All Eyes on the Future

The role of the CFO is becoming more complex and demanding as the business world responds to economic volatility and innovative technology changes the way we all work, according to a new report.

The research, Tomorrow’s finance enterprise, is based on the views of 1,631 ACCA and IMA members from around the world on the priorities for current and future CFOs and the skills they will need to meet future demands. It found that CFOs and their organisations are preoccupied with economic volatility and risk; the participants named these as the two most significant influences affecting the top finance job.

Organisations of all sizes are seeing not only economic uncertainty but increased competition and disruption in the form of new market entrants and radically different business models. Senior leaders are looking for more and better information on which to plan a strategy in a world where they are forced to take more calculated risks and encourage innovation in their own organisation in order to drive growth. 

BROADER RISKS TO THE FORE

CFOs see this happening – the report found that 79% agreed that the finance function will be focused on broad business risks and not just on finance risks in the future – but the forces that are creating this change are also impeding CFOs’ ability to help. Amir Hafiz, CFO of TDM and one of the senior finance professionals interviewed in-depth for the study, said that CFOs are increasingly in the spotlight over ‘the performance gaps between what the business wants to achieve and what it actually does achieve. To make sure that strategy is translated into results is an integral part of the CFO’s role.’

The report argues that economic volatility and a fast-changing world decrease the capacity of the finance function to plan and forecast, and impair the ability of CFOs to give rapid and accurate support to the rest of the C-suite in their decision-making. 

The need for the CFO and finance function to adapt to a world of far greater ambiguity is a theme running through the report. Quin Thong, finance director, Greater China, for Baronsmead Consulting, sums up the dilemma: ‘CFOs are so used to seeing things in just black or white, but we don’t have the luxury of that any more.’

SMARTER SERVICE DELIVERY

The report argues that smarter delivery of finance services is essential. There is already evidence that CFOs are placing a greater emphasis on their role in business strategy, but the report makes the point that it is imperative that the finance function has the right operating model – agile, scalable and capable of meeting the changing needs of the organisation. The finance team, says the report, ‘must ensure the right processes, systems and metrics are in place to aid strategy execution, deliver richer information insights and drive cost and process effective finance operations’. 

The report identifies a number of areas where finance professionals will have a critical role to play in the near future. One feature of modern business is that the assets driving corporate wealth have changed in the knowledge economy; intangibles such as data, branding and talent have become central to value creation. This has a number of implications for the finance function, which are discussed in the report. Data quality and collection, for example, will be central to success and the finance function, says the report, ‘will have a critical role to play in getting their organisation’s basic data right as a starting point for better decision making’.

‘Enterprises that use the data at their disposal drive competitive advantage,’ agrees Jamie Lyon, head of corporate sector at ACCA, but challenges remain in finding data that will enable finance to track, report and help the organisation take the right commercial decisions.

TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION

Technology will, of course, also transform the finance function itself over time; 78% of the CFOs questioned for the study said that they believed many standard finance processes would be automated in the future. At this stage, though, the rate of innovation in technology and data collection is, in the view of many CFOs, creating too much confusion. ‘The current finance technology landscape remains overly complex for most, and simplification is sought,’ says the report. ‘The CFO function needs to get better at influencing the business on the information that really matters. It must articulate the outcomes it is trying to drive and use the right data to report effectively.’ 

Rita Purewal, CFO of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, makes the point in the report that the availability of data, and our increased ability to analyse it, has raised expectations of what finance professionals can and should deliver. CFOs and the finance team are more than capable of rising to the challenge, but it is also important to understand that the skills – and especially the leadership qualities – demanded of finance professionals has changed.

The report says that volatility, risk, customer centricity and other modern challenges are demanding new levels of leadership performance: ‘For the CFO function, the classic challenge now is how to transform talented individuals from having a narrow focus on functional perspectives to embracing the broader strategic CFO leadership capabilities needed in this environment.’

Communication skills and the ability to think strategically and innovatively are fast becoming prized skills, and the CFOs interviewed for the report acknowledged that they needed to have a far greater understanding of business than in the past – or at least know enough and have the confidence to gather people around them who together, produce the best result. ‘The scope of a CFO’s responsibility has become so big that you cannot be an expert in every area,’ said Holger Lindner, CFO of TÜV SUD. ‘Do you need to have experts? Yes. Do you need to understand what they say? Absolutely. But do you need to be able to be the expert in every area? I don’t think so.’

The report concludes that traditional finance career paths should now ‘rest in peace’ and that finance departments need to think quickly about how they ‘future proof’ the potential talent gap. ‘One of the biggest questions facing the future CFO function is this: where will your future finance leadership talent come from?’ says Lyon. ‘It’s a critical question, and businesses need to think very carefully about how they will develop the next generation of finance leaders.’

Liz Fisher, journalist

Tokyo in Memory

From Osaka, it took us 3 hours by Shinkansen to Tokyo and we arrived Tokyo at 2:02 pm on April 2.

First impression is too many people there in Tokyo. In crossroads, we can see wide zebra crossing about 10-15 meters to get enough space for pedestrians. In main cross roads,  when the cookoo sound is on, pedestrians cross the roads in great number of people unimaginably. Only in Tokyo, people can cross the street horizontally and strangely intelligently diagonally.

The hotel we lived is Tokyo Sunshine Prince hotel located inside Sunshine city in Ikebukuro area. Ikebukuro is a business center with many business towers. Many activities are in underground system. However we don't have any feeling of being underground at all. Walking streets in Ikebukuro are filled with pedestrians. Many restaurants, cosmetics shops, game centers... We tried ramen noodles in Ichiban restaurant (not sure the name). They served so good ramen at reasonable price about 450 yen with egg. And an underground grilled restaurant serving grilled beef and chicken with rice about 900 yen per one serve.

We visit Zozoji temple the next day. From Ikebukuro station, it took 40 minutes to get the place. We walked along the blocks until entering main gate into the temple. The temple is huge with lots of beautiful sakura. There was Buddha praying time and we joined. Japanese put coins into the box, pray, burn aloes wood powder and sob the smoke on children to get luck. Zozoji garden is so beautiful with trees and hundreds of pretty gods in colorful woolen hats and vanes.

Walking along Zozoji temple garden, we reached Tokyo tower. First coming to the area, looking at Tokyo tower from a distance, I doubt on the attraction as I didnot find it spectacular. When reaching it, my question on why Japanese are proud of Tokyo tower got the answer. It was a one piece tower so huge that we cannot take picture as it was too big. When night time came, the tower is splendid with lights on. Its amber color makes Tokyo tower most amazing tower I have seen.

We intended to visit at least 2 museums in each country we visit. On April 4, we paid a visit to Museum of Life Safety at noon time. It located in a fire station near Ikebukuro station. There we joined one earthquake stimulation learning, and it gave the kids and Us earthquake experience (6 degree for the kids and 9 degree for us).

The second museum we visited was National Museum of Nature and Science while Vix san family went to Asakusa temple and Skytree. The museum is inside Uneo park, near Ueno zoo with panda included. We tried Theatre 360 first. We need to line about 30 minutes to get in. We found it interesting that people really love museums here, so many visitors. The ticket price is cheap, about 600 yen and kids are free. We get shocked by the performance in the 360 Theatre. It showed the foundation of universe and earth, human being... Though there is no English translation, the kids could understand visually. The theatre had no seats, and viewers stood on glass entrance in a ballround film center, with a 360 angle view. We felt like we were flying in the universe observing the earth from the foundation. It was actually the best theater we have been in.

The exhibition there on sea animal, insect and soils, stones, fossils are marvelous. What a pity that Global Section is under repair and will be open till July, so we could not see the dinosaur collections. We came out of the museum at five, and the zoo has stopped receiving visitors, so we only can see the panda next time. Ueno park were too busy with visitors even at that late afternoon time. Maybe the people spend their weekend to enjoy Sakura before Sakura ends.

The trip in Tokyo is much easier by convenient stores. They are condensed everywhere with Family mart, Lawson... In every corners with lots of eatable delicious  food. We tried rice (com nam), com hop in variety of kinds. After long days of walking, avoiding crowded restaurants, convenient stores are actually the solution.

It took two hours from sunshine city to Narira airport by limousine airport. The fare is about 3000 yen per seat. Narita airport has 2 terminal currently. Besides Terminal 1 and 2, terminal 3 will be opened soon on April 8 this year. Terminal 1 has two wings: south and north. VietNam airlines is with north wing currently. There are some shops selling souvenirs, chocolate, uniqlo there before passport, but all are not tax free. After passport are shops for high brand name like Shisido, Channel, wines... Compared the price with downtown shops, it is about 10-15% higher for shops before passport.

Our flight back was at 3:15pm on April 5 by Vietnam Airlines. Goodbye Tokyo, we know the city and the lively time we spent there will always be in our deepest memory.

April 6, 2015.

With love.

Ikebukuro area at dawn

Very windy outside Sunshine city 60.

Sunshine City 60

Zozoji Temple

Tokyo tower from distance.

Zozoji garden way to Tokyo Tower

Praying time.

Outside Sunshine 60.

Sakura - From Seki To Osaka

Khi chúng tôi đến Seki - Gifu, chỉ vừa có lác đác vào cây đào nở. Cây hoa đào to lớn đầy những cành mảnh mai nhưng vững chải vươn cao lên bầu trời. Ngoài sakura trên triền núi còn có cây mơ (ume) có hình đang rất đẹp và một loại cây cao uy nghi tuy trụi lá  nhung vẫn tạo nen vẻ hùng dũng khó tả. Khi đến tham quan bảo tàng dao, không xa lắm là một hàng đào đang nở. Lần đầu tiên  chúng tôi được chính thức thưởng hoa, dưới mưa phùn bay bay vùng Seki. Hoa đào màu hồng phơn phớt hoặc trắng hồng, từng chùm đều đặn, dày dặn với một vẻ tươi mới mãnh liệt.

Rồi khi đến chùa tại Seki, tôi lại chứng kiến một vẻ đẹp khác của hoa. Những cây hoa anh đào cao gầy, hoa nhiều như ngàn cánh bướm hồng đậu khẽ nhẹ trên những càng cây đẹp đẽ. Vẻ thanh cao tinh khiết như hiện rõ bằng từ ngữ. Phong cảnh chùa chiền và hoa trong khí trời trong vắt vẽ ra một bức tranh trầm mặc như trong các bức tranh phù tang xa xưa.

Đến Osaka, tôi mới ngấm được vì sao đất nước này được gọi là xứ sở hoa anh đào. Trên những chuyến tàu Shinkansen hay tốc hành, dọc các line tàu, bạt ngàn Sakura nở rộ. Tại Osaka Castle, hoa  tưng bừng khoe sắc khắp nơi nơi. Người Nhật vui vẻ mở tiệc sakura party thưởng hoa đến tận nửa đêm. Ngắm hoa, uống rượu. Màu hoa hồng phơn phớt ngọt ngào như đang tuôn ra không dừng lại được từ nhưng than cây cứng cáp. Màu hoa xinh lắm, một màu hồng trang nhã quý phái. Đi dưới những tán hoa to lớn lộng lẫy, tôi có suy nghĩ và tự cảm nhận về ý nghĩa của hoa. Tôi thấy khí chất hoa như tượng trưng cho khí phách anh hùng hơn là vẻ yêu kiều của con gái Nhật. Chính cái khí phách ấy đã tạo nên vẻ đẹp làm say lòng người Nhật và du khách từ khắp thế giới trong những ngày đầu tháng tư này, những ngày ngắn ngủi của mùa Sakura.

When we first came to Seki, Gifu Perfecture, there were only some cherry on blossom. Big Sakura trees were full of skinny but strong branches rising to the sky. Beside Sakura, there were some other trees with beautiful shape like apricots, and no leaf high trees that nobody knew their names. When we visited knife museum, we saw a line of cheery blossom not very far away. This was the first time we enjoyed cheery blossom, under light Seki spring rain. Cheery color  was light pink, or white, in bunch, thick with everlasting freshness.

Then when we visited Seki temple called Shobuji Temple, we observed another beauty of cherry blossom. Tall and skinny cheery trees were with million flowers like pink butterflies lightly standing on beautiful branches. The purity and nobleness could be seen by words. Temple landscape with cherry blossom in the transparent mountainous atmosphere drew a silent picture like Japanese ancient painting.

Reaching Osaka Perfecture, I absorbed why this country called land of cherry blossom. Along Shikansen or train lines were lines of cheeries in blossom. At Osaka Castle, cheeries were  showing their wonderful blossom everywhere. Japanese are very happy having Sakura party under the cherries until midnight. Watching Sakura, drinking sake. Sakura color is sweet pink, everlasting coming out and out from the  strong cherries. Sakura color was very lovely, georgeous and noble. Walking under huge splendid Sakura, I thought about meaning of Sakura. I found Sakura spirit symbolizing for hero spirit more than Japanese woman beauty. That spirit makes the beauty of Sakura that wins hearts of Japanese and tourists from over the world, in the early days of April, short period of Sakura dates.

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