The top 10 priorities of CFOs and finance professionals

What are the most important priorities for CFOs and finance professionals for the coming year? Protiviti surveyed more than 900 finance leaders worldwide, uncovering that data security and privacy sits at the top of the agenda, followed by profitability analysis and strategic financial planning.

A look at the top priorities for CFOs and finance leaders in the coming year reveals a tale of transformation for chief financial officers (CFOs) whose responsibilities continue to widen.

The top priority on the list, data security and privacy, present a perfect example of this transition of the CFO role. For long, data protection and privacy were considered as the responsibility of the Chief Information Security Officer and his/her team. Not anymore. With all the crucial data that finance holds and analyses today, the topic is now clearly on the radar of CFOs too.

“Growing demand for financial, non-financial, structured and unstructured data, combined with the mission-critical need to safeguard organisational data with sophisticated controls, accuracy assurance and compliance savvy, have elevated the CFO’s data governance responsibilities,” said the report’s authors.

The importance of data security is being accelerated by new cybersecurity disclosure and reporting requirements, along with rising threats of cyber warfare and extortion, while at the privacy side, both regulations and mounting consumer awareness (and concerns) are driving organisational focus on the matter.

Overall, data security and privacy received a score of 7.7 on a 10-point scale, just ahead of profitability analysis. The high priority of the latter comes mainly in response to an environment of rising costs due to inflation, wage pressures and geopolitical issues, meaning that CFOs are keen on tracking and enhancing the margins and profitability of the business.

The priority is linked with cost control and cutting initiatives. Over half of all survey respondents told Protiviti that they are aiming to achieve progress in cost optimisation efforts in the coming year, among others through finance automation, strategic sourcing, technology enablement, and if needed, downsizing headcount.

Strategic planning, which encompasses a more long-term view of financial planning and sees CFOs provide important input to the company’s wider strategic planning process, ranked third, with a score of 7.6.

Other top priorities

Other frequently mentioned priorities cited by the CFOs and finance professionals include:

Routine reporting and closing activities
Improving the efficiency and speed of quarterly and year-end financial reporting.

Process improvement
Use of cutting-edge technology and digital advances to radically improve business processes, performance or reach of enterprises.

Team development
Mentoring and supporting managers and staff; championing the organisation's vision and strategy.

Enhanced data analytics
Data insights, or the process of analysing, cleansing, transforming, mining, profiling and modelling data, including through the use of artificial intelligence, to make intelligent business decisions that drive performance and growth while managing risks.

Working in the cloud
Use of cloud-based software, platforms or infrastructure to support the finance function.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
Understanding how the organisation is measuring, monitoring and reporting on ESG metrics, risks and issues.

Mobile finance applications
Mobile applications that create and enable business process experiences for finance leaders. Examples include entry and approval of time-sensitive data, expense entry/approval, invoice approval, and more.

Artificial intelligence
Use of Al including generative Al for different parts of the finance function.