Business operations

SmartSuite for the Chief Financial Officer

The Chief Financial Officer owns financial strategy, performance and risk: budgets, forecasts, controls, the close and the financial reporting the board and auditors rely on. They sponsor SOX and internal controls and need one view of spend, approvals and exposure.

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Reports to:

Chief Executive Officer

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What you own

The Chief Financial Officer owns financial strategy, performance and risk: budgets, forecasts, controls, the close and the financial reporting the board and auditors rely on.

Own financial strategy, planning and capital allocation
Oversee the close, financial reporting and audit
Sponsor internal control over financial reporting and SOX
Govern budgets, spend approvals and forecasts
Manage financial risk, treasury and tax
Report financial performance to the CEO, board and investors

Reporting lines

Who this role reports to, who reports to them, and the peers they work with most.

Reports to

Chief Executive Officer

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Direct reports

Works closely with

Chief Audit Executive

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Audit Committee Chair

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Chief Risk Officer

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How SmartSuite supports this role

Lead

Financial oversight. Gives real-time views of budgets, spend, forecasts and financial risks across the business.

Controls. Shows SOX certification status, open deficiencies and remediation ahead of quarter end.

Procurement. Shows spend and vendor concentration and links contracts, renewals and supplier risk ratings to purchase approvals.

Reporting. Produces executive and board financial summaries with consistent, current data.

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Products this role uses most

Budget Planning & Management

Plan, allocate, and track budgets with a current view of financial performance and spending.

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SOX Compliance

Manage SOX compliance with structured control testing, evidence tracking, and real-time visibility into financial reporting controls and audit readiness.

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Spend & Procurement Analytics

Analyze spend, track vendor performance, and report on procurement activity across the organization from the records teams already work in.

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Expense & Reimbursement Management

Capture, approve, and reimburse expenses with automated workflows and real-time visibility.

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Industry reference

SOX Sections 302 and 404 and COSO's Internal Control Integrated Framework (2013) define the CFO's certification and control duties for US registrants, with FDICIA for larger banks, the UK Corporate Governance Code's material-controls declaration and OMB Circular A-123 for federal agencies carrying equivalent obligations.

Related roles

Chief Executive Officer

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DEEPEN YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Explore Further

Guides and definitions from the GRC Knowledge Center and the What-is glossary, chosen for this role.

All articles

What's new

What is Investor Reporting?

What is Procurement Automation?

What is Financial Consolidation?

What is Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)?

The CFO’s Guide to GRC ROI

Connected GRC for Finance Leaders

Frequently asked questions

What is the Chief Financial Officer accountable for?

The Chief Financial Officer owns financial strategy, planning and capital allocation, the close, financial reporting and audit, internal control over financial reporting and SOX, budgets, spend approvals and forecasts, financial risk, treasury and tax, and the reporting of financial performance to the CEO, board and investors. In SmartSuite the CFO's view draws on Budget Planning & Management, SOX Compliance and Spend & Procurement Analytics for one picture of spend, approvals and exposure.

How does SmartSuite give a Chief Financial Officer one view of budgets and spend?

SmartSuite gives real-time views of budgets, spend, forecasts and financial risks across the business, with Budget Planning & Management holding the budgets and forecasts the FP&A Manager maintains and Expense & Reimbursement Management the spend flowing through from teams. The CFO sees variance as it develops rather than at month end, and governs spend approvals against the budget they were approved within, not against a report that arrives after the money is committed.

How does the CFO see SOX status before quarter end?

SOX Compliance shows certification status, open deficiencies and remediation ahead of the quarter end, so the CFO sponsoring internal control over financial reporting knows what stands between the organization and a clean certification while there is still time to act. The Head of Internal Controls and Controller work the same records, and the Audit Committee Chair and Chief Audit Executive can read them, so the certification conversation starts from one picture.

How is vendor spend connected to contracts and risk?

Spend & Procurement Analytics shows spend by vendor, category and department along with vendor concentration, and the Procurement Operations suite links contracts, renewals and supplier risk ratings to that spend, so the CFO can see not only how much is being spent with a supplier but under what contract and with what known risk. Working with the Procurement Director, that view supports decisions on concentration, renewal and approval thresholds from the same data rather than a spend report and a risk report compared by hand.

How does the Chief Financial Officer report to the CEO and board?

SmartSuite produces executive and board financial summaries with consistent, current data, so the CFO reports to the Chief Executive Officer and board from the same records the finance team closes on. Because the risk view the Chief Risk Officer owns and the SOX status the audit committee reads sit in the same system, financial performance, control status and exposure can be presented together rather than from three separately prepared decks.

How does SmartSuite fit with the finance team's existing systems?

SmartSuite is the operating and governance layer over the finance team's work: budgets, forecasts, approvals, controls and the evidence behind them, with the general ledger and accounting systems continuing to do what they do. New customers can start with SmartSuite Onboarding, a guided four-week program around one or two priority workflows; for finance that means starting with the budget cycle and SOX controls and adding spend and expense workflows as they are ready.

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