Corporate Finance

CFO Insights

McKinsey latest thinking to provide CFOs with insights on capital markets and investor management, planning and performance management, corporate and portfolio strategy, finance function excellence, and finance leadership.

Topics

Finance leadership
Finance function excellence
Capital markets and investor management
Planning and performance management
Corporate and portfolio strategy

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Article

How to prepare for the CFO role

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Amid decade-high CFO turnover, former chief financial officers share advice on what matters most today for securing the top job in finance.

Finance leadership

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Article

Faster, smarter, bolder: How midtenure CFOs shift into a higher gear

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Former finance leaders offer advice on how CFOs can go from good to great in the middle years of their tenure.
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Article
Six ways CFOs find the time to unlock their full potential
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It’s hard to create outsize value when you have to manage the finance function’s daily and often urgent demands....
Portrait of a smiling Claire Bramley.
Interview
Data, analytics, and decisions: An interview with Teradata’s CFO
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Claire Bramley describes how she’s amping up scenario analyses, getting proactive about enterprise risk, and moving her...
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Article
Gen AI: A guide for CFOs
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How should CFOs approach generative AI—enterprise-wide and in the finance function—and what can they do right now...
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Report
Women in the Workplace 2023
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Women are more ambitious than ever, and workplace flexibility is fueling them. Yet despite some hard-fought gains, women’s...

Finance function excellence

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Survey

Tying short-term decisions to long-term strategy

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A new survey confirms the well-founded principles behind the allocation of resources for long-term value creation.
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McKinsey Direct
How finance skills are evolving in the era of artificial intelligence
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In a world of advanced automation and AI, people skills are becoming a differentiator for finance professionals.
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Podcast
Building a world-class digital finance function
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How CFOs can use digital transformation to help organizations become more forward-looking and resilient.
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Article
Want more efficient finance and HR functions? Become more effective
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In finance and HR functions, targeted improvements in effectiveness can dramatically improve these units’ cost efficiency....
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Article
Barbarians at the gate?
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When activist investors knock at the door, companies can do themselves a favor and let them in.

Capital markets and investor management

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Article

Do shareholder activists create lasting value?

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Activist investors seek to maximize their own returns—which can lift a company’s share price when activists hold shares. But what happens a few years after an activist exits its position?
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Article
Keep calm and allocate capital: Six process improvements
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The most effective resource allocation processes are radically simple.
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Article - McKinsey Quarterly
The equity story you need for the long-term investors you want
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Sophisticated investors are more likely to afford a company more time to let its strategy play out, even during volatility. But...
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Article
2024 and beyond: Will it be economic stagnation or the advent of productivity-driven abundance?
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Hoping for a soft landing in 2024 won’t mitigate current risks or raise business performance and living standards longer...
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Report
An affordable, reliable, competitive path to net zero
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A successful net-zero transition will require achieving not one objective but four. We offer a guide to getting it right.

Planning & performance management

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Article

Advanced FP&A practices for a volatile macroeconomic and business environment

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Great models help leaders understand complexity and navigate through uncertainty. Six practical steps for better financial planning and analysis (FP&A) are essential.
A smiling Charlie Gottdiener dressed in a suit coat and button-up shirt, set against a blurred backdrop featuring the Anaplan logo.
Interview
Anaplan CEO: How decision excellence drives enterprise performance
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Charlie Gottdiener discusses the growing importance of enterprise connectedness and the planning software provider’s research...
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Article
Global Economics Intelligence executive summary, November 2023
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Elevated interest rates weigh on consumer confidence; central banks hold rates, except in Brazil (down) and Russia (up); inflation...
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Article
A new paradigm for our connected world?
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As geopolitical currents swirl, we examine the implications for trade and options for business leaders to foster global connections....
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Article - McKinsey Quarterly
Bias Busters: Motivations under the microscope
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A mapping exercise can help senior managers determine how best to bring employees with different priorities together to achieve...

Corporate and portfolio strategy

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Article

The portfolio management imperative and its M&A implications

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Several trends are creating a new imperative for strong portfolio management of businesses. Companies need six capabilities to build and manage a winning portfolio, using M&A strategically.
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Article
How innovative companies leverage tech to outperform
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Organizations with innovation cultures realize more value from strategic technology investments than their peers do, our latest...
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Article
When a transaction forges a transformation
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An approach to M&A integrations that looks beyond combinatorial synergies can be the starting point for broader transformation....
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Survey
CEOs’ choice for growth: Building new businesses
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Business leaders and investors see now as an opportune time to build new businesses. New survey data reveals what’s really...
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Article - McKinsey Quarterly
Innovative growers: A view from the top
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McKinsey research shows that a focus on aspiration, activation, and execution can help companies out-innovate and outgrow peers....