Over the last decade, business has evolved and expanded like never before. The explosion of new technologies, globalisation, and the unexpected disruptions caused by financial, environmental, political and health issues around the world have pushed the boundaries of classic businesses roles more than ever before. The CFO is no different. In fact, the CFO role and its responsibilities are growing dramatically to deal with the everyday demands of running a business today.
Traditionally, a Chief Financial Officer, or CFO, is responsible for safeguarding assets, cash flow management, understanding and managing risk, financial and management reporting, interpreting performance and advice. Nowadays, a CFO has transformed to become a strategic business advisor who is critical at driving change in an organisation. Sitting at the core of a business, the CFO role has become increasingly more important in strategy development, execution and overall business performance insight. They’re also great at holding business owners accountable!
The growth in technology
One of the most significant changes in the CFO role is the adoption of technology to create cost and resource efficiencies in both systems and processes across a business. Automation, advanced analytics, data visualisation and robotics are all part of the technological transformation that a CFO is responsible for driving forward. Further, the CFO is also involved in supporting resourcing initiatives such as talent insight and outsourcing to maximise resource efficiencies and enable operational scalability for the business as required.
Dexterous Group was born to challenge the norms of traditional accounting, and as such we already have existing innovative tools available for our clients to utilise. DexterLabs is our advanced analytics and data visualisation solution that enables businesses to understand their financial or operational standing instantly. Further, Dexter — our automation bot — continues to grow in popularity as he streamlines menial accounting tasks for clients at speed. Dexter provides undeniable value to businesses as his accuracy and efficiency save time, resources, and money.
The advancing role of risk
Another expanding key responsibility for CFOs in today’s global society is risk. There is an ever-growing list of regulatory requirements, security and fraud threats plus globalisation forces that require ongoing analysis, management and strategy for the ongoing viability of a business. Compliance is an increasing area of focus for CFOs as regulators worldwide shift to holding business owners responsible for regulatory lapses. As such, compliance has become a full time role in many organisations in a bid to meet the requirements of operating a business under today’s conditions.
The future for CFOs
Despite the huge change trajectory for CFOs over the last decade, the pace of evolution isn’t set to slow anytime soon. In fact, the globalised, competitive and regulated world businesses operate in demand CFOs to be adept at drawing clear, informed insights whilst simultaneously managing large quantities of data. Without embracing and effectively implementing the latest technology to arm business decision making, CFOs will be unable to deliver innovative solutions to today’s businesses. This insight is imperative to solidify long-term growth and ongoing performance.
Dexterous Group’s CFO Advisory
Dexterous Group is ready to formally offer CFO Advisory following years of supporting our existing clients with CFO consulting in conjunction with our other services. Our well-established managed bookkeeping and accounting services show that we know what it takes to build a solid finance team: the right people, systems, and processes all need to be in place as a bedrock to grow your business. It is this fundamental foundation for your finance function that will further benefit from the right insight and advice from our CFOs when you need it.
The CFO Advisory is a natural extension for Dexterous; this CFO Advisory will enable us to offer an end-to-end solution to businesses from the ground up. As Nick Urry, our Founding Partner and Managing Director puts it, “Providing CFO advisory to our growing customer base was a natural extension to our service and we’re really excited about the opportunity [to support businesses to grow] in this market”.
Get the expertise you need to grow
Dexterous Group are a proactive and business-building team of accounting professionals who are ready to assist you with growing your business. If you would like to talk to us more about how our CFOs can offer you expert insight and advice, please speak with your Client Manager, call 1300 996 928 or arrange an obligation-free consultation.
