Finance leaders are quickly becoming essential partners to the CEO who needs data, insights and key performance indicators (KPIs) to support good, fast decision making. McKinsey & Co., says CFOs are also being asked to perform a “strategic balancing act,” and that they spend much of their time “taking steps to reduce their companies’ exposure to financial risks while also seeking growth opportunities.”
Put simply, CFOs who used to lead teams that prepared information on historic financial results—and set limits on spending—are providing more insights on emerging trends. They’re also helping the C-suite determine how to parlay accurate, reliable financial reporting into better decision-making.
“Data means I can go to my leadership team and say, these are the KPIs; this is how we are performing,” Anita Szarek, CFO at business spend solution provider Pleo, tells Raconteur. “With visibility over the enterprise data that matters most, CFOs can be a voice for change within their organizations,” the publication continues. “The key is knowing what the impacts of these insights will be on efficiency and performance.”
Get NetSuite in Your Corner
CFOs like NetSuite because it’s a cloud-based ERP system that offers a wide range of features and functionalities, including:
- Financial management: A comprehensive suite of financial management tools, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, budgeting and forecasting.
- Business intelligence: The ERP offers a powerful business intelligence (BI) platform that helps CFOs track, analyze and use data from across the enterprise.
- Supply chain management: NetSuite provides the tools that organizations need to be able to effectively and efficiently manage inventory, orders and shipments.
- Customer relationship management (CRM): NetSuite’s CRM tools help companies track customer interactions, manage leads and provide high levels of customer support.
- Project management: The ERP’s native project management tools help organizations easily track projects, tasks and resources.
- Human resources management (HRM): NetSuite’s HRM tools are used to manage employee records, payroll and benefits.
- Scalable solution that grows along with your business. This is an important “win” for CFOs who need systems that can tackle the “now” while also helping them prepare for what’s coming next.
“CFOs are taking on more responsibility than ever. Beyond ensuring financial discipline and managing cash flow, they’re now expected to forecast with greater accuracy, help acquire and retain talent and procure financial technology,” NetSuite states. “They are also increasingly being asked to offer a financial perspective on new strategies for growth.”
Managing End-to-Business Processes
NetSuite manages end-to-end business processes with an integrated system of cloud business applications that thousands of companies have used to go public, acquire capital and expand internationally—all while maintaining strict controls in an audit-ready system. For example, the system offers built-in, real-time financial and operational dashboards that display cash flow, budget information, a host of KPIs and more.
“Embedded reporting and analytics foster smarter, faster decisions that can support the business strategy and accelerate growth,” NetSuite points out. With a single, unified solution for operational, customer, employee and financial data, the cloud ERP:
- Replaces individual departmental systems.
- Improves the efficiency and accuracy of order-to-cash, procure-to-pay and other organization-wide processes.
- Vastly speeds up the financial close process.
- Automates other cumbersome, manual tasks, freeing up CFOs and their finance departments to focus on more strategic initiatives.
- Enables company growth by seamlessly managing multiple subsidiaries, hundreds of currencies, dozens of languages and a wide array of tax and regulatory requirements.
“NetSuite [helps] you manage your core business processes with a single, fully integrated system,” the company adds, “while allowing flexibility in a changing business environment saving costs, managing risks, driving productivity and managing compliance—thus allowing you to grow your business.”
NetSuite Helps CFOs Achieve their Goals
A growing number of companies are working with NetSuite Alliance Partner Vursor to implement and use the cloud ERP across their national and global enterprises. Once in place, NetSuite helps CFOs bring all of their companies’ financial activity onto a single platform that authorized users can access from anywhere.
With a built-in foundation of accountability and transparency, NetSuite prepares CFOs for the next influx of capital, whether that’s private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or IPOs. The organization gets the required reporting and compliance controls, and CFOs get the computing power they need to be able to tackle their broadening responsibilities.
Here are four different CFO roles that NetSuite helps financial leaders manage with ease:
- Role #1: CFO the Leader. Fund, enable and execute on domestic and global expansion strategies and build a financial model to succeed across geographies.
- Role #2: CFO the Strategist. Focus on strategic activities enhancing business performance and shareholder value by delegating critical, yet mundane, finance functions while still maintaining control.
- Role #3 CFO the Steward. Get a more consistent, holistic, real-time view of risks and regulations that could undermine strategic choices. Increase efficiency and maintain a cost-effective organization while keeping pace with fast growing revenue.
- Role #4: CFO the Catalyst. Provide financial perspective on innovation and profitable growth. Enable management and manager's access to financial information to make effective business decisions.
The Last ERP You’ll Ever Need
According to BOSS Magazine, an all-in-one cloud business management solution like NetSuite also offers benefits outside of the accounting division, which helps a CFO’s job indirectly (and occasionally, very directly). For example, the ERP eases the burden on financial teams that previously wasted too much time handling in-house, manual processes.
“These types of process improvements and automations give finance and accounting leadership more time to focus on strategic priorities,” BOSS adds. “By making the migration to NetSuite, your organization can adopt industry leading cloud software that impacts every corner of your business. It is often considered the last ERP you’ll ever need, and will scale with your business for years to come.”