Turning data into commercial insight
If you’re an aspiring CFO, you might be asking, “What are technical skills in finance that I need to secure the top job?”
According to Sally Keller, early experiences with technology can drive future career directions. Looking back on her own journey, Sally says technology played an “absolutely critical” role in her first CFO role at Johnson and Johnson.
She says, “The CEO and I were flying blind - we had no financial information, no operational information, no KPIs. The team coming through finance had forgotten who their customer was.”
Reflecting on the process of building BI dashboards and daily performance reports, Sally explains how “game-changing” these tools were for her as a CFO, and for the wider business.
“After engaging a consultant to build the system, it became quite clear who in the business was doing well, and who were our best and most important customers. Then we could package up certain things, and that's how we won business.”
“We had to reorganise the sales force into a customer-facing, rather than product-facing, model. It was a huge change, and that's part of the reason why I was put into that role,” says Sally.
Audience members posed the question, “Is it my job as a CFO to make sure that I'm on top of the latest systems?”
Sally’s answer was, “not necessarily”.
“I often get asked, ‘What are technical skills in finance that are non-negotiable for a CFO?’ Sure, it’s good to be abreast of new and emerging systems; however, it’s knowing how to use them that counts.”
“Ultimately, it’s my job to make sure that the system I'm using is on top of the latest rules and regulations, so that, from a liability standpoint, the directors of the company I am working for are covered.”
Sally emphasises that, along with navigating technology, modern CFOs must interpret data to tell the “so what” behind the numbers.
“Financial data cannot truly be explained without operational data. Drilling down into operational data reveals what's happening behind the financial numbers,” she says.
“BI tools are fabulous, but you have to manage that data. It’s not a set-and-forget - you have to make sure of the data integrity.”
To that end, Sally encourages all aspiring CFO’s to have some competency with BI tools. In her words, “it’s a must”.
“You definitely need to know how to use BI. If you don't know how to use it, you should take some courses,” says Sally.
Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to technology and commercial insights. As Sally reiterated, it can be the sign of a truly competent CFO.
Sally says, “As an aspiring CFO, it’s important to understand the value that future employers are likely to place on your ability to navigate technology and make sense of data. To put it simply, it’s crucial.”
“I’ve seen firsthand how these capabilities feed into business growth. Reflecting on my own career journey, I know that these skills allowed me to make smarter, sharper choices for my businesses. I was able to be agile, make data-driven decisions, and boost forecasting accuracy. I certainly don’t think my trajectory would have been the same without these fundamental skills.”
Building a data-first finance function beyond Excel
If you think exceeding at Excel is your ticket to a CFO role, think again.
As all panellists agreed, building a data-first finance beyond Excel is the true marker of a results-oriented CFO.
As Tim explained, “anyone can look at a P&L and say it's not performing or it's performing. But our job is the ‘so what’.”
“A strong financial professional stands out by stitching together discrete pieces of information to tell a story around the data. From there, points can be pulled out to help management understand what needs to happen to get a poorer performing business into the top performing cohort.”
Good-quality reporting is essential, and it’s something all the panellists encouraged aspiring CFOs to pursue.
Tim says, “The first step in this process is to engage with the business, be an active listener, and seek to understand what the business needs to join the dots. Talk to your customer base, understand what information they need to really tell that story."
“The days of just providing a P&L with variance analysis are gone. You've got to actively seek and understand, and be curious. That's where you're adding real value to the business.”
BI tools such as Power BI and Cognos are instrumental in creating a data-first finance function.
As Sally stressed, it’s something that can sharpen an aspiring CFO’s competitive edge.
“Put it this way, if I were hiring a CFO, I would prioritise a candidate with Power BI skills. If I had someone saying, ‘I've done this before, I can build it, or I can outsource it and manage it,’ that would give me confidence that I'll be able to get my efficiency metrics so that I can see what's happening within the business.”
Kausalia reflected on her experience with optimising the reporting in her business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She says, “When COVID happened, we started going into digital. The business expanded in a massive way, and we didn’t have data warehousing or a BI stream. We didn’t have the budget for it because it was a time when aged care was struggling.”
With the help of the Robert Half team, Kausalia was able to find the right professional to execute the business needs within her budget.
“I told the Robert Half team I was looking for someone young and driven – someone who we could mould and work with. We ended up finding a specialist who didn’t have a degree, but who was able to build a Power BI using an Excel report from our accountant. This has formed the Power BI suite of reporting that we still use today,” Kausalia says.
While technology can seem overwhelming, it’s important to be realistic about what is required of CFOs.
Many aspiring CFOs often assume that they need to be tech experts, knowing everything from coding to cybersecurity.
Pascale says this is not the case.
“Sure, technology has become central to the CFO role (think ERP projects, dashboards and AI), but being a tech expert won’t necessarily make you a better CFO.”
“Ultimately, the role centres on strategic financial leadership rather than technical execution. So, while you don’t need coding skills, you must understand data integrity, governance, and how systems interconnect,” Pascale says.
“As I always tell my clients, success isn’t about being the most technical person in the room. It’s about knowing how to lead change and make data meaningful.”
