CFO roles will expand, create more value in 2025

2025 is shaping up to be a year of rapid change for CFOs across their accounting and finance departments. Continuing talent challenges, increasingly dangerous cyberthreats, renewed focus on ROI and the rise of AI will all influence — and permanently change — the way CFOs work and how they drive value for their organizations. 

IBM's 2024 CFO Survey found that the top 9% of CFOs in terms of performance were significantly more engaged than the average in activities including cybersecurity, brand reputation, enterprise strategy and execution, technology and talent. Because of the connection between performance and wider involvement, the biggest trend we expect to affect CFOs in 2025 is the need to consider and contribute to activities across the organization. 

In some cases, this engagement may look like a convergence or overlap between the roles of CFO and COO. CFOs who haven't already forged working partnerships across their companies may want to start by making closer connections to the CIO or CTO for the biggest early wins. For example, 65% of CFOs who participated in the CFO survey said, "Their organization is under pressure to accelerate ROI across their technology portfolio," but just a third said finance and technology strategize together early in the IT planning process. 

The CFO embraces data-driven storytelling

To help different departments improve their ROI, CFOs increasingly need storytelling skills to craft narratives based on financial data. This is important for conveying to other decision-makers how they can create value in a way that resonates with their department's goals and the company's goals. If leaders in other areas of the business can understand the how and the why behind the CFO's budget and purchasing input, they're more likely to factor that input into their decisions and strategies. 

AI continues to reshape accounting and finance functions

In 2024, only 34% of finance departments had implemented standard AI use cases, and just 11% were using generative AI. Those numbers will almost certainly grow in 2025, as more organizations implement use cases like automating accounts payable, accounts receivable, and monthly closing tasks, so that people can shift their time to value-added work. 

More organizations may also adopt AI-powered forecasting and budgeting, so these become real-time processes rather than static activities that only get updated once a year. Challenges for finance and accounting leaders who want to leverage AI include standardizing data for AI models and monitoring the AI model's output for accuracy. 

Talent shortages will require new strategies

A dwindling pipeline of accounting graduates and employees' increasing desire for better work-life balance will force CFOs and accounting managers to find new ways to get the work done. Without the option to simply hire more full-time employees or to expect people to work 80-hour weeks, automating basic tasks with AI may allow organizations to get the same amount of work done with fewer employees. The use of outsourced talent will also continue to grow in 2025, as smaller companies seek people to handle their workloads and larger companies use outsourcing strategically.

Even the CFO role can be outsourced. The use of fractional CFOs — contract CFO talent that works part-time for multiple clients — can help companies maintain stability while they search for a permanent CFO or cover for a CFO who's on leave. Smaller companies and early-stage startups that don't need a full-time CFO can benefit from working with a fractional CFO to set strategy and focus on value creation. This kind of temporary leadership role has grown by 57% since 2020 and is likely to keep growing as more companies discover the benefits of accessing CFO expertise without a full-time commitment. 

Cybersecurity becomes a CFO concern

CFO collaboration with security will be increasingly important in 2025 because of the rise in AI-enabled security threats. These include cyberattacks on organizations' networks to steal data or disrupt operations, email attacks designed to steal funds or employee network credentials, and brand-impersonation attacks on customers that can inflict heavy damage on brand reputation and trust. 

The potential for financial losses to theft, reputational damage, compliance penalties and post-attack recovery gives CFOs an urgent need to collaborate with IT leaders on their organizations' security efforts. For example, the average cost of a data breach in 2024 was $4.88 million, the highest figure yet. But only a third of midmarket organizations put the CFO in charge of cybersecurity budgets in early 2024. As attacks get more expensive, look for more companies to loop in the CFO on cybersecurity investment decisions or change how CFOs staff and utilize different team members.

These skills will matter more in 2025

People in accounting and finance will need some new skills to make the most of the technology, security and strategy trends we expect to see in 2025. One area where almost everyone needs to upskill is data literacy, to support AI initiatives. Employees don't need to become data scientists in addition to accountants or finance leaders, but everyone in the organization needs to understand how to look at data, spot anomalies and analyze them.

Soft skills will matter even more. Effective collaboration, storytelling and relationship-building skills can help everyone, especially CFOs who may be called on to work with a growing number of other leaders and groups within their business. 

Strengthening data literacy and interpersonal skills are ways to build another critical skill for 2025, which is staying adaptable to change. Flexibility is a requirement in today's accounting and finance landscape, which is changing faster than ever, as these trends indicate. CFOs and accounting professionals who can keep up will be in the best position to create value for their organizations in 2025.