The role of the CFO has stretched far beyond reporting the numbers. Today, finance leaders are increasingly part of conversations about technology, operations, people and how change happens across the business.
But stepping beyond finance doesn’t mean leaving the fundamentals behind.
That was one of the things that stood out in my conversation with Katy Bruce, CFO at UCL Ventures, for the latest episode of Incremental Edge.
Katy’s approach starts with getting the foundations right: reliable numbers, useful data and a finance function the wider business can trust. From there, the role becomes much broader. It’s about using that credibility to get involved, connect different parts of the organisation and help turn ideas into change.
And sometimes, as Katy puts it, that means being prepared to “actively interfere” in projects that don’t traditionally sit within finance.
Strong foundations give you permission to do more
There’s sometimes a temptation to talk about the changing CFO role as though finance itself is becoming less important.
I took almost the opposite message from my conversation with Katy.
Knowing the fundamentals inside out is what gives a CFO credibility. If you understand your numbers, have confidence in your data and can provide the business with useful information at the right time, you create the space to have different conversations.
Katy gives a great example from her own finance team. When she joined UCLB, month-end could take around a month to close. The team now routinely closes on working day four or five.
Technology helped make that possible, but putting the tools in place wasn’t enough. The team also had to change behaviours, priorities and ways of working.
That distinction matters.
Technology can make a better way of working possible. People are the ones who make it happen.
Don’t do change to people
One of the strongest moments in our conversation came when Katy talked about bringing her finance team through change.
She didn’t want change to be done to them. She wanted them to participate in it.
That meant understanding individuals, their appetite for change and what would make the new way of working better for each of them.
It’s a simple idea, but one that’s easy to overlook when there’s pressure to deliver a project or implement a new system.
We often focus on the destination of change: the new system, the improved process, the better data. But getting there means bringing people with you.
For leaders, that might mean spending more time listening before deciding. It might mean involving the people doing the job in designing the solution. Or it might simply mean recognising that different people need different reasons to get behind the same change.
None of those actions are particularly dramatic. Together, they can determine whether change sticks.
The CFO has a view across the business
What also comes through strongly in Katy’s story is just how naturally her role now stretches into areas that wouldn’t traditionally have been considered finance.
At one point, we talk about UCL’s work around CRM and workflow technology. Katy jokes that she isn’t running the project, but is “actively interfering in it”.
There’s a serious point underneath that.
Finance often has visibility across an organisation that individual functions don’t. CFOs can see where processes connect, where information needs to flow and where decisions in one area have consequences somewhere else.
That makes the CFO valuable in conversations about operations, technology and wider business change, not simply the person responsible for approving the investment.
And it reflects something I see increasingly in leadership teams: the most useful contribution you can make isn’t always determined by the function written on your job title.
Credibility first. Then get involved.
Towards the end of our conversation, I asked Katy what someone listening could do to make progress themselves.
Her answer brings the episode together.
First, know your foundations. Know your facts and figures and build that personal credibility.
Then get involved.
Katy’s wording is rather better: “bother people”. Ask to join the project. Think about what you can contribute. Have the confidence and tenacity to put yourself into conversations outside your immediate remit.
Becoming a more strategic leader doesn’t have to start with a new role, a restructure or a huge transformation programme.
It can start by getting the basics right. Building trust. Putting your hand up. Joining a conversation you wouldn’t normally be part of. Understanding another part of the business a little better.
Do that consistently and your contribution starts to broaden.
For me, that’s the incremental edge in Katy’s story: master your own function, then use that foundation to make a difference beyond it.
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