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CFO Strategic Priorities 2025 | Key Trends for Finance Leaders

5 November 2024
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    As we look ahead to 2025, global CFOs face both continuing and emerging challenges in an evolving business environment. Insights from global CFO surveys conducted in 2024, including Deloitte’s 2024 Global CFO Signals report and KPMG’s CFO Outlook Survey 2024, highlight key themes that are shaping the priorities for finance leaders worldwide.

    Below is an updated look at these top strategic priorities for CFOs in 2025:

    Cost Management and Operational Efficiency

    • Ongoing Priority: As identified in the Deloitte Global CFO Survey 2024, cost optimisation remains a leading priority in the face of continued inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, and supply chain disruptions. CFOs are looking to drive operational efficiency and enhance profitability by optimising their cost structures and making strategic cuts.
    • Sustainability Focus: In 2025, this theme evolves to include sustainable cost management. CFOs are increasingly required to balance immediate financial performance with long-term sustainability goals, ensuring that cost-cutting efforts do not undermine their organisations’ commitments to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) practices.

    Cash Flow Management and Liquidity

    • Recurring Priority: Cash flow management remains critical in 2025, especially as companies grapple with economic volatility and the threat of recession in certain markets. The KPMG CFO Outlook Survey 2024 points to liquidity management as a key factor in sustaining business operations. CFOs will continue to use real-time dashboards and cash forecasting tools to ensure their businesses remain liquid and resilient.
    • New Consideration: The focus on liquidity buffers and maintaining sufficient cash reserves is expected to grow, with CFOs seeking ways to build stronger financial resilience in anticipation of potential crises, both economic and environmental.

    Digital Transformation and Automation

    • Ongoing Focus: The drive for digital transformation will continue to be a top priority for CFOs in 2025. According to Gartner’s 2024 Future of Finance Report, CFOs are heavily investing in automation to streamline processes like reconciliations, reporting, and financial analysis, allowing finance teams to focus more on strategic planning and decision-making.
    • Data Governance and Cybersecurity: A new theme within digitalisation is the growing emphasis on cybersecurity and data governance. As more processes become automated and data-driven, CFOs must ensure the security of financial data and compliance with global regulations, particularly around privacy and data integrity.

    New Strategic Priorities

    Sustainability and ESG Reporting

    Emerging Theme: Sustainability is becoming a non-negotiable focus for CFOs. The Deloitte 2024 Global CFO Signals report highlights the increasing role of CFOs in ESG reporting and integrating sustainability metrics into financial statements. With investors and regulators placing more emphasis on sustainability, CFOs are expected to drive initiatives that align financial strategy with long-term environmental and social goals.

    Strategic Risk Management

    Rising Concern: As highlighted in PwC’s 2024 Global CFO Survey, CFOs are now more focused on enterprise risk management to navigate external risks such as climate-related events, geopolitical instability, and evolving regulatory landscapes. The growing complexity of these risks requires CFOs to adopt more proactive, integrated risk management strategies to protect their organisations.

    Talent Management and Workforce Transformation

    Shifting Focus: Talent management has moved up the priority list, particularly as CFOs face challenges in upskilling their finance teams for a digital-first world. The Gartner 2024 CFO Study stresses the need for workforce transformation, where finance leaders invest in training and development to ensure their teams can effectively leverage advanced digital tools such as AI and data analytics. Creating a culture of continuous learning is also key to retaining top talent.

    Strategic Partnerships and Ecosystem Development

    New Emphasis: CFOs are increasingly looking outward to form strategic partnerships with technology providers, FinTech firms, and consultants. According to KPMG’s 2024 Outlook, these partnerships will enable CFOs to adopt cutting-edge tools that enhance data analytics, digitalisation, and decision-making processes. Collaboration within the broader business ecosystem is expected to accelerate innovation and improve efficiency.

    Recurring Themes from 2024

    Many priorities that were significant in 2024, such as cost optimisation, cash flow management, and digital transformation, remain essential in 2025. However, these are now evolving to include additional dimensions such as sustainability, cybersecurity, and more sophisticated risk management. CFOs are tasked with leading their organisations through both financial and non-financial challenges, ensuring resilience and future growth.

    Are your finance strategies aligned with these evolving priorities for 2025, and are you ready to lead your organisation through these critical challenges?

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