The Chief Financial Officer (CFO): A study of role expectations, conflicts and ambiguity

This research, conducted by Professor Paul Thambar of Monash University in Australia, explored the evolving role of CFO through in-depth interviews with 12 CFOs from Australia and Sri Lanka across a range of industry settings.

The study reveals a range of conflicting and ambiguous expectations and explains how these expectations shape the CFO role and how role holders navigate the challenges related to these expectations.

Conflicting expectations on the CFO role relates to the balancing of the controller versus business partner role, reporting information and analysis, managing budget and cost expectations and building trust between their role and the wider organisation.

CFOs use a range of organisational mechanisms to manage these conflicting expectations. These include building trust, developing good customer-facing relationships and leadership and coaching capabilities.

Ambiguous expectations relate to digital transformation, leadership and coaching and mentoring.

These ambiguous expectations appear to be broadly welcomed by CFOs who have used them to build relationships and trust and to embed their role as a trusted adviser and partner to senior and operational managers.

The study also shows how, through the development of the business partnering role, CFOs have come to be viewed as dynamic and adaptable leaders who can also help organisations understand and navigate major strategic challenges such as digital transformation.