CFO as Chief Strategy Officer: How to Get the Most From Your Finance Function

I often joke that even though I offer a variety of fractional and advisory services, clients usually hire me as a CFO because the most visible problems are financial problems. But in all seriousness, they look to a fractional CFO because they understand a deeper reality.

Data Legibility

Most clients understand that to enhance their strategy, they need to improve their grasp of finances and key metrics across the company–including but not limited to what is on their books. A fractional CFO must be able to do this with the traditional data that lives in the standard financial reports, but that is only scratching the surface. They must also be able to use numbers to help the entire company 

• Labor efficiency ratios (many variations here)
• Operational and output targets
• Sales pipeline value
• Customer and employee feedback metrics
• Future vision (yes, this has numbers too!)

All of these need to be filtered and communicated in a way that makes them visible,  interpretable, and actionable. Airtable CFO Ambereen Toubassy put it well: The CFO role is to drive data legibility and access to data levers across the company.

A Practical Example

In the early days at one of my favorite clients we were able to generate a quick and major win.  One of the insights coming out of our one month Strategic Finance Review was that a key issue was low overall company utilization rates, specifically billable hours as a percent of total company hours. We put this number in front of the team and they went to work. With no layoffs, no major strategy change, no painful customer firings, just by looking at the number and using their ingenuity, they rapidly returned to profitability. 

It’s not usually that quick or simple, as issues generally involve several interlocking factors, and often require decisive or even painful changes. But it illustrates how data legibility can be transformative.

Aligning Vision with Reality

In all my consulting roles, fractional CFO and otherwise, my task is to align the leadership's vision with reality. Some leaders picture their vision in financial terms, some in terms of team and culture, some in terms of customer impact. Most do all three. But all of these visions must have numbers that link them with reality. Like the tires on a car, the data is “where the rubber meets the road.” 

To align vision and reality:

• I always establish and/or improve management dashboards with key metrics for every team member.
• I always spend time in the monthly numbers so I can interpret them both qualitatively and quantitatively with the rest of the team. 
• I sometimes lead or participate in long-term visioning and planning sessions.  
• I sometimes help set up a meeting discipline that ensures the right people see and troubleshoot these numbers on a regular basis. 

Much of this is a clarity function. There is also a timeliness function. The data must tell you if you are on track or off track long before results show up in your monthly or reports. More on that in another post.

Conclusion

In mid-sized companies, the CFO's role transcends basic financial management, audits, and compliance, bringing a distinctive fusion of financial expertise and strategic foresight that has the power to revolutionize your business operations. With the right set of metrics and a sharp focus on data legibility, a fractional CFO with a deep understanding of strategic issues can steer the ship towards both immediate enhancements and long-term triumph.