CFO Dive launched one year ago, this week.
At the time of launch, the digital transformation of the finance organization was top of mind. Even among finance leaders who weren't ready to take the leap, it was only a matter of time before the accounts payable and accounts receivable functions were replaced, all or in part, with an automated solution. Payroll and employee expenses were likely next on the list before planning, forecasting and other functions became automated and integrated with one other. But much has changed since then.
Automation remains high on to-do lists, but the coronavirus has upended finance leaders' plans, if not for the long-term, at least for the balance of 2020.
Like you, we at CFO Dive have had to make changes. We shifted to remote work and, from a content standpoint, tried to get out in front of the pandemic and its upending of organizations' finance and accounting operations.
In recognition of our publication's first year, we've combed through past stories and compiled a selection we think remains helpful to you today. Several talk about the evolution in key performance indicators (KPIs), from backward-looking assessments into financial performance to forward-looking indicators that show where tomorrow’s business will come from.
We look at leadership. When Chipotle's CFO Jack Hartung sat down with CFO Dive in June for an interview, his company was in a remarkably strong position despite a 35% drop in sales. The reason was twofold: his company had ramped up online sales well before it needed to and he had instituted a conservative balance sheet policy early in his tenure as company finance chief. The result: at a time when other fast casual restaurants were closing their doors, his was sitting on almost $1 billion in cash.
And we look at innovations in financing. Pipe earlier this year launched a platform to let software-as-a-service (Saas) companies trade their recurring revenue contracts for cash; Decathlon Capital stepped up its revenue-based lending offerings to give growth companies a way to peg debt payments to revenue streams; and Silicon Valley Bank kept its doors open to new loans even while shifting its focus to helping its existing borrowers.
Rolling forecasts, property taxes, federal pandemic assistance, operations — we cover these and more in our selection of stories because we think they contain nuggets of information that might help you as you look for ideas to apply in your own organization.
We hope you find these stories valuable and carry similar impact for you today as when they were originally written.
