2016 Roundtable Series Summary - The CFO Alliance

THE CFO A L L I A N C E®

2016 ROUNDTABLE
SERIES SUMMARY

The Key Drivers of 2016 Results & 2017 Opportunities

© Copyright 2016. The CFO Alliance. All Rights Reserved. TheCFOAlliance.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2016 Roundtable Index
Click below to view the roundtable series summary

Quarter 1: The CFOs Impact on Corporate Performance in 2016 4

Quarter 2: Risk Exposures CFOs Need to Own 9

Quarter 3: Igniting Growth as the CFO: Cultivating a High Performance Team 16

Quarter 4: The Crystal Ball for CFO Success: What Matters Most Going into 2017 29

2017 Roundtable Series 34

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ALLIANCE

LETTER FROM THE CEO

Dear Friends,

As CEO & Founder of The CFO Alliance, I want to thank our members, partners, and
friends for their continued efforts to contribute to the value, experience, and culture
of The CFO Alliance community as the ‘go to’ peer network for finance executives.

Having had the opportunity to travel around the U.S. during the past year to meet and
engage with our CFO Alliance members & partners, it has become clear to me that the
role of the CFO will continue to expand in scope and responsibility, and as a result, it
remains imperative that finance executives and their teams ‘up their games’.

Throughout 2016, thousands of CFO Alliance members from around the U.S. and
the globe, gathered face-to-face and online for an ongoing series of discussions and
exchanges on themost critical opportunities and issues ‘keeping them up at night’,
with the intent to fuel theirconfidence in leading and impacting company performance
across the enterprise as the CFO.

What follows is a summary of the key topics and themes that were discussed, debated,
and dissected over the course of this past year, as well as the takeaways our members
& partners created through their dialogues and collaboration. It was clear that customer
engagement & human capital optimization were critical to company success in 2016,
and deserve even more attention from CFOs in 2017 and beyond.

As we move into 2017, The CFO Alliance remains committed to cultivating a mind-set
and environment where finance leaders can gather to ask the right questions about
where they and their companies are headed, what could possibly be holding them
back from achieving their potential, and what they can do to move themselves and
their companies forward. Be sure to get involved in working with your peers to be
the CFO your company needs to deliver market leadership in today’s world.

Best,
Nick Araco
CEO & Founder
The CFO Alliance

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CFOs SET THE BAR HIGH FOR 2016

The outlook of CFOs going into 2016 was quite optimistic. According to the
2016 CFO Sentiment Study, 72% of respondents categorized the current state of
the industries in which they operate as strong, 69% expected to see higher top line
revenue in 2016, and 58% expected to see higher company earnings in 2016.

According to the survey, CFOs looked to deliver on high expectations by leveraging
three primary channels to deliver growth in 2016: organic growth, improving customer
spend, and expansion into new markets. CFOs also reported that company success
in 2016 would in large part be defined by: the ability to expand existing relationships
with customers, the relative effectiveness of market efforts, operational efficiency, and
engaging and developing new and existing finance talent.

For more information relative to CFO sentiments regarding key challenges and
opportunities going into 2016, you may access the 2016 CFO Alliance CFO
Sentiment study HERE. The CFO Alliance Sentiment Study is unique in that it
is designed to offer insights into how CFOs planned to address challenges and
capitalize on opportunities.

THE CFOs IMPACT ON CORPORATE PERFORMANCE

The CFO Alliance 1st quarter roundtable series, The CFOs Impact on Corporate
Performance in 2016, kicked off its journey in 2016 to discover if CFOs were going to
deliver on optimistic expectations in 2016, and if not, why not, and to learn and share
what could CFOs do better in 2017 in delivering strategic value from the Office of the

1CFO at their companies.
One of the key themes that emerged from this Roundtable series was that
in order to deliver on 2016 expectations CFOs needed to master the art of
collaborating across the enterprise. The following represent several valuable
Roundtable take-aways relative to specifically how a CFO can become
a trusted advisor across the enterprise:

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CFOs SET THE BAR HIGH FOR 2016

1. CFOs need to look in the mirror and change the inherent bias in just looking

at marketing and sales as overhead, and as a means to budget to drive the

bottom line. Just because CFOs in general have not focused on measuring

the value of marketing and sales activity does not mean it should not be done, and

that by not doing so, CFOs have cost their companies much more than cost savings

which delivered a short term, unsustainable impact to the bottom line

A. Finance needs to have its own house in order before it goes around trying to

fix other departments.

B. Finance should measure itself relative to the internal customers, and define

internal metrics relative to its success in supporting HR, Sales, and Marketing.

2. Define how Finance can impact sales, marketing and human capital management

success with OUR skill set, i.e., what is Finance bringing to the table to earn the role

of Trusted Advisor across departmental lines.

A. Create a culture of data-driven decision making.

• Data-driven decision making mitigates decision bias from sales

and marketing.

B. Finance needs to define and communicate the common language needed to

measure and monitor success in a financial and non-financial context, as more

value drivers are defined by intangible assets.

C. Finance should take on the role of Chief Data Steward for the organization.

• Finance does not need to own the data. Finance can set the standards how

data quality is ensured and how data analysis is done.

• Finance can develop processes to define the timing and flow of data

without owning where it comes from, and reviewing all data for accuracy

and relevance.

• Determine the “data diet” for HR, Marketing, and Sales (each department)

in this age of Big Data where data is coming in from many sources, in

many formats.

• Have meetings with HR, Marketing and Sales and collaborate to determine

how to measure the KPIs that define success relative to HR, Marketing

and Sales.

Ask HR, Marketing and Sales what information and/or analytics they

need to understand AND influence the behaviors of employees,

existing customers, and prospective customers.

What needs to be measured, communicated, and how does it

impact company performance?

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CFOs SET THE BAR HIGH FOR 2016

D. Finance should earn an invitation to the annual Sales (HR, Marketing) meeting
to become an insider (Trusted Advisor).
• Finance needs to show a commitment to understanding the markets
and customers.
3. Consider Internal Internships
A. Have a Finance team member work in HR, Sales, and/or Marketing and invite
them to have an intern in Finance.
4. Ask colleagues in HR, Sales & Marketing what Finance can do to make them
more successful.
5. Establish clearer lines of communications, i.e., educate Sales in terms of pricing
issues and decisions.
6. Role play at meetings-manage the perception of the personality (or lack thereof)
of Finance.
7. Collaborate with Sales to monitor and measure the health of the company’s
sales pipeline.
8. Review and help adapt Sales Incentive Plans.
A. Incentives need to align with value drivers which define company success.

2The second key theme that emerged from this Roundatble series was that
in order to deliver on 2016 expectations, CFOs needed to understand, and
directly or indirectly, impact customer behaviors. Key advice delivered by
CFOs to meet this challenge included the following:

1. What do customers and potential customers actually value?
A. Understand company perception vs. customer reality.
• Surveys and user groups are invaluable in this regard.
• Establish the ability to dynamically monitor what customers actually value.
B. Focus on understanding what customers will value in the future, and why.
C. Understand the specific value your company actually offers to
specific customers
• Ask customers what you do well, what you can do better, and how you c
an do it better.

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CFOs SET THE BAR HIGH FOR 2016

2. Develop the criteria and process for firing customers.
3. Collaborate with Marketing and Sales so the company focuses on the
RIGHT Customers.
A. High margin and high value customers
• Acquisition cost, margins on sales, cost of relationship on maintenance
and development, and lifetime customer value.
• Can a customer become a strategic partner?
• Can a relationship with a company make your company better?

3. Segment Sales and Marketing strategies by key customer demographics.
A. Consistent high level messaging with specific details that support the
message for each key demographic.

4. Finance should develop relationships with customers that last throughout the
customer lifecycle
A. Limited customer access creates a reputation of Finance as the bad cop,
or “Mr. No”.
B. Interactions between Finance and customers can’t be limited to involvement
in addressing a crisis.
C. Facilitate Finance to Finance collaboration with customers.
D. Establish multiple dimensions to a relationship-not just a one-to-one sales
professional to purchasing agent relationship.
E. Unlock the strategic value of being a partner, learning, and collaborating
with your customers.

5. Social media can be a great way to create collaboration with customers.
A. LinkedIn user groups and potentially a Facebook group can be valuable
depending on the industry.

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CFOs SET THE BAR HIGH FOR 2016

3The third key theme that emerged from the 1st quarter Roundatble series was
that in order to deliver on 2016 expectations, CFOs need to own optimizing
human capital in Finance. How do CFOs acquire, motivate, and collaborate with
HR leaders to offer the Right Talent and Professional Development tools and
programs to create and maintain a team of “A” players in the Office of the CFO?

According to several hundred Finance Leaders in 8 cities across the country from
Washington, DC to Newport Beach, California, CFOs would do well to:

1. Define the skills of their Finance teams needed now, and in the future,
to be successful.
2. Understand that the “right” talent in Finance is changing.
3. Recruit team members with soft skills.
4. Influence and communicate.
5. Recruit and develop specific expertise in the areas of technology and analytics.
6. Collaborate with HR to perform an internal skills assessment of your Finance team
and identify where the skills gaps exist.
7. Collaborate with HR to determine the best way to prioritize and address
skills gaps.
A. Hire vs. investments in existing employees.
8. Structure the Finance Team to support Sales, Marketing, and HR:
A. Internal Internships
• Consider loaning a Finance team member to HR, Marketing
and/or Sales.
• Offer to take on an internal intern from HR, Marketing, and/or Sales.
B. Help each Finance team member define his or her path
• Leverage online educational platforms to identify and close skills gaps.
9. Collaborate with HR to define a company career path for each team member and
proactively manage progress.
10. Focus on effectively managing across generations.

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RISK EXPOSURES CFOs NEED TO OWN:

Financial, Customer Retention, Cyber, & Brand Reputation

The CFO Alliance 2nd quarter roundtable series, Risk Exposures CFOs Need to Own,
pivoted to focus on how CFOs could effectively manage risk exposures, that if not given
the attention required, could impact their company’s financial results in 2016 and beyond.
It is critical for companies to have a solid foundation for an enterprise risk management
framework in place to mitigate and manage risk exposures before jumping in and
attempting to manage individual types of risk exposures in silos across departmental
lines; it just does not work in today’s world. The highlights of the actionable insights
offered by risk management experts and CFOs include the following:

1. Risk management needs to be kept in perspective-a failure to execute, and
misalignment with strategic objectives across departmental lines, often causes
more damage to company performance and shareholder value than ineffective
risk management.
2. The CFO is the first and last line of defense in terms of accountability when risk
events occur, thus, performance suffers, and shareholder value is impacted.
3. Risk management programs needs to be a proactive as opposed to a reactive.
4. CFOs need to manage risk exposure before risk-related events impact
financial results.
5. Transparency from the office of the CFO is key to the effectiveness in creating
a culture of risk accountability across the enterprise.

CFOs identified 4 key risk exposures in the 2016 CFO Sentiment survey results that
could have the biggest impacts on their company’s performance in 2016: Customer
Retention, Cyber Security, Company Reputation/Brand, and Financial. The following
information and insights represent highlights in terms of insights delivered by risk
management experts and CFOs:

1. CUSTOMER RETENTION RISK EXPOSURES


A. CFOs must endeavor to optimize the value offered to each and every customer.
B. Studies show that it is as much as 6 times more costly to acquire than retain
a customer. One root cause is that there are as many as 6 internal parties that
impact a purchasing decision within an organization.

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RISK EXPOSURES CFOs NEED TO OWN:

Financial, Customer Retention, Cyber, & Brand Reputation

C. Technology is mitigating the inherent amount of purchasing paralysis
(decision making) at many companies-more information, more timely
information, and collaboration tools can be fuel for customer churn.
D. Customer retention needs to be proactive, ongoing strategy and process,
and become a way of life.
E. Customer retention should be a shared responsibility across the enterprise.
• Group incentives tied to mitigating customer churn can be effective.
• Communicate, measure, and reinforce customer retention program
success. Customer retention needs to be top of mind daily for all those
who interact with customers.
F. Companies need to deepen institutional relationships with customers and tear
down firewalls between revenue generating functions (Sales, Marketing) and
Finance/Operations.
G. CFOs need to help create value for customers throughout a customer’s
lifecycle. This includes training sales and customer service professionals how
to effectively communicate the financial and strategic value they
offer customers.
H. One area that has not received the attention it warrants is defining the
correlations between movements in customer success metrics and customer
churn, e.g., Company A’s rating of the value received from our company moves
from a 5 (top rating) to a 3. Does this mean we lose them? Can we move the
rating back up? If so, what did it cost us relative to the probability they
would leave?
I. Companies might do well to invest in developing their middle of the pack
performers on sales teams by boosting their financial and communication IQs
instead of focusing the majority of resources into impacting the performance
of the sales professionals in the top 5-10%.

2. CYBER SECURITY RISK EXPOSURES

A. Cyber risk is extremely dynamic.
B. The 4 leading classes of cyber risk perpetrators are: nation state actors,
organized crime, hacktivists, insider threats (employees, contractors, suppliers).

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RISK EXPOSURES CFOs NEED TO OWN:

Financial, Customer Retention, Cyber, & Brand Reputation

C. CFOs would do well to be involved with IT in doing a formal assessment,
best case in conjunction with a third party, to identify cyber risk exposures
from internal (employees) and external sources that includes quantifying the
potential impacts on shareholder value.
D. Motives for cyber-attacks include economic harm, ransom/extortion,
competitive information, and disclosure of information that impacts
brand value.
E. Employee education as to how their actions can create data breach
exposures is an extremely cost effective technique to mitigate cyber
risk exposures.
• Understand the warning signs of suspicious e-mail; question first and ask
IT before opening any questionable e-mail (cornerstones of the right
e-mail culture).
• If you see suspicious activity within your e-mail account, let IT
know immediately.
• Using a memory stick/external drive should be done with caution, never
use one you just find, and it is best to only use those that have been
screened or issued by IT.
• Educate employees as to social engineering scams, including those
designed to mine passwords, transfer funds and/or obtain approval for
wire transfers.
F. Cyber risks are inter-related with reputation/brand risks.
G. There needs to be a balance of investment in risk mitigation programs
(keeping people out), and investing in programs and technology that
mitigate the cost of a data breach (once people get in). Most companies
under invest in data breach response programs.
H. Cyber insurance can be a loss mitigation tool, but there are often
exclusions in coverage that do not cover the most common causes of
a data breach.
I. Effective cyber security risk mitigation at a high level can be achieved
by focusing on good information governance, company culture (employees
understand the exposures they can cause and the damage that can result
from any data breach), and investing in a comprehensive data breach
response program.

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RISK EXPOSURES CFOs NEED TO OWN:

Financial, Customer Retention, Cyber, & Brand Reputation

J. Companies need to focus much more on how to mitigate the costs of a
breach by investing in a comprehensive breach response plan. The plan
should be aligned with the company’s business continuity plan.
K. Cyber risk policies do exist to help mitigate the costs of a breach, however,
they often exclude social engineering and should not provide any company
a false sense of security.

3. COMPANY REPUTATION/BRAND RISK EXPOSURES

A. Reputation risk is deeply connected to other risk domains including
cyber risk.
B. The most controllable facet of reputation risk is the real or perceived
behavior of executive leadership.
C. Reputation impacting events such product and service-level issues (product
recalls, contamination, i.e., Chipotle) can lead to prolonged stakeholder
challenges and the prolonged erosion of brand value.
D. The top three drivers of reputation risk in today’s world as reported by a
recent report by Deloitte (Reputation@Risk) are: security, ethics/integrity, and
products/services.
E. Companies can mitigate reputation exposures by having a formal policy
for the communication of company related information that includes a
comprehensive section covering social media behavior inside and outside of
the office.
F. Reputation risks can also be mitigated by creating an employee culture of
always communicating internally and externally information electronically in
the right tone and with appropriate level of confidentiality.

4. FINANCIAL RISK EXPOSURES

A. CFOs in today’s world are asked to walk a tightrope between opportunity
and risk, and that the innovation required to deliver growth comes with
risk exposures. CFOs should not fear risk exposures, but endeavor to identify
them as they emerge, and leverage tools (i.e., insurance, derivatives) and
tactics (take advantage of natural hedges) to mitigate them so that risk
exposure levels align with their company’s risk tolerance.

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RISK EXPOSURES CFOs NEED TO OWN:

Financial, Customer Retention, Cyber, & Brand Reputation

B. CFOs can take advantage of variability in financial markets by using vehicles
(options) that protect against downside risk and allow CFOs to participate
in markets when certain variables (interest rates, FX rates) move in
favorable directions.
C. Interest rates & FX market volatility are intertwined in today’s economy. If
interest rate risk matters to your company, then you should not turn a blind
eye to volatility in global currency markets.
D. Effective risk management increases business agility. The ability to
effectively identify and respond to challenges, and to take advantage of the
right opportunities at the right times.
E. Risk mitigation tools arm companies with ammunition to protect margins
against volatility in global markets.

Three key cost effective, reputation risk mitigation tools impacting across all types of
risk exposures are: employee education, communication culture, and managing the
flow and tone of communication relative to risk exposures across the enterprise.

CFOs challenged with delivering results in an increasingly dynamic world of risk
exposures would do well to heed the following mantra:

Execute with consistency, communicate with sensitivity, and be deliberate and
timely with the way you respond and react to events that others would
view as a crisis.

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REDEFINING THE CFO ALLIANCE VALUE
P R O P O S I T I O N : Transforming the Professional Development of CFOs

The CFO Alliance is always looking to improve how we serve the professional
development of CFOs, and after listening to hundreds of CFOs in the first two
quarters, our management team was inspired to redefine our value proposition
to better align with the evolving professional developments needs of CFOs. Our
quarterly CFO Roundtables had given us the foundation of a strong value proposition,
but the online dimensions of our value proposition had yet to offer our members the
best of both worlds in terms of professional development programs and resources.
As we look back at 2016, it is important that we include our commitment to deliver
best in class value within every dimension that a CFO needs to reach his or her
pinnacle of success.

What follows is what we believe, and how we will deliver on this commitment:

We are not a webinar provider or
on-demand content provider offering
cheap CPE credits.

We do not offer conferences
every week to generate revenue.

We are not a professional organization
whose leadership consists of product
and service provider employees.

We do not offer a one-dimensional
approach to serving the professional
development needs of CFOs.



We are The CFO Alliance.

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REDEFINING THE CFO ALLIANCE VALUE
P R O P O S I T I O N : Transforming the Professional Development of CFOs

We will offer a multi-dimensional approach for CFOs to leverage in building mutually
beneficial relationships with peers, thought leaders, and our trusted strategic
partners (product and service providers).

Our model is CONNECT - COMMUNICATE - COLLABORATE - REPEAT.

We will offer multiple ways for CFOs to connect with peers both online and
in-person, including:

• Our signature CFO Roundtables
• Customized meetings & introductions
• Proprietary research and valuable content
• Our partnerships with organizations which recognize CFO excellence
• Our online community discussions
• Educational webinars
• Our LinkedIn group

The CFO Alliance management team actively facilitates and helps nurture
relationships from each of these channels.

We collaborate with trusted “partners” within The CFO Alliance community to
garner business intelligence that CFOs can’t get anywhere else.

We will offer thought leadership, actionable advice, and practical resources for
CFOs to use in doing their jobs better every day, while embracing the ever-evolving
role of the CFO. This proven methodology has and will continue to produce the
return on investment that our community members deserve as they place their trust
in us to impact their careers.

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IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

The CFO Alliance 3rd quarter roundtable series, Igniting Growth as the CFO:
Cultivating a High Performance Team, focused on an area that has evolved into a
key pillar of CFO success: the development and effective management of a high
performance Finance team.

The discussions at the majority of our Q3 Roundtables focused on addressing the
following questions:

1. How can a CFO collaborate with other company leaders to define
success in Finance?
2. How can a CFO identify the skills that the Finance team needs to acquire
and/or upgrade to foster innovation and company growth?
3. How can a CFO collaborate with HR to design programs that develop
and reinforce key skills by delivering the right employee experience at
your company, and in doing so, optimize the productivity of your Finance
team by positively influencing the customer experience?

WHAT DOES SUCCESS IN FINANCE LOOK LIKE?

Defining success in Finance begins with defining success at the company level and 16
understanding the key drivers of company value. For the purposes of our discussions,
we focused on 3 of the top 4 drivers of company value as reported in the
CIMA Study: Customer Satisfaction, Customer Relationships, and Human Capital1.
These key drivers of company value may have more than a few CFOs scratching their
heads as they would be looking to measure productivity (success) strictly in terms of
traditional financial metrics such as net profit margin, current ratio, DSO and DPO
and/or emerging financial metrics such as sustainable revenue growth, excess cash,
or EBITDA versus cash flow. These metrics reflect financial success, but given what
impacts company value in the paradigm of drivers we described above, we need to
look a level deeper at non-financial metrics such as customer churn, average revenue
per customer, monthly recurring revenue, employee engagement, and human capital
value added. In this new paradigm, if companies effectively manage metrics that
optimize the customer experience (the messaging and tone of each interaction with
potential and existing customers) and the employee experience (interactions with
co-workers, company culture, and every aspect of the work environment), then the
desired financial outcomes will be achieved.

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IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

On the surface, impacting the customer experience as the CFO seems a bit of a
stretch. Historically, CFOs have had limited interactions with customers, most often
times only engaging them when there are issues to be resolved relative to accounts
receivable. The good news is that CFOs recognize that they need to develop
relationships with customers in order to better serve customer needs, manage
customer perceptions, deliver value, and identify opportunities to deepen and
strengthen relationships.

There are four key avenues Finance can pursue to impact the customer experience
with the goals of improving customer retention (reducing customer churn), customer
satisfaction, and lifetime customer value:

1. Ensuring the right systems are in place to optimize the visibility into all
actions that impact the customer experience across the enterprise:
A. Integrality of business systems-ERP, CRM, CPM systems which can
include social features that allow real-time chatter within these systems.

2. Building direct relationships with customers throughout the
customer lifecycle:
A. Involvement beyond being the bad cop and resolving crisis.
B. Build relationships with CFOs as customers.

3. Understand what customers want: 17
A. Work with sales, marketing and business development colleagues to
develop communications and research strategies to identify and confirm
customer wants and needs.
B. Work to understand what customers need before they even know they
need it.

4. Understand the real value of what your company offers to customers:
A. Work with sales to create communications with customers where the
customers communicate what they view as the value being offered to
them; separate the actual from what your company may only perceive of
the value being offered.
B. Work with sales to effectively communicate the economic value of all
dimensions (of value) offered by your company.

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IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

5. Understand the customer experience from the customer’s perspective: 18
A. Work with sales and/or customer service to identify what customers believe
you are doing well and why, and in which areas you can do better and why.

1CIMA Study: Customer Satisfaction, Customer Relationships, and Human Capital

The challenge in understanding and impacting both the customer experience and
the employee experience for the CFO becomes much less daunting if we heed the
advice of John Hugo, Vice President, Financial Products, Workday, and former SVP,
Principal Accounting Officer, Life Time Fitness), to align the customer experience
with the employee experience. John conveyed that the alignment of the customer
and employee experience allowed him to define and manage success in Finance
during his tenure at Life Time Fitness. John shared that leveraging customer
success metrics by defining a framework of looking at co-workers across
departmental lines as internal customers. This allowed him to measure a key
dimension of the productivity of Finance in terms of how well the internal customers
of Finance were served, i.e., the Net Promoter Score for Finance for internal
departments (internal customers) which included HR, sales and operations. In terms
of impacting and optimizing the external and internal customer experience, valuable
insights are found in examining the intersection of internal and external customer
feedback. Aligning the quality of the external and internal customer experience fuels
a high performance culture within and beyond Finance.

WHAT SKILLS MATTER IN FINANCE?

The discussions around what skills matter most was facilitated by sharing ten skills/
traits that past CFO Alliance roundtable attendees and surveys have identified as the
most important:
• Interpersonal Skills/Relationship Building
• Financial Reporting
• Effective Communication-written (e-mail, reports) and oral (presentation)
• Analytical Abilities
• Problem-Solving
• Tech Savvy-Acumen relative to financial systems and other key business systems

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary

IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

• Leadership
• Innovative/Entrepreneurial
• Passion for Learning/Embrace Change
• Knowledge of Relevant Industries including Competitive & Regulatory Dynamics

It is important to note that the skills/traits were put in an order to facilitate discussion,
and not meant to be a top 10 list. There was a consensus that all skills identified were
important, and discussions evolved to consider which skills/traits mattered most.

Three skills that were identified as being of increasing importance were:
1. The desire and ability to develop a thorough understanding of
a business (inside and out, business and operations, what companies
do for customers).
2. The ability to communicate financial information to non-financial professionals.
3. A passion for learning and embracing change.

SKILLS GAPS IN FINANCE

Conversations around the most important skills for financial professionals evolved into
CFOs identifying what they view as the biggest skills gaps in Finance talent from their
perspectives, relative to their teams and Finance professionals who they had interviewed
to join their teams in 2016. CFOs identified four key areas of skills gaps:
1. A general lack of intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness, and almost an
inherent fear of failure.
2. Communication skills in terms of what and how information is
communicated within and outside the walls of Finance.
3. Analytical skills to the point of making the right inferences and
recommendations. Inability to mine actual business intelligence from data.
4. The ability to communicate honestly about the challenges they face and
what they need to be successful.

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IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

DELIVERING THE RIGHT EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

What defines the best employee experience in Finance? This is not a “one size
fits all” answer, far from it. The question should be framed as follows: what defines
the best Finance employee experience at my company? That answer depends
on the current personality portfolio of your team, what you want that portfolio to
become, your company’s culture, the markets your company serves now and wants
to serve in the future, the current and future skills portfolio of your team, and the
current and future strategic objectives of your company. The good news is that
there are dimensions of a productive employee experience that can be leveraged
in customizing the best employee experience within Finance, which should share
several characteristics of the employee experience for any company employee across
the enterprise.

Dimensions for Delivering a Positive Employee Experience 20

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary

IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

CFOs in attendance shared several valuable tips and words of wisdom for
fellow CFOs to leverage in delivering an employee experience that fuels
productivity in Finance:

“People do not care what you know, unless they you know that you care.”
1. The generational demographic of your team must be forefront (e.g.,
2. millennials. Gen X, baby boomer, Gen Z).
Lead by example, remove the perception of Finance as only the numbers
3. person, have fun, experience all aspects of the business, care about each
employee and customer.
Develop programs to train team members to communicate beyond
4. the department.
Always promote the team, deliver an inclusive environment, and offer
5. incentives at the team level.
Consider the dynamics of the physical environment. Do you have remote
6. employees? What are the impacts on team chemistry?
Embrace the diversity of your group and move them in the same direction.
7.

The foundation of optimizing the strategic value offered by the office of the CFO 21
at any company is having a Finance team of high performers. The definition of high
performance (success) in Finance needs to align directly with company success.
The definition of company success is in a constant state of evolution. Companies
of all sizes are realizing that company value in today’s world is driven more and
more by the effectiveness of customer relationship management and human capital
optimization. CFOs need to assess, adapt and cultivate the skill set of their teams
to deliver innovation and fuel sustainable growth in this environment.

Finance employees need the skills and tools to thrive in a business environment
of market disruptions, and function in an environment which offers business agility,
and productive agility (develop and enhance skills as the definition of productivity
evolves). Finance must maintain and enhance performance through changes, and
ultimately help define the changes that companies need to make to deliver
market leadership.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary

IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

CFOs have the opportunity to collaborate with other company leaders to develop the
recipe for high performance in Finance, which can then be tweaked and applied to
other departments to optimize performance across the enterprise.

The last few Roundtables of the 3rd quarter put a compelling twist on the theme of the
aforementioned Roundtables. The content of these Roundtables focused on how a
CFO can identify the skills that the Finance team needs to acquire and/or upgrade to
foster innovation and company growth.

The GC Index® was introduced to the CFOs in attendance, and a fascinating discussion
ensued as two CFOs discussed how they assessed their teams using the GC Index, and
how it has and continues to offer them value in cultivating the high performance team
they need to optimize the strategic value of Finance delvers at their organizations.

The GC Index evolved from the desire to determine if “games changers” actually
existed in companies, and if they did, then how could they be identified in terms of
capabilities and personal qualities? The initial research and game changer model
revealed that game changers did exist and clustered around two main characteristics.
But that game changers did not exist in isolation and need others around them to
translate vision into reality. This inspired a revision of the model and after collaboration
with Professor Adrian Furnham, the four critical roles of a game-changing team were
identified as: Implementer, Strategist, Play Maker, and Polisher. This was how the GC
Index was born2.

THE GC INDEX IN BRIEF:
• Identifies key contributions to an organizations success including
game changers.
• Measures actual/potential impact and contribution (to a role, team,
and organization).
• A focus on talent development that is inclusive and elitist.
• Very clear “play to strengths” approach to talent development and
maximizing their contribution.

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IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

The GC Index is unique on many fronts. One of the most compelling is that it
recognizes that there is no one, strict definition of traits that defines an effective
leader. The index recognizes that an effective leader has a portfolio of key
characteristics that align best with his or her inherent strengths. It is also unique in
that questionnaire associated with using it to assess a team is non-threatening, and
removes incentives for those taking it to not be honest, or game the questionnaire.

These points were made specifically by the CFOs who shared their own case studies
in assessing their own teams using the GC Index:

1. The assessment was very insightful. It confirmed where I saw members of
my team, and my team was really receptive of the results.

2. Going through the assessment and subsequent discussions have helped
bring my team closer together.

3. A better understanding of how my team members lead has helped me
improve the deployment of the talent on my team.

4. The assessment will help drive the professional development of my
team, facilitates teamwork, where strengths lie, and how I best leverage
each team member to maximize their impact on the success of my team.

5. The assessment has inspired more self-awareness among my team
members, which has improved the dynamic not only within my team, but
beyond as Finance collaborates with other departments.

6. The assessment will offer me valuable insights in bringing new members
onto my team. I can better forecast the “goodness of fit” of a new hire into
my team dynamics.

7. The assessment can also be used to identify the best liaison for the
internal customers of Finance, including HR, Sales and Operations.

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IGNITING GROWTH AS THE CFO:

Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team

A CFO in today’s world needs a high performing team to deliver results across the
enterprise. Understanding the characteristics of your team members and relative team
dynamics that impact the success of your team and company (which need to be in
alignment), can empower a CFO to optimize the impact of the Office of the CFO on
shareholder value. The GC Index offers CFOs a compelling tool to consider what seems to
align well with the challenges facing CFOs in thriving in an environment of
business disruption.

To learn more about cultivating a high performance Finance Team as a CFO read our blog
“ Five Ways to Build a High Performance Team”

2The CG Index® was created by eg.1’s Nathan Ott (CEO) and Dr. John Mervyn-Smith (Chief Psychologist), in collaboration
with Dr. Adrian Furnham, following eg.1’s “THE DNA OF A GAME CHANGER STUDY”. This study focused on the premise that
organizations are neglecting a special group of talent which has the potential to change landscapes for those around them. The
GC Index is the only instrument of its kind that continues to enable organizations to identify these individuals and to do this
accurately and robustly.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 24

CFO EXPECTATIONS MET OR
OPPORTUNITY LOST IN 2016

In Q3, we launched The CFO Alliance regional CFO pulse survey for companies located
in North East and Mid-Atlantic states. The purpose was to get a snap shot into whether
CFOs high expectations for their company’s performance in 2016 were going to be met,
and if not, then why not? This helped us refine the questions for the 2016/2017 CFO
Alliance Mid-Market Executive Compensation Survey. The new survey was designed to
also allow companies to benchmark the design and types of compensation programs
offered, benchmark the components and total compensation of Finance, Marketing and
Sales Leaders. In addition, the survey sought to identify and quantify trends in short-
term and long-term incentive compensation programs, including the use of non-financial
metrics in the design of incentive compensation programs.

KEY SURVEY RESULTS AND INSIGHTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
• Only 23% of CFOs reported that their 2016 expectations of financial
results were still on target with their expectations going into 2016.
• The vast majority of CFOs (68%) reported that top line revenue shortfall
was evident, and that this would be the largest driver of the variance in
initial 2016 projections, and actual 2016 results.
• In terms of why top line revenue would fall short of expectations,
37% reported the main reason would be higher than expected price
sensitivity in relevant markets, and 27% reported the main reason
would be due to not having enough and/or the right human capital
to deliver on expectations.
• Turning to cost pressure on margins, 47% reported that the main driver
for higher than expected costs would be due to human capital and
training costs.
• In looking at business agility, the ability to effectively respond and
react to market conditions that can impact company results, CFOs felt
that their companies were best able to respond to an operational risk
event (failed internal process, people or systems), or from external
events); and least capable to respond to price uncertainty.

If this snapshot is any indication, company results for mid-market in North East and Mid-Atlantic states may fall short
of 2016 projections, and it is critical that companies focus even more on the acquisition and retention of the right
human capital, to capitalize on opportunities, and deliver better results in 2017.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 25

THE 2016/2017 CFO ALLIANCE

Mid-Market Executive Compensation Survey 2016

As previously mentioned, in order to meet optimistic expectations in 2016, CFOs (70%
according to the 2016 CFO Sentiment Study), realized that hiring and retaining the right
human capital would be critical to delivering results in 2016.

The following key results from the 2016/2017 CFO Alliance Mid-Market Executive
Compensation Survey reflect these concerns, and indicate that companies are
beginning to realize that incentive compensation plans need to be adjusted to
align with key drivers of company value which are more and more being driven
by a company’s relative effectiveness in optimizing non-financial assets (customer
satisfaction, customer relationship, company brand reputation, and human capital):

1. 45% of survey respondents added or revised Short-Term Incentive
Compensation in 2016 or plan to do so in 2017:
A. Of companies that have or will make changes in 2017, plan revisions are
being driven by changes relative to the following performance metrics:
• Net income/earnings - 21%
• Individual goals or individual performance rating - 20%
• Revenue - 20%
• Cash Flow - 14%
• Customer Satisfaction - 9%
• Employee satisfaction or engagement - 6%
• Customer retention (customer churn) - 6%
• Return on equity, assets, or investment - 4%
B. The top 3 driving forces behind the changes and/or pending changes:
• Better alignment with key drivers of business performance: 27%
• Company Growth: 23%
• Changes in Company Strategy: 13%

2. 10% of survey respondents added or revised Long Term Incentive
Compensation Plans in 2016 or plan to do so in 2017:
A. The changes & pending changes in Long-Term Incentive Compensation

Programs are being driven by changes relative to the following types
of compensation:
• Performance units - 38%
• Performance shares - 25%
• Stock appreciation rights (SARs) - 18%

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 26

THE 2016/2017 CFO ALLIANCE

Mid-Market Executive Compensation Survey 2016

B. The top 5 driving forces behind the changes and/or pending changes 27
• Adding one or more performance measures - 30%
• Raising performance goals - 30%
• Adding participants to a plan or plans - 30%
• Improving incentive consistency across the organization - 30%
• Increasing discretion in incentive payouts - 25%

The 3rd Quarter CFO Alliance CFO Pulse survey also confirms that CFO concerns
relative to human capital optimization in 2016 are in fact valid. The vast majority of
CFOs (68%) reported that top line revenue shortfall was evident, and 27% reported
the main reason would be due to not having enough and/or the right human
capital to deliver on expectations. Furthermore, 47% reported that the main driver
for higher than expected costs, leading to a shortfall in 2016 company earnings
relative to expectations, would be due to human capital and training costs.
Therefore, going into 2017, it is evident that CFOs need to be even more focused
on how to acquire and retain the best talent, i.e., winning the war for finance talent.

An exclamation point is put on this assertion given the following key results from
2016 CFO Alliance Mid-Market Executive Compensation Survey:

• Only 51% of companies believe they have the proper incentives in
place to optimize customer satisfaction, yet few companies (less than
3%) reported changes or pending changes in short term incentive
compensation relative to customer focused metrics, and only 10%
of companies report any changes to LTI in 2016 or pending
changes in 2017.
• Only 40% of companies believe their companies have the proper
incentives in place to optimize the quality of businesses processes.
• Only 53% of companies believe their companies have the proper
incentives in place to attract and retain the best talent.
• Only 44% of companies believe their companies have the proper
incentives in place to protect and enhance their company’s brand.

To request a copy of the full 2016 CFO Alliance Mid-Market Executive Compensation Survey report, discuss
participation/results, customized survey analysis please contact Greg Wood at [email protected]

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary

BENCHMARKING INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
& L E V E R A G I N G H R A N A LY T I C S

In Q3, as part of our commitment to offer online educational programs, the CFO Alliance
delivered a webinar, Cultivating a High Performance Finance Team: Benchmarking
Incentive Programs & Leveraging HR Analytics. This webinar offered an overview of the
key results of the 2016 CFO Alliance Mid-Market Incentive Compensation survey which
allowed attendees to benchmark the design and types of compensation programs in
addition to the components and total compensation of the Finance, Sales and Marketing
Leaders offered by their companies. The webinar also featured a review of how
companies are using HR analytics to impact financial and operational performance across
the enterprise. The webinar featured panelist Jeff Higgins, CEO of the Human Capital
Management Institute, who has pioneered the development and use of human capital
financial statements to empower human capital optimization.

Among the insights Higgins provided in helping HR develop human capital financial
statements, is that a CFO can help a company:

1. Ask the right questions relative to the optimization of human capital.

A. What is our workforce productivity? Is it improving? How do we rank?
B. Where do our stars come from in Sales? In Operations? In leaders?
C. What is the right size and cost of workforce?
D. Is it better to build, buy or rent talent?
E. What is the ROI of our training investment in the workforce?
F. Which are the strategic critical roles (game winners) vs. operational
critical roles (keep us in the game)?
G. Are leaders effectively managing human capital? Do leaders
correlate to employee engagement, retention and performance?

2. Leverage financial acumen to show gaps in resources and quantify exactly
how people add value, and are truly assets, as opposed to just overhead.

3. Gain a better understanding of key business drivers relative to
human capital.

4. Develop a business case for any HR focused project.

5. Define metrics and leverage analytics to quantify talent.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 28

THE CRYSTAL BALL FOR CFO SUCCESS:

What Matters Most Going into 2017

With 2016 almost in the rear view mirror, the Q4 Roundtable series, The Crystal Ball for
CFO Success: What Matters Most Going into 2017, offered CFOs the opportunity to
reflect on what worked in 2016, what didn’t, and why. CFOs gathered to identify
strategic opportunities that need to be seized upon, and garner insights relative to
how to ensure adequate business agility to effectively react to market dynamics driven
by the navigation of unchartered domestic and global political environments in 2017.

The interactive discussions were framed around addressing three key questions:

1. What factors are driving any variances between 2016 financial
expectations and 2016 results?

A. What are the root causes?
B. How have these variances impacted strategic planning for 2017?
C. What do CFOs need to do different in 2017?
D. What do CFOs need to do better in 2017?

2. What factors will have the greatest expected impact on company
results in 2017?

A. How has the magnitude of key factors changed from going into
2016, to going into 2017?

3. How does a company leverage technology to deliver business agility
relative to financial, operational and systems risk exposures that turn into
reality (i.e., FX rate volatility, a data breach)?

The CFO roundtable in each city in Q4 began with a look back at 2016 by quarter to review and add color to key
take-aways from quarterly CFO Alliance Roundtables and the results of CFO Alliance surveys. This included the
2016 CFO Sentiment Study, Q3 CFO Alliance Regional Pulse Survey, and the 2016/2017 CFO Mid-Market
Compensation Survey.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 29

THE CRYSTAL BALL FOR CFO SUCCESS:

What Matters Most Going into 2017

The theme of the 1st quarter CFO Alliance Roundtables focused on how CFOs can
impact performance across the enterprise by understanding how the CFO can directly
or indirectly impact customer behaviors, and owning the optimization of human capital
in the Office of the CFO.

Following are highlights of what has worked in each area in 2016:
• Delivering on optimistic 2016, expectations began, and will end,

with having the right human capital in place to execute strategic
initiatives. Companies that had the right talent in the right place with
the right skills and resources in 2016 were on target to meet 2016 ex
pectations, unlike those who did not and are going to fall short.
How were they able to do so?

CFOs were engaged in the success of each person in the Finance organization.
• One CFO took the door off of his office to create an open door policy.
• One CFO started every day in the office with a walk around the department
to touch base with staff, to be accessible, and to instill an environment of
departmental accountability and collaboration.
• CFOs focused on communicating that each person has, and is allowed to
have, the “I am “Me” component”, but we all need to be vested in “We”,
especially the CFO.
• CFOs need to embrace the diversity of your team.
• CFOs need to lead their team so each person is true to his or her own authenticity.
• Many focused on instilling clarity on strategy, which was always rational, reasonable,
and achievable by open communications that lead to process alignment.

Impacting performance means being a trusted advisor across the enterprise and that 30
includes the CEO.
• CFOs may get criticized at times for being the Chief Reality Officer, but that

helps a CFO build trust and establishes credibility; so embrace the role and
help others realize the value.
• Trust is not just about the accuracy of numbers/forecast.
• Trust is a two-way street.
• CFOs should endeavor to understand the specific challenges of each leadership
role across departments, and how to help shape the future of the company and
create alignment relative to the company’s strategic vision, and craft
it collaboratively.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary

THE CRYSTAL BALL FOR CFO SUCCESS:

What Matters Most Going into 2017

• Building trust goes beyond the walls of the office; some of the most important
interactions happen outside of the office.
• Let personal connections develop organically and avoid being any thing
but authentic.


The theme of the 2nd quarter CFO Alliance Roundtables focused on risk exposures
CFOs need to own. Discussions focused on financial, customer retention, cyber, &
brand reputation risk exposures. But the main focus of conversations gravitated towards
mitigating cyber risk exposures, and how to create an effective breach response plan
to mitigate the cost of a successful cyber-attack. Therefore, our review in Q4 focused in
these areas.

Lessons learned and what worked for CFOs in 2016 included:

• Employee education is critical. Employees need to know how their actions create
cyber risk exposures, the potential consequences, and the need to be trained to
recognize suspicious e-mails and exactly what to do if they accidently open one
and/or see strange activity within their e-mail account.
• There is no substitute for a data breach response plan. Stories of breaches that
happened were shared, and the fact that the actions were reported in a timely
way, relative to when breaches surfaced. In one case, a company that has a “roach
motel” approach in that someone may get in, but no data gets out, detected
unlawful system access where a party sat and waited for several months. Then once
they tried to act and extract data, no data got out.
• Good things can happen from a data breach. Relative to the Sony data breach,
company policy dictated a temporary suspension of e-mails and this really
improved the culture as people needed to pick up the phone or meet face to
face. This is an exercise all companies should consider; perhaps a day without
e-mail every so often?

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 31

THE CRYSTAL BALL FOR CFO SUCCESS:

What Matters Most Going into 2017

The theme of the 3rd quarter CFO Alliance Roundtables focused on how to ignite 32
Growth as the CFO by cultivating a high performance Finance team. Success in this area
is driven by how well a CFO identifies the skills that the Finance team needs to acquire
and/or upgrade to foster innovation and company growth. Also, how effectively a CFO
can collaborate with HR to design programs that develop and reinforce key skills by
delivering the right employee experience at your company. In doing so, this optimizes
the productivity of the Finance team by positively impacting the customer experience.

Lessons learned and what worked for CFOs in 2016 included:

• Starting each and every day in the office with a walk around each morning to
touch base with staff to be accessible instills an environment of departmental
accountability and collaboration.
• Focus on optimizing the human capital, and just focus on the cost. A cost/benefit
analysis is critical. Relative to the benefits of investing in human capital, how
did investment in talent impact performance, and help us reach or exceed
our goals? How is that communicated, given that it is not captured in financial
statements unless we look at human capital financial statements?
• CFOs should not define or restrict the career trajectory of anyone in Finance to be
linear. They need to look at what is best for the company, and the path for a future
CFO may well involve a position or positions outside of the office of the CFO.
• CFOs would do well to create a vertical reporting environment, even if a horizontal
reporting structure is in place.
• Each Finance team needs to “step up” and have a broader view than traditional
Finance; they need to have the skill and the will.
• Some CFOs recognized that they had not been active enough in motivating the
talent they have and needed to master the art of taking people out of their
comfort zones.
• Teach Finance members to “know what they don’t know”, and not be over
confident. Be willing to stop and re-evaluate what it takes to execute effectively
and reach goals. The CFO needs to mitigate the fear of failure and nurture
a culture of continuous improvement which involves trial and error.
• Honest communication between Finance team members up and down the org
chart is critical.
• Engage millenials who are naturally drawn to the CFOs as they are the keepers
of data and technology. CFOs need to leverage this opportunity to foster
human capital optimization.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary

THE CRYSTAL BALL FOR CFO SUCCESS:

What Matters Most Going into 2017

• Teach Finance team members how to identify and help train an analytics guru
within each department outside of Finance to leverage a culture of data-based
decision making across the enterprise.

Our CFO Roundtable in DC had a unique element of what we called “Heard on the
Hill” during which some incredibly valuable insights were shared regarding what
could be expected relative to how the incoming administration would do business,
and potentially impact domestic and global markets.

These insights included the following:

• Change is coming relative to policy and the manner in which things are done, as
the new administration works to fuse Government and the “business
experience”of the president elect, his cabinet, and chief advisors.
• Things are going to be much more transactional. That being said, “Campaign in
poetry, but you govern in prose”, so the administration will need to focus on
qhow to align rhetoric with outcomes.
• Business agility will be more critical now more than ever.
• The Democrats have 23 Senate seats in play in 2018 so they will need to wield
any administrative might very carefully.
• The new administration will mean a period of deal making, so eyes and ears in
Washington are more important than ever. “If you are not at the table, then you
are on the menu”.
• Republicans will be the conductors, but they will need to deal with plenty of
political friction given the divide within their own party, and this means even
more inherent barriers to action.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 33

2017: A YEAR OF MANY CHALLENGES,
BUT GREAT OPPORTUNITY

Going into 2016 CFOs had high expectations relative delivering top line growth T
and bottom line results. The CFO Alliance 3rd Quarter Pulse survey results and CFO
Alliance Q4 CFO Roundtables offer indicators that 2016 results may not live up to these
expectations. Key factors inhibiting top line revenue growth in 2016 are price sensitivity
and human capital shortcomings in terms of intellectual capacity and deployment
efficiency. Bottom line pressures are (and have been) fueled by input price volatility and
higher than expected human capital acquisition and training costs. Financial results in
2016 many not live up to CFO expectations, and given the headwinds created by market
volatility driven by uncharted political waters, we look for CFO expectations going into
2017 to be less optimistic than CFO expectations going into 2016. However, CFOs
learned valuable lessons in 2016. Many CFOs were focused in the right areas to optimize
performance across the enterprise, and those who invest even more on impacting
employee performance and impacting the breadth and quality of customer relationships
in 2017 will navigate their companies through uncharted political waters, into the
headwinds of market volatility to convert challenging and dynamic market conditions
into sustainable market leadership.

JOIN US FOR OUR 2017 ROUNDTABLE SERIES: A
Quarter 1- Meeting Challenges & Capitalizing on Opportunities in 2017: A Fireside
Chat with a Private Equity CFO
Join C-Suite Executives, CFO Alliance Members, and colleagues as we gather to discuss,
dissect and debate the results of our 2017 CFO Sentiment Study.

1/24 - NEW YORK
1/26 - PHILADELPHIA
2/1 - ORANGE COUNTY
2/9 - WASHINGTON DC
2/16 - DENVER
3/15 - CHICAGO

Quarter 2 - Owning the Evolving Role of the CFO in Human Capital Optimization
Quarter 3 - Managing Risk in Unchartered Waters: Financial, Geo-Political, Cyber, Regulations
Quarter 4 - The Crystal Ball for CFO Success: What Matters Most Going into 2018

View all events and register here: https://thecfoalliance.org/events/upcoming.

TA20HL1L6EIRAoCuNnFdCOtaEble Series Summary 34