Unlocking Competitive Advantage

This report provides comprehensive insights from over 119 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives across Australia and New Zealand, gathered between March 2024 and November 2024 via two separate surveys. The report compares responses analyses the responses of financial leaders to better understand their sentiments toward strategic alignment, economic preparedness, digital transformation, and operational aspects.

• ‍Effective collaboration and evolving communication: Leaders prefer continuous feedback loops and collaborative workshops with business unit leaders to align department initiatives with overall financial goals of the organisation. Besides, simplification ranks first for communicating the financial impact and ROI to non-financial stakeholders. Some of the methods include simplification of financial metrics, leveraging visual aids, tools, and dashboards.
• ‍CFOs are moderately equipped to handle economic uncertainty: Leaders see themselves “moderately” well-equipped in managing the impact of global economic shifts.
• Aligning short-term success with long-term sustainability: Most of the respondents highlighted balancing short-term gains with long-term stability and the urgent need to upskill staff as their biggest issues. ‍
• Key concentration of major finance projects around revenue growth and profitability: The survey findings show significant emphasis on achieving top-line growth is seen in many organisations (44%) as they prioritise revenue growth and profitability. ‍
• Digital transformation and innovation as the primary driver of financial advantage: Survey findings further highlight that finance, like many other back-office functions, offers substantial opportunities for digital transformation. ‍
• Digital transformation is a key investment priority: Digital transformation is not only recognised as a major driver of financial advantage but also stands as a top investment priority, with 68% of respondents focusing on it. ‍
• Majority of the respondents are risk-averse: Majority of the respondents (56%) label their organisations risk-averse. It means they would like to adopt proven solutions rather than being first movers. ‍
• From hybrid cloud to cloud native: While a larger section of the respondents (40%) is operating in a are operating in a hybrid mode, many are still transitioning to the cloud. ‍
• AI retains the top emerging technology investment area: For the next 6-12 months, AI is expected to remain the top technology investment focus (23%) for the finance leaders. ‍
• Critical leadership qualities include both soft and technical skills: The top qualities identified include agility and adaptability, data technologies, empathy, strategic thinking, AI, automation, and emotional intelligence.