Financial Leadership Summit future-proofs CFOs

Ireland’s Financial Leadership summit is back. Now in its fourth year, this industry-leading event takes place in the Radisson Blu, Golden Lane, Dublin 8, on September 22nd. It features a packed line-up of business leaders addressing the theme: Next-Generation Finance: Future-Proofing CFOs.

Its timing couldn’t be better. In a fast-changing world, the most pressing challenge facing chief financial officers is how to keep ahead of what is coming next and ensure their organisation is in a position to capitalise on it.

Organisations increasingly rely on the financial and strategic prowess of their most senior financial leaders to shepherd them to a position of strength

As the finance function moves further into the digital era, the role of the CFO is changing. Organisations increasingly rely on the financial and strategic prowess of their most senior financial leaders to shepherd them to a position of strength.

As companies face increasing competition and ongoing change, they expect their CFOs to leverage technology and turn data into the insights needed to guide strategy and support decision-making.

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SIA Partners, SAP Ireland, KPMG, Zurich and CPA Ireland are partnering with event organiser Investnet to deliver the summit, which is the only event of its kind in Ireland.

It provides an opportunity for ambitious CFOs to meet like-minded professionals who are developing their functions not only to drive financial success but also to deliver advanced insight and partnering opportunities.

Each year it attracts progressive financial professionals from all sectors seeking to future-proof their organisations through everything from new technology to talent management.

Companies expect their CFO to leverage technology and turn data into the insights needed to guide strategy and support decision-making

This year’s summit encompasses three main sessions: Future of Work; Future of Technology, Process Automation and Change Management; and Future ESG (environment, social and governance) in Finance.

Speakers include Robert Nelson, managing director of global metaverse and extended reality services at SIA Partners; Gary Fitzgerald, SVP and group financial controller at medical test provider LetsGetChecked; Michael Sheehan, Irish Times group CFO; and Lory Kehoe, director NFT success at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Áine Collins, president of CPA Ireland, Kieran O’Brien, a partner at KPMG, and Saragh Fitzpatrick, CFO of the Houses of the Oireachtas, will also feature, as will fintech commentator Peter Oakes, Vladimir Spiridon, CFO Pharma Ireland, Novartis, and Trócaire board member David Donoghue, a former ambassador and permanent representative of Ireland to the United Nations, among many more.

A critical component in the summit’s success has always been an eclectic line-up featuring CFOs and financial leaders from all sectors and organisational types, says David Neville of Investnet.

“It also addresses the real issues affecting CFOs. That’s why this year we are looking at issues surrounding the future of work. Covid changed everything but post-Covid we won’t be going back to the way things were, so CFOs have the job of working out what impact changes in technology, systems or flexibility will have.”

Technology impacts on the financial function in many ways, he points out. This ranges from having to assess the benefits of investing in any given solution, to the automation of elements of the finance itself, to gathering and analysing data to derive fresh insights.

“Process automation is taking a lot of the drudge work away from the finance function but at the same time the speed at which different technologies are taken up varies from company to company and from sector to sector,” says Neville. The summit is designed to facilitate the sharing of best practice in each.

The environment in which a CFO operates also has a bearing on decision-making. “What the Financial Leadership Summit does is help future-proof today’s CFOs by keeping them up to speed with what’s happening in the wider environment,” says Neville.

Right now CFOs in all sectors are grappling with external factors such as inflation, currency fluctuation, the energy crisis and the impact of the war in Ukraine on supply-chain issues, he points out. Increased regulation and legislation in relation to ESG must also increasingly be factored into their thinking too.

“Some companies change faster than others. That’s the value of the multisectoral approach we take for this event. It allows attendees to see what CFOs are doing in everything from pharma and banking to food and medicine,” says Neville.

“That’s important because, regardless of sector, CFOs share similar concerns and one of the main advantages of this event is that they can see the different speeds at which others are adapting.”