Last year, our Co-President and CFO Robynne Sisco authored an article on how finance leaders can prepare for uncertainty. Given these challenging times and the high level of uncertainty about the full impact of COVID-19, we thought it would be helpful to share her advice again, with a few updates for the current environment.
The global landscape is changing faster than ever, impacted by escalating trade conflicts, political unrest, ongoing policy and regulatory changes, and shifting economic forecasts.
With so many unknowns on the horizon, it can be very challenging for organizations to plan ahead. One of the biggest questions for many CFOs is: How do we best prepare our companies for the unexpected?
I believe two things are critical: agility and transparency.
Agility
In 2018, I wrote about the importance of being agile against the backdrop of so much change. But at that time, many changes were known, such as impending tax laws and accounting standards. In 2019, we don’t have the luxury of knowing what’s going to happen on many fronts. Agility has become a necessity.
For finance teams, being agile means having the ability to plan—and re-plan continuously as events change. For example, if you are a computer hardware company and the price of imported components goes up, finance needs to be able to quickly assess the impact to the business, execute on decisions made by the business, analyze the results, and then repeat.
In the current environment, planning has taken on new urgency. Being able to quickly model different scenarios gives management teams the ability to have informed discussions about trade-offs, and make the best decision.
Finance teams also need the systems, processes, and resources to quickly execute on decisions. How long does it take you to make changes once a decision is made? Are there process changes you can make to be more agile and move more quickly? I strongly encourage companies to ensure you’re getting the most out of your technology investments to help navigate uncertainty.