8September 2017Beyond the Numbers: The CFO as a Cultural Change AgentBy Jeffrey Melnick, CFO, EisnerAmperThe idea of the traditional role of a CFO as purely a number-cruncher is as antiquated as pay phones and carbon paper. In fact, there should be little that is outside the lane of today's CFO. A large part of this expansive view entails the ability of CFOs to drive changes to organizational culture in order to increase operational effectiveness across the entire firm. How can this transformation be achieved? It is through leadership and implementing leading-edge technology, of course. A key goal at a professional services firm is to develop a virtuous cycle of success where the adoption of technology decreases staff friction points, which improves the employee experience,leaving their focus on helping to make our clients more successful. The CFO can be instrumental by helping overcome technology bias at an organization that may have developed over many years. But what supernatural power does the CFO have to cause this sea change? He or she can use both quantitative and qualitative metrics to show leadership­as well as stakeholders in IT, HR, marketing and practice leaders­that technology can be a powerful collaborative tool creating this virtuous cycle of success. A Journey Begins with the First StepI followed four basics tenets as we implemented technology across the firm­mobile, easy to use, secure and transformational. My first step toward reshaping the corporate culture at EisnerAmper regarding technology began by creating a partner reporting system and dashboard to visualize the client data for which the partners are responsible. Next came mobile time recording, followed by better utilization of existing tools.As the journey progressed, I tried a simple, but effective exercise. I charged In My OpinionJeffrey Melnick
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