The finance leader role changed significantly during the 1990s and the four roles of the CFO quickly emerged into significant areas of responsibility.
Finance leaders suddenly become much more involved in strategic initiatives such as supporting key decisions, driving M&A processes and managing stakeholders, whilst also supporting change management through budgeting, cash forecasting and implementing procedures.
Guardian responsibilities increased significantly due to adopting a monthly financial close, maintaining risk registers and new regulatory reporting requirements. The Operator role grew in importance and finance leaders started to become more involved in the selection of systems, implementing shared services and supporting the HR function.
By the year 2000, finance leaders were busy across all four roles and the Guardian/Operations responsibilities consumed around 70% of the finance leader’s time. The following diagram illustrates the four emerging roles of the CFO and some examples of typical responsibilities by the year 2000: