This advice first appeared in Raconteur’s Beyond the Balance Sheet newsletter, an agony aunt for CFOs. Sign up here to receive it weekly.
Ever wanted to know what’s really on your chief financial officer’s mind? Then look no further. Every week, finance executives write to ‘Beyond the Balance Sheet’ – Raconteur’s CFO agony aunt – asking for practical advice on a problem they’re grappling with.
While no two problems are the same, some common themes have started to emerge. Among the most noticeable trends in the last three months has been a desire from CFOs to hone their soft skills, whether that’s looking for the best way to court investors, strengthen their negotiating capabilities or repair poor relationships. Here, we’ve compiled some words of advice offered by experts and peers in response.
Dear Beyond the Balance Sheet
How can I stop micro-managing?
“I’ve been trying to develop my leadership style. I want to move away from a ‘parenting’ mindset and embrace the idea that team members are capable of making their own decisions and learning from their experiences. What can I do to escape this ‘I need to make all the decisions’ doom-loop and encourage more autonomy?”
Finance leaders can very easily slip into the trap of micro-managing out of a desire for precision and control. But this stifles the very people you want to empower. Schedule off-grid periods, where no status reports or check-ins are allowed. This creates a window of trust, letting team members take ownership of their tasks without feeling like every move is under a microscope.
Rotate leadership roles on small projects, even if it’s only for a short burst. I once let a junior analyst handle a mid-cycle review. It was nerve-wracking at first, but I noticed how much the group rallied around someone who wasn’t the usual manager.
Encourage small experiments with minimal interference. Instead of dictating each step, propose a general framework or goal then let the team handle the research and implementation. When they do run into hurdles, ask them to come up with at least one potential fix before coming to you.
The answer is simultaneously mundane and liberating: good processes. Few CFOs are willing to define, on paper, what powers they are willing to give away, which is essential for clarity over what decisions other people can make. Part of this is because it’s a difficult exercise. Most decisions don’t fall into clear-cut strategy and financial decisions, which are the easiest things for businesses to define.
But the more you try it, the better you get. Without clarity, everything will continue to be escalated to your inbox.
Dear Beyond the Balance Sheet
How can I win a negotiation?
“What’s the key to hammering out better agreements? Whether it’s with people across different parts of the business, suppliers, external advisors or software providers – how can I always get what I want and need?”
The more time you invest in preparing for your negotiation, the greater your chances of success. This helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses and, critically, to determine your alternatives if the negotiation doesn’t go as planned. Having quality alternatives is the most important lever in any negotiation – the worst thing you can do is enter a discussion without one.
Also, if you want to improve your negotiation skills, negotiate! Don’t wait until you’re faced with a problem to start. Discuss the price of your car or phone subscription, identify how others make their decisions, confront these situations and play the game. The more you practice, the easier it will be to perceive alternatives or find solutions where others see dead ends.
Negotiation is driven by empathy and understanding. It’s about more than contracts – it’s about tapping into what motivates the people you’re negotiating with to achieve a result that works for everyone involved. Creating mutual respect can lead to better outcomes than a hard-nosed approach.
Open communication makes all the difference, ensuring both sides feel heard. Silence without purpose can create tension rather than facilitate cooperation. Using it as a tactic often closes down the conversation, making it harder to reach a resolution.
Dear Beyond the Balance Sheet
What’s the secret to courting investors?
“What advice would you give to CFOs who are preparing to fundraise for the first time? We are a mid-size business operating in the UK and I’m anxious to understand how to tell the right story to the right group of investors.”
An excellent pitch presents the financials from an investor’s point of view. For example: “You can expect, in our base case, a return of X% IRR. Here are some sensitivities we have run and this is how we would adapt the business in a downturn, or if our revenue assumptions are not correct.”
Ultimately an investor is trying to balance risk and return. The easier you can make that for them the quicker they can close the deal.
Start early and cultivate relationships with potential investors long before you need them. Investors value a CFO who is both a financial manager and someone who can interpret and shape a company’s story through its numbers.
You also need to ensure consistency and alignment within your organisation. Investors expect coherence between your financials and the broader company narrative.
A CFO must maintain transparency and ensure metrics are credible and reflect business performance. When performance inevitably hiccups, the CFO must demonstrate they are capable of identifying how to respond to this and work with the CEO to allocate capital effectively, operationalise value-delivering activities and measure outcomes.
Dear Beyond the Balance Sheet
How can I deal with a nightmare CEO?
“I have a new CEO who is proving difficult to work with. They’re a classic visionary, full of big ideas and ambitious growth plans. On paper, that’s exciting but in practice, it’s a bit of a nightmare. They have a habit of dismissing the concerns of the rest of the leadership team, myself included, and downplaying risks. What can I do?”
Developing political savvy is crucial to navigating this partnership, especially when working with a CEO with high expectations or conflicting goals. Try to engage in constructive conflict that clarifies priorities and strengthens alignment instead of eroding trust.
Rather than yield to pressure, arm yourself with principles and facts. Set clear boundaries and communicate financial realities that are grounded in rigorous analysis.
The CEO-CFO relationship is the most important one in any business, yet often the most fraught. A strong CEO will be focused on growth and is willing to take risks to achieve it. A CFO tends to focus on limiting risk and complying with their financial obligations. Those differences can lead to conflict.
The key to avoiding or resolving conflicts is open communication and strong governance. These include shareholders agreements, defined responsibilities and a clear decision-making process that allow for challenges to be tested in a safe environment.
Prompt action is also crucial. At the first sign of disagreement, implement a pre-agreed resolution process to resolve conflict quickly, giving other key stakeholders a determining voice.
Dear Beyond the Balance Sheet
How can I improve my storytelling?
“People don’t remember facts, figures or instructions. They remember stories. What are financial professionals doing to improve their storytelling skills – particularly when it applies to presenting financial results for quarterly earnings call prep?”
Start with your audience. Ask yourself: What do they need from this information? Are they interested in the granular details or are they looking for a big-picture narrative? Whether you’re presenting to analysts, investors, board members or colleagues, each group will expect a different level of detail and focus.
Keep it relevant. It can be tempting to overload slides with data and analysis, but more isn’t always better. Presenting isn’t about solving an exam question or showing every calculation. Focus instead on delivering the insights that matter most to your audience.
Every slide should tell a story with no more than three key points. The presentation should have a natural flow, whether that’s a logical breakdown of data or a chronological narrative. For me, using slide titles strategically is a game-changer. They reinforce the story and make it easy for anyone to grasp the key takeaway at a glance.
Prepare – then prepare some more. This is where the real work happens. I spend as much time reviewing the content as I do anticipating tough questions. If you’re ready for those curveball questions, it shows you’ve done your homework and it earns instant credibility. Honestly, I always kick myself if I get a question I wasn’t expecting, so this is a non-negotiable step in my process.
Finance professionals often say that numbers tell stories. This is mainly because they are trained to connect different items in financial statements and make conclusions by connecting those items. This is not easy for non-finance experts.
Numbers do not make sense if they are presented on their own. They only make sense if they are presented in comparisons. For example, how did the revenue change compared with last year’s and/or in comparison with other companies of similar size in the sector.
It is also critical for your audience to recognise that numbers are outcomes of actions and non-actions. They need to be presented in a timely manner to make effective and informed decisions for the future success of the company.
This advice first appeared in Raconteur’s Beyond the Balance Sheet newsletter, an agony aunt for CFOs. Sign up here to receive it weekly.
Ever wanted to know what’s really on your chief financial officer’s mind? Then look no further. Every week, finance executives write to ‘Beyond the Balance Sheet’ – Raconteur's CFO agony aunt – asking for practical advice on a problem they’re grappling with.
While no two problems are the same, some common themes have started to emerge. Among the most noticeable trends in the last three months has been a desire from CFOs to hone their soft skills, whether that’s looking for the best way to court investors, strengthen their negotiating capabilities or repair poor relationships. Here, we’ve compiled some words of advice offered by experts and peers in response.
