How CFOs can Better Manage Strategy Execution

Best practices in strategy execution can help CFOs balance their traditional role of oversight and control with their emerging role as a catalyst for growth.

Few would likely disagree that the position most tied to strategy execution within an organisation is the CFO. While the CEO, chief strategy officer (CSO), and chief operating officer (COO) are close contenders, the CFO’s role is uniquely linked to execution across all divisions and initiatives. As a result, CFOs are more in tune with business fluctuations and better equipped to find ways to bridge the strategy execution gap.

But with the ever-evolving and critical role of the CFO in strategy execution, are there better ways for CFOs to juggle these responsibilities? How might CFOs optimise their approaches to strategy execution to avoid micromanaging yet ensure sufficient oversight?

It’s now well understood that the role of the CFO has evolved. To better articulate these changes, Deloitte generated a framework that identifies the four faces of the CFO: catalyst, strategist, steward, and operator.

The CFO must now effectively fulfill the historic role of controller while simultaneously acting as the catalyst of progress. Strategy execution therefore becomes one of the key considerations of the CFO, with responsibilities including:

Greenlighting new initiatives and purchases, including digital transformation;
Monitoring progress and returns across initiatives and purchases;
Partnering across divisions to bridge finance and operational targets;
Budgeting and dynamically allocating capital to the highest value initiatives;
Preserving control over execution, solving problems, and protecting stakeholders’ interests;
Detecting and resolving threats before they escalate; and
Collaborating in the optimisation of strategy execution to increase efficiency and reduce costs.