Talent and tech investment top the list of CFO priorities for the year ahead

The vast majority of chief financial officers (CFOs) say worsening macroeconomic conditions will have no effect on planned digital transformation projects in their departments. But the demand for skilled workers to mine insight from new data streams has left senior finance leaders embroiled in a war for talent that is keeping them awake at night.

That’s according to a new study of senior financial leaders carried out by Tradeshift in partnership with leading industry publication CFO Dive. Almost half of CFOs (45%) said that talent acquisition and retention was their chief worry for the rest of the year and beyond. The increased cost of goods and services (42%) and technology adoption (39%) also featured highly on their list of concerns.

As their role continues to evolve, the vast majority of CFOs recognise the critical role that technology can play in providing data and insight to support strategic decision-making. Three-quarters (74%) of respondents said that macroeconomic pressures had led them to continue to prioritise technology investment, with 38% saying they plan to increase technology investments by up to a quarter over the coming year.

But respondents were also quick to point out that any investment in technology must be matched by an equal investment in human talent capable of extracting value from new data sets. This report looks deeper into the pressures and priorities CFOs face at a time of rapid change — in the world, in the workplace, and in the CFO role itself.