The CFO’s Role in Growing A Business’ Bottom Line

A CFO’s role is that of a change agent who brings together the capabilities and resources of the business to ensure accountability in areas like performance, operations, etc. A second responsibility that rests with the CFO is that of the agent who brings together key data and information, including strategic plans with the help of analytics to empower leadership to make informed business decisions.

However, the CFO, when armed efficiently, can bring about significant positive change to a business’ bottom line. What does it mean to be armed efficiently? When businesses are in a position to utilize current technology, including analytics, the CFO can glean data on key operational and performance indices quickly enough to help decision-making.

Here are some of the ways in which a CFO can positively influence a business’ bottomline:

Enhancing Profitability

The CFO is uniquely positioned to be able to see operations, performance, income, and expense. As a result, there are three things a CFO can directly influence: reigning in the expenses or cutting down on costs, improving existing profitability, and changing or modifying strategy, including pricing for clients, etc. This is possible because the CFO has access to both, operational and management as well as financial data of the company. This information helps determine challenges better while also helping find solutions that work best, while optimizing available resources and without creating a huge outflow.

Improving Business Cash Flow

Cash flow denotes the amount of real cash the business has. The term cash flow stands for payment from one source to the other and describes the position of liquidity of a business better than even the accounts books.

Because the CFO literally oversees operations and expenses, she or he is uniquely placed to understand cash flow better and also help improve the business’ cash flow management. Practical concerns like improving collections of overdue money, planning ways to increase liquidity for the business, and strategic decisions such as modifying pricing after analyzing current conditions are all ways in which the CFO can improve the business cash flow.

Optimizing Productivity

Apart from analyzing cash flow, the CFO can review and assess productivity in all areas of the business, including staff and employees. If there is an issue faced in human resource productivity, it can be managed to improve efficiency and add value. Together with other information, such as figures contained in the financial reports and revenue and expense figures for the business, the CFO can decide on the next steps to be taken towards improving the business’ profitability.

The team of professionals at Analytix Solutions has experience assisting small businesses and start-ups move their companies forward. For more information on how we can help your business, please contact us at sales@analytix.com or 781-503-9002.

Written by

Analytix Editorial Team