Changing the Perception of Finance

One of the biggest challenges faced by finance teams is to shake off the past reputation of finance being seen as an administrative function.

Traditional finance functions spent the majority of their time reporting transactions, delivering compliance and implementing financial discipline. Whilst these are all critical components of a successful company, many finance functions struggled to showcase how they were delivering real value to the shareholders.

During this workshop, GrowCFO’s lead professional mentor and experienced CFO Catherine Clark explores the main reasons why finance teams suffer from a poor reputation and what you can do differently to improve it going forward. This is essential for everybody within your team and impacts on your overall ability to help deliver your company’s business plan.

You should watch this if you are:

A finance leader looking to transform perception and lead strategic financial evolution.
Finance team members embracing roles and keen to contribute more to strategic financial vision.
CEOs who wish to leverage finance as a strategic powerhouse for organizational success.

Workshop Recording

What 100 CFOs Reveal About the Real Cost of AI Compute

September 10, 2026 No Comments

In this Cloud Capital and GrowCFO session, Eric Keating, Kevin Appleby and Colman Stephenson unpack new research from 100 CFOs on the real cost of AI compute. They show how AI and cloud infrastructure are reshaping the P&L, why AI‑native businesses are operating with lower gross margins, and how joint finance–engineering ownership, better cost classification and driver‑based modelling can restore visibility, predictability and control.

FreeNow Case Study: How to gain visibility and control over your AP process with Yooz AI

August 27, 2026 No Comments

This case study shows how FreeNow used Yooz AI to centralize AP across 10 countries in six months, cutting invoice cycles from weeks to days and reducing processing costs by up to 80%. It offers a practical roadmap for finance leaders seeking greater visibility, control, and scalability in their AP operations

Can Finance Teams Trust AI? How To Balance Innovation and Data Security

July 31, 2026 No Comments

Can finance teams really trust AI with sensitive financial data? In this session, leaders from AccountsIQ and GrowCFO explore how to harness AI for better insight and efficiency while putting the right controls, governance, and security in place.

How Leading Finance Teams Are Reducing Planning Cycles From Days to Seconds

June 11, 2026 No Comments

Join Nico Botes and Sunelle Botha from Montego Pet Nutrition, Eric Reyhle from Acterys, and Kevin Appleby from GrowCFO to discover how leading finance teams are cutting planning cycles from days to seconds. In this customer-led session, you’ll see how they replaced spreadsheet chaos with a single version of the truth, enabled real-time scenario modelling, and built AI-ready foundations for modern planning and forecasting using Microsoft Fabric, Power BI and Acterys.

AI Masterclass: Practical uses of Claude for finance leaders

April 29, 2026 No Comments

Finance leaders don’t need more AI theory – they need results. In this practical masterclass, Pac O’Shea and Kevin Appleby show how to use Claude as a hands-on finance assistant for P&L insights, sharper board packs, and fast scenario models. Walk away with prompts, templates, and repeatable workflows you can apply in your finance team immediately.

What It Takes to Scale Through Acquisition

April 15, 2026 No Comments

Scaling through acquisition can double the size of your business—but only if your finance systems, controls and culture keep up. In this session, Tim O’Reilly, Ed Mortimer and Kevin Appleby share how Guild Garage Group used Sage Intacct, a unified tech stack and disciplined capital allocation to grow from 0 to 28 partners and $300m in revenue, while staying in control of cash, risk and performance.