Insights From Top U.S. Finance Professionals

1. The acceleration of digital transformation.
2. AI and generative AI.
3. The need for new skills.
4. Finding and retaining talent.
5. Maintaining a culture in a hybrid work environment.

These are the top five issues, in order, being faced by the top CFOs, CAOs and global controllers from leading corporations across the United States.

At the AICPA & CIMA ’s 3rd Annual Future of Finance Summit , 150 finance leaders came together to talk about the changing role and mandate of the CFO. Let’s explore what was covered and how you should approach things coming your way. ?

1. The Learning Zone. This concept was presented by Kevin Wilde , author of Coachability: The Leadership Superpower , and it gets to the fact that leaders need to channel their curiosity to improve themselves. So, the thing you need to figure out is how to get into your learning zone. Because, let’s face it, we’re in this period of accelerating change and transformation. You’re going to have to keep your L>C2 – your rate of learning needs to be greater than the rate of change and, in fact, greater than your competition. This is actually the role of our Future of Finance initiative to learn and share as a community to accelerate all of our learning and adaptation!
2. Similar Digital Transformation Journeys. After hearing digital transformation stories from Matthew Bagley of Verizon, Erik Hansen of Disney Parks and Entertainment and Michael Levi of SoundExchange, it was clear that we’re all walking the same journey. It might be a bit different when it comes to the size and scope, but the core issues, the themes and even the techniques around digital transformation are all very much the same. As you go down this path, there are many you can turn to for advice and guidance. And that is why our community came together almost three years ago.
3. Tech Enabled Finance Organizations. Marko Horvat, CPA from Gartner talked about AI and GenAI with a hands-on session by Don Tomoff, MBA and Glenn Hopper , which is the number two issue for finance professionals. We heard that the CFO is often the leader of Gen AI in their organizations. A little unexpected, but good to hear. However, not all attendees have even used ChatGPT. We surveyed the group and more than 50% had never tried it. You have to do a lot more to understand this technology. Go play around with it to see how you can automate Excel and Google Sheets, and use it to do all kinds of personal productivity things. ?
4. Non-Traditional Talent. How many times do we overlook this talent? The fear is that if we use AI to recruit, we could have even more bias baked in. Why? Because it will search for any finance function or if someone has a bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance. Right away, that’s limiting criteria. Janice Stucke, CPA , CFO for Achieving the Dream, and Alicja Foksińska Arnold , audit supervisor for Protective Life, both shared their inspiring non-traditional pathways…there is great talent out there that may come to you from a path that varies from your past hires. Look for them because they are such talented and valuable team members.
5. Apprenticeships. Paul S. Young, CPA, CGMA, MBA , the CFO of Liberty Bank and our unofficial “apprenticeship guy,” talked about their apprenticeship program and even brought some of their apprentices on stage with him. In choosing his “Great Eight” (their eight apprentices), he was searching for diversity in hires. That’s when Paul found Darryl…a former running back at the U.S. Naval Academy. The apprenticeship program is what drew Darryl in. And then there was the teller who used the apprenticeship to upskill from operations to finance. You need to look for different ways in which you can inspire talent to join the finance function.
6. Change Your Perspective. Jonscott Turco led an amazing exercise where people went on stage and shared their thoughts on 100% remote work. Of course, a bunch supported and a bunch did not. He had these people flip and argue for the side they did not believe in. Seeing how people viewed things differently when they flipped their perspective was amazing. How do you solve a problem? Start with that frame and ask, what actions would you take if you couldn’t fail?

Jonscott wrapped up his session with one of my favorite quotes:

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” ~Teddy Roosevelt

And that's what leadership is, right? Setting a vision and purpose and having the courage to act on it! Read this quote to yourself again. Let it inspire you to think about what you’d accomplish if there was no way to fail.

One thing is clear – a lot is going on in the finance profession.?To borrow a comment from Andrew Harding FCMA CGMA , CEO of management accounting for the association, who closed out the event, the future is bright!

If you're interested in learning more about our 2024 Future of Finance events, reach out to me personally.