a plan once a year and walk away or expect to make small adjustments every six months or every quarter and be okay .
“ Instead , they must be able to identify the real-time levers that are going to help them mitigate risk , manage cash flow and liquidity , and cut costs to drive performance and growth in the future .”
That ’ s why digital transformation has become a high priority for modern CFOs , and why finance chiefs are critical to driving digital transformation and expanding growth opportunities , she says .
Nadine argues that with the right technology , CFOs can connect all their organisation ’ s critical data points in a single environment that users across the business can access at the same time . Leaders from finance , supply chain , workforce , sales , and marketing departments can leverage this data to model multiple scenarios quickly , build more accurate forecasts , and make more confident decisions – all at the pace of change .
This is something we call connected planning , or as Gartner calls it , Extended Planning and Analysis ( xP & A ),” says Nadine . “ By embracing connected planning , CFOs can help bridge the gaps between departments and ensure the entire business is aligned and working towards the same strategic outcomes .
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