Challenges CFOs Encounter in Finance Transformation

When I took my first CFO role, I expected to drive strategy. Instead, I spent 6 months fixing QuickBooks and chasing unpaid bills. Here are 5 red flags I wish I'd spotted earlier: 1. “We just need you to clean up the books.” If a company’s idea of a CFO is someone who will “pay overdue invoices” and “clean up years of financial mess,” that’s not strategic finance — it’s tactical firefighting. 2. “We can’t afford to hire anyone else.” If they expect you to wear every finance hat — accountant, payables clerk, and collector — you won’t have the bandwidth to lead strategy. 3. A culture where “No” isn’t an option. If the leadership team can’t handle financial constraints or ignores your advice, you’ll spend more time cleaning up the damage than preventing it. 4. Cash flow “shell games.” If the company is juggling cash flow just to stay afloat — “robbing Peter to pay Paul” — you’ll be stuck focusing on short-term crisis management instead of long-term growth. 5. Over-reliance on outdated or broken systems. If outdated systems or years of neglect are waiting for you, expect to play IT manager before you get to be a strategic partner. Before you accept a CFO role, ask yourself: Will I be a strategic partner or just a glorified bookkeeper? Does the company have the maturity to let me lead? Remember: Red flags today become migraines tomorrow.

In Q3 the CFO of $100M SaaS company told me: "I have to answer to the board about why our retention numbers suck and our pipeline trends are down, but I have no faith in what I'm getting from anybody in GTM or the RevOps people under them." Strategic CFOs are done relying on GTM folks to provide unbiased, accurate performance data. The SaaS/tech CFO role has become more prominent than ever over the last two years as they have had to reign in reckless GTM spending, trim down the bloated tech budgets, and right size head count across departments. Now, CFOs are being forced to step up and lead GTM alignment efforts which means owning GTM data, planning, and analysis. Essentially applying FP&A to GTM. They didn't ask for this. They're being forced to step up and fill the gap. We're seeing it with a handful of our customers, and in talking to other CEOs and investors it's definitely picking up steam. In my observation there are six reasons for this that have now become too big to ignore: 1) CFOs must answer (to the CEO / board) for past financial performance and build future projections. The main input in the plan building process is data from GTM (marketing, sales, CS). Without reliable GTM performance data, it is very difficult to accurately model and predict your financial performance. 2) CFOs tired of GTM Data being spun: Many GTM leaders still selectively choose data that tells a good story (or to protect their function) rather than understanding the value of data as an unbiased tool to shed light on and make the entire GTM engine perform better. 3) CFOs can’t rely on GTM data accuracy: Those GTM leaders who care about their own function than the holistic GTM engine often don't enforce process compliance and so they allow data hygiene issues to persist. 4) High GTM leader turnover so no consistent voice driving alignment: Head of marketing / head of sales turnover every 1-2 years. No one in GTM is consistently driving alignment around creating value, efficient growth, and leveraging data as a tool to do that. 5) The promise of the CRO title as being alignment drivers hasn’t been realized because many are glorified VP Sales. 6) As Ray Rike alluded to in this video, the promise of RevOps driving GTM alignment via data hasn't been widely realized. I believe it's because many RevOps leaders are tech architects / admins not necessarily data architects / analysts ... vastly different skill sets. Michael Li and I are hosting a Q4 webinar series to share how modern PE-backed CFOs are taking ownership of GTM data and using it to drive alignment, improve performance, and build better plans. The "Bridging the Gap Between Finance & GTM" series will cover: -How to Help Your GTM Leaders Build a Realistic 2025 Plan to Drive Better Results -How to Properly Setup Your Chart of Accounts to Measure ROI on GTM Spend -Top Questions About GTM that CFOs Need to Be Able to Answer in 2025 I'll drop the link below for anyone interested in joining us.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Leon C. Megginson Change is the defining challenge for today's #finance leaders. Have you had a chance to 👀 Gartner's latest CFO Report? In it, you'll find three critical challenges and shifts leaders have to navigate in 2025: - Reducing costs without harming growth - Retaining and engaging top finance talent [this came up big in PwC's research as well] - Improving data governance to unlock technological [+AI] potential. Sometimes we see these reports and similar articles as abstract concerns. At other times, associated risks are much clearer. It's one thing to philosophize about the challenges themselves. An entirely different thing to propose potential ways forward, right? So along with some of the highlighted challenges, I thought it might be helpful to drop a few fixes that leading organizations are applying as well. * Cost optimization without killing growth: - The challenge - 70% of cost-cutting initiatives fail to create lasting savings because of short-term pressure and stressed employees. - A potential fix - Rather than enforce savings targets, #CFOs might consider embedding cost-consciousness across the org - tying incentives to efficiency, training teams on total economic cost and prioritizing run-rate savings over one-time cuts. * Winning the Finance Talent War - The challenge - The top three reasons finance pros leave are manager quality, respect and people management [also echoed by PwC's Talent Radar Report] - A potential fix - Upskilling finance leaders in coaching, strategic thinking and emotional intelligence is essential. Investing in manager competency programs can increase retention by 30%. We heard some outstanding results from similar efforts from speakers at last week's Society of Insurance Financial Management conference in fact. * Data Governance that Works for AI & Finance - The challenge - 75% of CFO's now own or co-own enterprise #data. Yet a full third say poor data quality is stalling #AI adoption. - A potential fix - Adaptive data #governance is a major 🔑- balancing #compliance with flexibility. Rather than rigid, top-down controls, leading orgs have guardrails that allow the tech, AI and analytics to thrive, while maintaining oversight. Many finance and accounting orgs are turning to purpose-built platforms like Workiva to embrace a more dynamic approach. By doing so, they're not only strengthening data governance but also driving smarter, more sustainable cost-optimization - all within a single, connected enterprise platform. Finance and Accounting leaders, if you could fix just one of these challenges overnight, which would it be, and why? #Compliance #FinancialReporting #SEC #GRC

70% of finance transformations fail. Why? A few reasons stand out: 1. Lack of executive sponsorship. Any major change requires commitment from the top. Without it, transformation efforts lose momentum. 2. Poor change management. People need help adapting to new processes and technologies. Ignoring this human aspect of change leads to low adoption and wasted investments. 3. Disconnected systems. Point solutions often don't integrate well across the technology stack. This results in fragmented data and inefficient financial operations. 4. Unclear business objectives. Transformation efforts should directly support strategic goals. Otherwise, it's just technology for the sake of technology. -- The good news is that by addressing these challenges head-on, your transformation can drive real outcomes: 1. Secure executive buy-in from the start and communicate the "why" consistently. Help them see how finance can better support corporate strategy with new capabilities. 2. Involve your team early and get their input. Listen to their needs and concerns. With an inclusive approach, they'll be allies, not resistors. 3. Take an ecosystem view when evaluating new solutions. Seek platforms that consolidate data and unify financial processes on a single system. 4. Maintain a continuous improvement mindset. Finance transformation is an ongoing journey, not a one-time event. Build in feedback loops to course correct as needed. See, technology is just one piece of the puzzle. It all comes down to leadership, communication, and culture change. And when done right, your team will be ready and willing to embrace the future. How has your organization approached this challenge? What lessons have you learned along the way? Source: AICPA & CIMA P.S. I'm Julio Martínez, founder of Abacum. Follow me for daily FP&A, SaaS and business growth insights + personal lessons.