SAP Concur says CFOs need strategic & people skills

SAP Concur has outlined three areas where chief financial officers need further development before moving into chief executive roles, based on findings from its latest CFO Insights Survey.

The survey found that 87% of chief executive officers and managing directors believe their finance leader could become chief executive in future. However, 69% said those executives still need to build skills before taking the top job.

The three areas identified were strategic leadership, people leadership and commercial insight, reflecting broader expectations for finance heads as their remit expands beyond financial control.

Strategic focus

Strategic leadership ranked as the biggest area for development, cited by 61% of chief executive officers and managing directors. The findings suggest finance leaders are increasingly expected to influence overall business direction, rather than focus only on stewardship and reporting.

More than half of respondents (57%) said the chief financial officer is now acting more as a strategic partner to the chief executive. Strategic planning was named by 83% of chief executives as the area where finance should contribute most to business growth, while 69% want chief financial officers to propose new business models that support long-term success.

"If finance chiefs want to transition from setting the financial agenda to shaping the overall direction of the enterprise, they'll need to strengthen their ability to make strategically sound decisions about business priorities, trade-offs and timing," Jonathan Beeby, Managing Director, SAP Concur Australia and New Zealand, said.

The findings come amid elevated global chief executive turnover, with planned succession accounting for a large share of departures and internal candidates often stepping into the role from other senior business functions.

Leadership gap

People leadership was the second-most-frequently cited gap, identified by 54% of respondents. The results point to lingering doubts among some senior leaders about whether finance chiefs can move from running a specialist function to leading an entire organisation.

"Business leaders see the jump from managing a ringfenced finance team to leading an entire organisation as a hurdle for finance chiefs to overcome. This lack of confidence in CFOs could be due to how they perceive the head of finance's ability to run their own department," said Beeby.

Talent issues within finance appear to be part of that concern. Nearly a quarter of chief executives said finance teams face talent and skills shortages that affect performance, while 86% of chief financial officers reported difficulty attracting or retaining staff with hybrid finance and technology skills.

That places greater weight on the chief financial officer's role as a team builder and manager, particularly as finance departments rely more heavily on digital systems, analytics and cross-functional work.

"Finance chiefs should enhance department-level recruitment, upskilling, and mentorship programs to present a proof of concept of their wider people leadership capabilities to CEOs and MDs. This would illustrate that CFOs can build a high-performing culture that can be replicated across the wider business, positioning them as the natural successor to the CEO," Beeby said.

The survey also pointed to softer organisational skills that remain relevant to succession discussions. Communication was cited by 36% of respondents as an area needing development, while 32% pointed to visibility across the wider business.

Commercial reach

Commercial or customer insight ranked third, with 50% of business leaders saying this was an area chief financial officers need to strengthen. The result suggests boards and senior executives want finance leaders who can engage more directly with revenue drivers and customer behaviour.

Beeby said, "How the CFO works with customers, boards, investors, and partners, and accurately reports on revenue, matters just as much as internal performance management."

The survey indicates that traditional finance disciplines remain important, but are no longer seen as sufficient on their own for a future chief executive. Risk management and cost efficiency were each identified as priorities that should support growth, by 77% and 78% of respondents, respectively.

Yet only 52% said risk management is actually contributing to company growth, and 51% said the same of cost efficiency. That gap between expectation and outcome points to pressure on finance leaders to translate core controls into broader commercial results.

"To support business leaders as needed, CFOs will need to deliver substantive insights on revenue, costs, and growth opportunities both internally and externally. This is where data and analytics upskilling can unlock new opportunities for forecasting, scenario planning, and cost control," said Beeby.

Overall, the survey suggests the finance function is moving closer to the centre of corporate strategy as succession expectations rise. For chief financial officers seen as potential chief executives, the path to the top appears to depend less on technical finance strength alone and more on proving they can lead people, shape strategy and understand the commercial engine of the business.