The CFO Strategic Role: Beyond Targets and Scorecards

Finance leaders have long been cast as the business's yardstick—setting targets, measuring performance, and enforcing accountability when results fall short. But the role is changing. SAP Concur CFO Insights 2026 research found that 57% of CEOs now see the CFO as their strategic partner, while 83% expect finance to actively contribute to business growth — yet only 67% say it currently does.

How Can Finance Leaders Move from Measurement to Coaching?

Moving beyond measurement means taking an active role in how targets are set and delivered. Finance leaders have a cross-functional vantage point spanning product, sales, operations, and HR — and that perspective separates simply keeping a scorecard from the coaching role finance now needs to play.

Three shifts define this evolution:

Make target-setting a strategic conversation.

Providing a credible range — rather than a fixed number — and explaining the commercial rationale behind each goal gives business functions ownership over the route to delivery. As Sharon Naidoo, CFO for UK and Europe at TransUnion, puts it: "If you give people a range to work with rather than prescribing a set target, then they feel they've got a seat at the table."

Stay close enough to help before performance slips.

By maintaining regular communication with business functions, finance leaders can spot problems early and adjust tactics in real time—acting less like a post-match analyst and more like an in-game coach who doesn't wait until the opposition has scored to make a change.

Know when to apply the yardstick.

The coaching role doesn't mean supporting every initiative regardless of outcome. When an investment no longer makes commercial sense, finance needs to reallocate resources decisively. SAP Concur CFO Pulse Survey 2026 found that 66% of finance leaders are protecting AI and automation spending even as conditions deteriorate — a signal that discipline and strategic support must coexist.

The latest SAP Concur CFO Insights examines how finance leaders across industries are navigating this shift—from target-setting to coaching, from reporting to contributing—while maintaining the financial rigor the business depends on. Professionals can move between coaching and enforcement as circumstances demand.

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