The Role of the CFO: Leadership Insights

Global CFO 100 Judges discuss the new remits of the finance leader

In this C-Suite Exchange, in partnership with Soldo, HotTopics’ Global CFO 100 judges discussed how the role of the CFO has changed, what makes a good CFO in 2024 and how aspiring winners can put themselves or their peers forward for this new award.

This C-Suite Exchange gave the audience an idea of what they should include in submissions, top tips and best practice—what not to include—as well as an opportunity for them to learn from the judges panel during the Q&A. 

With HotTopics’ Editor Peter Stojanovic moderating, the speakers included:

• Sacha Herrmann, CFO, Soldo
• Huiming Chen, CFO - Europe Commercial, Illumina
• Clive McTavish, CFO, British Red Cross

Nominate yourself or a peer for the 2024 Global CFO 100:

Celebrating the role of the CFO 

• The role of the CFO
• Data utilisation
• CFO skill sets
• The future of the CFO

Watch the highlights for the C-Suite Exchange below:

The role of the CFO

Kicking off the C-suite exchange panel, Soldo’s Sacha Herrmann shared his insights on the CFO role, emphasising being a “co-pilot” to the CEO, navigating challenges, contributing to business growth, bringing calmness and cross-functional involvement.

“Another thing that I think is great as part of the role responsibility of a CFO is the fact that there are these interactions with external stakeholders… basically showcasing the performance of the company under the best lens is something that really makes the job exciting.”

For Illumina’s CFO - Europe Commercial, Huming Chen, the role of the CFO is to be the CEO’s “critical friend”. She emphasised the need for emotional detachment and having “a critical lens”, providing value by highlighting issues and driving change for growth and sustainability. 

“Add value to the CEO and also to the functional team and let them know what is not working.”

Data utilisation

Huiming emphasised the need for CFOs to stay updated on topics like sustainability, data governance and AI to bring value to the finance function. To achieve this, she argued that CFOs need to have the mindset of an “intrepreneur”.

“It’s about having that startup mindset despite [the fact] that you are still in a certain organisation to drive things forward and apply that venture capital thinking [and] private equity thinking.” This, she argued, is what differentiates a “good CFO” from the rest of the rabble.

“I think we are very well prepared as a CFO to deal with data.” The problem now is that data needs to be available “instantly”, which Sacha believes brings complexity to the data structure.

He emphasised the importance of data availability, transparency and team-building skills for CFOs in managing and interpreting data effectively within the organisation. 

Data as a “single source of the truth” is something that Clive McTavish, CFO of British Red Cross, is familiar with in his role. “I think it also talks to the role of the CFO or certainly within the finance department of being able to sort of help interpret information.”

In what Clive calls the “age of fast information,” it is important for CFOs to fulfil their role of interpreting information, making strategic decisions and curating a deep understanding of business performance. 

CFO skill sets

What is the one key quality the judges look for in a nomination that makes them think “this person should join the top 100”?

For Huiming, the key attribute of a CFO would be adopting an enterprise mindset. This means going beyond the finance aspect of the role and asking yourself how to maximise the organisation’s functional impact.

“It’s the cross-functional ability to be the glue between the different functions,” Sacha commented. One main aspect of the CFO role, in his view, is to help others within the business by becoming a team player—in a strategic sense.

In agreement with Huiming and Sacha, Clive argued that: “I think ultimately this is about understanding your environment.” He believes that the main focus, in addition to understanding the enterprise, is helping the company grow and sustain itself.

The future of the CFO

“During my time within finance of my career, you've seen the role of a more commercial strategic business partner than before, which was more of a hygiene role, making sure that the numbers were correct.”

Clive acknowledged that today’s CFO has secured themselves a place as a commercial business partner and critical friend to those with roles that occupy the “top table,” whether that is sales, operations, marketing or HR and understanding their agendas. 

The future of the CFO for Huiming is “up, down and around.”

Part of this future is about becoming the “architect” of the organisation, and partnering with the CEO. Another is around driving the talent pipeline and getting the team more involved—”How can we as a CFO cultivate the environment to have the team also serve as a mini CFO no matter what level that they are playing in the organisation.”

In light of the current economic and political climate, Sacha argued that there is a greater need for business growth and efficiency. 

“As a CFO, we should make sure that we put a lot of energy and emphasis to facilitate marketing teams and go-to-market teams to be successful and helping them sometimes at the cost of our own organisation.”

Learn more about what to include, top tips, best practices and common pitfalls to avoid in your submissions for the Global CFO 100 Awards in the full video.

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