I will be in Boston this week to attend the CFO Leadership Council’s Spring Conference. As the CFO role continues to rapidly change and expand in 2024, below are six questions I am seeking answers to while I’m in Beantown.
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1. How are CFOs thinking about corporate finance’s talent issues?
The talent issues around finance and accounting continue to remain a thorn in the side of CFOs. With possible changes to the CPA credentials, the plummeting value of higher education and a younger generation that views work ethic much differently than their older counterparts, I am curious to hear how finance leaders envision the future makeup of experience within their teams.
2. What trends impact CFOs the most?
Whether they’re labor trends, technology trends, economic trends both domestic and globally or political trends; I’m interested to find out which layers of the economy finance leaders are keeping a close eye on as it relates to their work to close out the year.
3. Is the AI hype still strong?
Recent CFO events from both networking groups and media publications have continued to stress the importance of AI, despite lots of data saying finance leaders are pumping the brakes on the technology. When it comes to AI and GenAI’s hype, is it still as strong as it’s been at previous events, or are we now somewhere in between the slope of enlightenment and the plateau of productivity?
4. How have personal politics impacted companies?
Some of the world’s largest and most reputable employers have seen their workplaces being used to promote political ideologies among their employees. I’m curious to hear if CFOs and their leaders talk about this, and would a clear political ideology portrayed on social media — like protest participation for example — deter a finance leader from hiring someone?
5. How and where are CFOs prioritizing their inter-organizational collaboration efforts?
Finance leaders are constantly being encouraged to collaborate with other parts of the company outside of normal work flows. For leaders in companies of all sizes — but especially large ones — I am interested in learning about how finance leaders kick off and drive their collaboration efforts within their own companies.
6. Is DEI as a term dead?
Now that light has been shined on the legal implications around questionable diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies being implemented by many businesses, companies and colleges quietly joined each other on the bandwagon of scaling back DEI policies and wording in 2024. Are the consequences of poor DEI policies being discussed among leadership teams when discussing legal risks, and how does a company properly correct an illegal DEI policy without acknowledging previous discrimination and/or bias on their behalf?