What makes a good CFO?

How to upgrade your finance leadership style

CFOs are plagued with uncertainty and time constraints

The pace of change is fast, organizations are becoming more complex and CFOs are finding themselves in increasingly unfamiliar situations, forced to write the playbook on what makes a great CFO as they go. 

Finance leaders are spending 25% to 50% of their time navigating unfamiliar situations.

Business managers will continue to pull the same levers and push the same buttons; if you believe that the future looks different than the past, then different actions are required. I dedicate time to arrive at my own conclusions.

EVP & CFO at a Major Retailer

Great CFOs allocate time and personal capital to drive change

Our insights into what makes a good CFO — based on an analysis of 100+ CFOs — can help you make better decisions more consistently and enable your organization to more rapidly implement major change initiatives. Use our tools to measure stakeholder perceptions, as well as success, against the organization’s change initiatives.

Influence with the CEO is what makes a great CFO

While 80% of CFOs have strong relationships with the CEO, only 30% of CFOs frequently change their CEO’s mind on major issues. What differentiates a great CFO’s relationship with the CEO?

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How do great CFOs spend their time?

CFO time allocation decisions have a high opportunity cost. Learn how to determine where to spend your time for maximum impact.

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How to build a successful strategic plan for finance

Don’t complete your annual strategic plan without our step-by-step guidance. We provide a template for putting your strategy on a page, which helps you save time and communicate the plan effectively.

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What makes a great CFO: Financially sound decision making

To provide the proactive, differentiated support the organization needs, changes to the finance business partnering model are required. Gartner offers guidance for finance leaders to transform finance business partnering.

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What makes a great CFO: Successful finance transformations

Seventy percent of finance transformations fail to deliver the forecast benefits to the business. Access Gartner finance transformation best practices — sourced from finance executives — to ensure the success of your finance transformation in driving business profitability.

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Finance, risk and strategy quarterly journal

Gartner’s quarterly journal for finance, risk and strategy leaders is designed to help your organization address challenges that require broad mobilization of the C-suite and executive teams. The journal features Gartner’s latest research, interviews, profiles and infographics.

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Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference

The Premier Destination for CFOs and Their Leadership Teams

Join hundreds of senior finance executives to hear key insights and learn actionable strategies for building the finance function of the future. Finance leaders who attend will:  

  • Absorb insights based on proven practices
  • Capture crowdsourced implementation ideas
  • Leave with prioritized objectives and practical solutions
  • Build lasting connections with finance peers

After attending [the Finance Conference], we were able to locate and mitigate a $2 million risk [and] avoided a potential audit.

Defense Firm

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Gartner for Finance Leaders is a tailor-made solution providing trusted insights, strategic advice and practical tools that help finance leaders make the right decisions to drive business performance.