Derarca Dennis sheds light on the pivotal role CFOs and the finance function play in shaping organisations and the growing significance of talent management in their evolving roles

The EY Ireland CFO Survey 2023 has found that CFOs and the finance function are playing an increasingly strategic role in their organisations. They are engaging more with other business areas, requiring new skills and an increased focus on talent management.

While automation and advanced data analytics capabilities will undoubtedly be critically important in supporting the future role of the finance function, talent retention must remain a key area of focus if it is to fulfil its potential.

Forty percent of the CFOs surveyed said their priority for driving growth in the coming year is investing in upskilling existing talent in their organisations, while 34 percent said investing in new talent would be a priority.

Investing in diverse talent

Continued investment in diverse talent will be imperative given the finance function’s evolving and increasingly business-critical role.

The changing nature of finance reporting requires CFOs to master a diversity of skills, especially a deep understanding of non-financial factors. It requires them to make profound changes in the composition of finance teams.

Future finance teams will augment their traditional finance skills with environmental, social and governance (ESG) professionals while also containing data analysts, supply chain experts and process engineers.

Finance teams will, of course, be finance experts at their core, but they will also draw upon a diverse talent pool to enable the function to play its full role as a strategic partner in the overall business.

On a continuous learning curve

A culture of continuous learning that empowers employees to work at their best and realise their potential is a proven talent retention strategy. Not only does it deliver increased job satisfaction, but it opens up new career opportunities within the organisation.

However, organisations must also seek to automate the dull, repetitive tasks traditionally undertaken by the finance function, allowing finance professionals to focus on more value-added work.

Where tasks cannot be automated, CFOs can fill capability gaps by sourcing the required skill sets through professional service partners. These organisations can offer a range of services from basic accounting activities, record-to-report activities and control monitoring and testing, to day-to-day treasury operations, typically on a managed service basis, leaving the finance function to focus on business strategies, forecasting and stakeholder management.

Future-fit CFOs

To thrive in the evolving landscape, CFOs must consider a holistic approach, which involves:

• talent management strategies aimed at upskilling existing employees and attracting and retaining recruits;
• acquiring the diverse skills that will make the finance function fit for its increasingly strategic role in the organisation;
• leveraging existing capability within other departments to support the finance function;
• outsourcing or co-sourcing elements of the finance function to external partners on a managed service basis; and
• stemming employee turnover by ensuring that processes are future-ready and efficient enough to retain talent interest and engagement.

A diverse finance function is the future

The changing role of CFOs in Ireland and their teams makes it imperative to focus on people management and acquiring and retaining diverse skill sets.

Finance functions of the future will encompass a wide array of professionals whose skill sets will contribute to the organisation’s strategic growth.

Ultimately, driving greater value for the organisation hinges upon empowering talented individuals with efficient, automated and data-driven processes across financial and non-financial domains.

Derarca Dennis is Assurance Partner at EY Ireland