To tackle the challenge of balancing rising costs and falling demand, finance leaders must protect their bottom line without losing sight of long-term strategic and investment goals.
At our latest CFO forum, Head of Operational Consulting, Oliver Bridge, and Business Consulting Associate Director, Galyna Tkalenko, shared some effective approaches businesses are taking to protect their profitability and common traps to avoid.
They were then joined by three experienced finance leaders, who shared their recent experiences and insights on protecting the bottom line in their businesses.
The CFO panel
- Sally McKone, CFO, Focusrite PLC
- Jonny Pervin, Corporate Development Director, SYNETIQ
- Ciara Allan, CFO, Woven
Watch the recording for insight on:
- reviewing your pricing strategies to reflect changes in the market and economy
- understanding your value drivers and identifying which costs to cut
- improving your data and analysis to make bolder decisions more safely.
Download a copy of the presentation slides
Key takeaways from finance leaders
- “We will continue to invest in areas that support our strategy and save us money in the long run because we don’t want short-term pressure to make us lose sight of our long-term aims. That will include automation, attracting and retaining talent, and looking to grow into new markets internationally.”
- “We need to have an honest and open dialogue with customers about how cost increases are impacting us. This helps us to work together to get them what they want, without us taking a significant margin hit.”
- “Data is important, but for it to help us make bold decisions, we need the tools and skills to convert it into insight that is relevant to our business and aligns with our strategy.”
- “To manage wage inflation and recruitment costs, we are looking to review ;our people strategy. This could include looking into apprenticeships, focusing on developing home-grown talent and reviewing the benefits package we offer.”
- “Having contingency plans has been key to our ability to make agile decisions, both when things go south and when they go well. If sales in one area increase quickly, we need a plan in place to capitalise on that to offset reduced margins elsewhere.”
- “We want to move to a more energy-efficient infrastructure that will both save us money and help reduce our carbon footprint. That includes looking into things like solar panels, electric charging and launching an electric car scheme for staff.”
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