How executive teams can align around finance’s role, turn financial insight into action and strengthen its contribution to value creation.
Finance’s role in a PE-backed company extends well beyond reporting. Yet finance leaders and their C-suite colleagues do not always see the function’s strategic contribution the same way.
Recent survey data from PrivateEquityCXO’s 57,000-member executive community revealed meaningful differences in how finance leaders and non-finance executives assess finance’s objectives, influence and ability to drive value creation.
That gap is not necessarily evidence of underperformance. It may reflect different vantage points and unspoken expectations about where finance should lead, which decisions it should influence and how its impact should show up across the business. Closing the gap requires the leadership team to define those expectations together.
Define What Strategic Partnership Means for Finance
58.3% of finance leaders described their function as a full business partner working across the organization to create value. But among non-finance leaders:
- 53.8% said finance primarily provides strong reporting focused on a timely close and related insights
- 23.1% said finance provides strategic support to select business functions
- 23.1% viewed finance as a full business partner across the organization
These responses may reflect differences in visibility as much as differences in performance. Finance leaders see the full scope of their team’s w...