What are the key challenges for today's CFOs? Mimi Carsley, CFO and Treasurer at Jack Henry, based in Monett, Missouri “I look forward so I can steer the car.” A technology provider serving communities and regional financial institutions.
Additionally, the finance function needs to be the neutral “Switzerland” of the organization, providing unbiased data to support decision-making, says Carsley. She believes CFOs are best placed to create an organization's “common language” that allows all talent to function as a unified force.
What do you think is a CFO's top priority and how has the CFO role evolved?
The core determinants of a chief financial officer's success remain both day-to-day tasks such as managing the company's finances, ensuring a healthy management environment, communicating with shareholders, and building a highly collaborative team, as well as looking ahead to the future. It is the ability to balance tasks. For example, setting long-term goals and staying on top of potential factors that influence strategic planning.
Competing areas can often feel contradictory, but CFOs must stay focused on the company's long-term priorities while never losing sight of the day-to-day operations needed to improve short-term performance. I have to keep an eye out. You need to keep an eye on the rearview mirror while also looking ahead to ensure you can steer the car in the direction you want.
Roles are evolving. Instead of just focusing on your role as a manager, you have to become a strategic leader. Public CFOs are key messengers who share the company's narrative with investors and analysts, strategists who help set priorities, and capital allocators who create shareholder value through capital structure, M&A, and investment bets. is.
Collectively, we have the opportunity to serve as a partner in shaping the company's strategy and leveraging our financial knowledge to influence the company's future direction. But the finance function is in a unique position to look at the facts neutrally and help connect all aspects of the company, from strategy to execution.
The way we work has evolved, and I wouldn't be able to do what I do without a great team of professionals working with me. That team was not just within the finance department, but also broader teams including risk and human resources. In addition to business leaders, this includes members of the legal community.
Finance can fully support leadership by identifying and tracking meaningful predictive metrics, gathering a relevant fact base, and quickly pivoting as the situation demands. To ensure business success, especially in a volatile economic environment, being agile in forecasting while holding yourself accountable to performance commitments is more important than ever.
Technology has also changed the pace of daily business. News travels exponentially faster and industry-wide changes occur in near real-time. Look at the few banks that failed last year. While these issues affected professional institutions facing unique challenges, the ripple effect of the uncertainty spread throughout the banking industry in just a few days.
Events outside of our control, and often unpredictable, can completely upend our lives as an organization if we are not willing to constantly adapt and adjust. . We have built systems within our organization that make our decision-making processes more agile. Rapid access to data allows you to better estimate the potential impact of decisions, pivot when necessary, and effectively communicate changes.
What is the importance of sustainability to you personally and to Jack Henry?
Sustainability is a popular buzzword right now, and I feel very passionate about this topic because I've seen the effects of climate change firsthand. I've lived in many different parts of the country, from New England to Southern California to now Texas, and in each case I've seen the effects of extreme weather.
That's why I'm the proud executive sponsor of Jack Henry's employee innovation group Go Green, which is focused on finding ways to reduce our environmental impact. These moves help strengthen our commitment to doing the right thing.
I am proud to have set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and developed a low carbon transition plan, both of which contributed to an 11% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over three years. Masu. These moves, and our commitment to science-based targeted initiatives, will impact our environment for decades to come.
For us, taking steps to become more sustainable involves more than climate-related initiatives. Sustainability is a commitment to becoming more diverse and inclusive, encouraging our employees to grow and thrive, and continuing our long-standing commitment to being a good corporate citizen.
However, it is also important to recognize that these sustainability efforts make sense as they occur naturally in the course of our business. A lot of this work is just collecting and categorizing what we've always done. Reducing waste and increasing efficiency is not only good for the planet, it's also important for our economic health.
Approximately one-quarter of Jack Henry shareholders reside outside the United States, and demonstrating a commitment to sustainable practices is important to that audience, making the company an even more attractive investment. Reducing your environmental footprint is key to ensuring your company's future success and strengthening your bottom line.
What do you think is the most important role of finance?
Corporate finance teams don't just need to handle finance, they need to make financial information more accessible to everyone in the company. If you want everyone in your organization to move in the same direction, in addition to metrics and financial results, everyone needs to understand how your business model actually works. That means knowing what those metrics mean and what drives financial performance.
Finance teams must be champions of financial management and literacy, helping create a culture of ownership and accountability, and ensuring everyone in the company understands the actions that will lead to real financial change.
This starts with providing high-level information that is easy to understand without deep financial knowledge. From there, the team can provide insight into how and why things are connected, from sales to margins, and how a public company's financial performance impacts its stock price. Masu. It also includes sharing investor feedback and focus areas with management.
But beyond that, there is another equally important function of finance in large organizations. Finance departments can create a common language that everyone in the organization understands. When everyone in your company understands your financial situation (where you are and what it takes to get there), it becomes much easier to set priorities strategically.
Fortunately, we have an abundance of good ideas and opportunities, but we can't and shouldn't have the luxury of pursuing them all. There are limited resources and bandwidth available, and not every opportunity will have a meaningful impact. Therefore, CFOs must be proactive in asking questions that others don't know or are afraid to ask.
Finance must be Swiss. It is neutral and helps provide relevant and unbiased data to support decision-making. We are guides and translators between various stakeholders and accountability-focused teams.
