Chief financial officers and their teams are struggling with the increasing and competing demands placed upon them, particularly coming out of the downturn

Chief financial officers (CFOs) must achieve the right balance between three competing agendas; insight, efficiency, and compliance and control – in addition to managing and motivating their people. They want to ensure the way they are steering the function and partnering the business is building towards a high performing function and one which is recognised as integral to success.

The need for finance to act as a true business partner has been thrown into focus by the global recession and the heat is now on to demonstrate its ability to add value above and beyond its traditional responsibilities. However, when it comes to business partnering, our analysis indicates finance’s ambitions often outrun its abilities.

PwC’s benchmark findings published in 2010 show 63% of finance functions are playing a lead role in the strategic planning process – acting primarily as facilitators or as a support for the chief executive officer (CEO). Yet as the evidence in the report shows, little has changed in terms of the underlying behaviours or capabilities of the function. Does this increase represent genuine progress or does finance merely believe it has changed when it has not?

It is clear in many cases finance is struggling to meet expectations; either because of a shortage of the right skills or under-investment in the necessary tools and infrastructure. As the economy recovers, finance’s ability to deliver on the promise of business partnership will be critical in its ability to navigate through the tough new competitive, investment and regulatory landscape that recovery is likely to bring with it.

Finance functions which can rise to this challenge will play a pivotal role in enabling businesses to capitalise on unfolding opportunities and build a platform for long-term profitability and growth.

Effective finance functions

As finance functions seek to respond to new business demands, our benchmark analysis can provide a clear assessment of strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement, while providing a baseline from which to measure progress.

The analysis combines a qualitative assessment and comparative metrics across the competing demands of business insight, efficiency and compliance and control. Business insight combines such evaluations as a comparison of time spent on analysis and data gathering and an assessment of management’s reliance on the resulting forecasts. Efficiency includes a range of key determinants including the complexity of systems and time to close/report. Compliance and control examines areas such as cost, accountability and risk management.

Download a copy of the report ‘Is finance rising to the challenge?’

If you would like further information on how to participate and the benefits of taking part, please contact Andrew McCorkell on +44 (0) 20 7213 1509 or andrew.s.mccorkell@uk.pwc.com.