The role and responsibilities of the CFO have evolved dramatically. Once limited to the finances, the CFO is now, more than ever before, a strategic partner accountable for creating value across the entire business. We have the expertise to support CFOs as they transform the finance organization, shape portfolio strategies, undertake major investment and financing decisions, and communicate with investors.
How we help:
The CFO challenge
Boards view CFOs as the most important corporate executive after the CEO. But in today's business environment, CFOs face new challenges. Corporate performance is increasingly tightly managed. Risks, including cyber issues, are growing. People within the business have higher expectations, especially when it comes to data and advanced analytics and the impact on value creation from disruptive business models. And it can be a struggle to deliver the best service in finance at minimum cost.
Our deep understanding of corporate finance and expertise in specific industries uniquely positions us to support the CFO on two overarching topics—corporate and capital-markets strategy, and value-based management.
Corporate and capital markets strategy
In our experience, well-executed strategies that reflect value creation and the appropriate risk considerations are crucial to success. Working with Strategy & Corporate Finance Insights, we help our clients maximize value creation by aligning their corporate strategy with the capital markets' perception of where value lies, communicating that strategic intent, and crafting a compelling story for investors.
We support our clients in the following areas:
- capital-markets analysis—to determine which strategies and business models create the most value
- active portfolio management—to fund corporate growth and maximize long-term value
- investor communications—to explain corporate strategy clearly, manage performance expectations, maximize shareholder value, and anticipate the perspective of activist investors
- innovative financing strategies—to build value
Value-based management
CFOs play a crucial role in aligning stakeholders so everyone sees value creation through the same lens. As the CFO is also at the helm of value-creation efforts company-wide, he or she can use the finance function to test new ideas and set best practices.
We support our clients in several areas:
- performance measurement and management—to apply rigorous analytical tools and methodologies that assess business value and performance
- finance-organization design—to enhance the financial division to enable greater focus on business support and value creation, using proprietary diagnostic tools and COE and SSC solutions
- lean finance—to optimize the practices and performance of the finance function to drive productivity and effectiveness
- finance-talent management—to help shape the talent strategy, build talent systems, and develop leaders through capability-building Finance Academies to create a world-class finance function
- CFO support—to help define the role, responsibilities, and agenda of the CFO, including the role of working with the leadership team and the board and leading enterprise-wide initiatives such as guiding digital transformations and embracing the opportunities provided by big data and advanced analytics
Recent examples of our work
- We helped an underperforming publicly traded beverage company design a financial-communications strategy to better reflect its performance and thereby improve its stock rating.
- We helped a large IT company that wished to clearly link its capital structure to shareholder value creation. We supported the client in evaluating and responding to a proposal to releverage the balance sheet, stop paying dividends, and significantly increase the size of the share-buyback program. The client proposed an alternative solution to its board and now employs an analytical process to link its capital structure to shareholder value creation.
- We assisted a North American consumer lender in transforming its decentralized and fragmented finance function. We helped the client develop a new operating model with optimized processes and activities and a thoughtful distribution of activities across geographic locations. This effort has resulted in an annual savings rate of 15 percent.
