Learn how top CFOs from industry-leading companies transformed their finance functions with best-in-class operating models to drive success.
Our Approach to Finance Function Excellence
- Finance Vision and Strategy. We align the finance function targets and roadmap with future business needs. This entails defining a North Star and fundamentally rethinking finance strategy, organization, processes, technology, and people. Our CFO Excellence services include setting the agenda for incoming CFOs and guiding them on best practices and cutting-edge finance trends. Additionally, our finance function consulting team helps CFOs become chief performance officers, driving greater profitability in response to today's volatile business environment.
- Finance Operating Model and Organization. We transform the finance function operating model to drive greater efficiency and effectiveness. This includes reshaping the talent strategy and organization structure, location and sourcing model, and ways of working. We support finance cost transformations by implementing actions that realize durable savings and ensure finance functions can increase focus on higher value-add activities. In post-merger management, we apply this approach to realize significant synergies and value-creation opportunities.
- Digitization in Finance. The transition of the CFOs' role impacts their use of digital, moving from optimizing core functionality to supporting value creation in the business. To support this shift, we help define a robust digital strategy, including the use of generative AI and the next generation ERP strategy. We help our clients create their technology roadmap; identify advanced digital use cases; develop pilots and scaling them rapidly; and support them through the detailed design and implementation of new digital capabilities, such as financial planning and forecasting tools.
- Financial Steering Excellence. We leverage AI and advanced analytics to help build world-class capabilities in performance steering—including revamping the budgeting and forecasting processes through automated, driver-based planning and enhanced decision support with next-generation business intelligence.
Video
December 18, 2024
Elevating CFO Excellence: Insights from Industry-Leading Finance Leaders
Video
October 29, 2024
Full-Suite Finance Transformation
Finance transformation is essential to keep up and it’s time to embrace all the new possibilities. Here’s how tailored solutions can help CFOs navigate changes, both now and in the future.
Video
October 29, 2024
Finance Vision and Strategy
As they wield the company’s financial data to lead and inspire their team, today’s CFOs have a responsibility to formulate a strong vision for their finance function. Here’s why it’s important.
Video
October 29, 2024
Generative AI in the Finance Function
GenAI is transforming business operations around the globe—and the finance function is no exception. CFOs need to master this strategic tool to utilize it’s many advantages. Here’s how.
Video
October 29, 2024
Financial Steering Excellence
Companies look to financial steering for leadership in turbulent times. Learn how it can make predictions about business operations to help CFOs navigate through uncertainty and lead with confidence.
Video
October 29, 2024
Finance Operating Model and Organization
Fast, lean, and agile companies lead with a future-ready mindset, which requires using cutting-edge tools like GenAI and building an organizational structure that’s primed to move. Our experts explain how.
Video
October 29, 2024
Digitization in Finance
The finance function wields a host of powerful platforms—from AI to real-time analytics—it can use to lead through difficult times. Learn more about digitization’s evolving role in the modern finance function.
Our Clients’ Success in Finance Function Transformation
$120m
in cost savings
An energy company worked with BCG to envision its future finance function. The revamped operating model introduced centers of excellence (including talent and digital) to drive best practices and continuous improvement; significantly increased the use of shared services; and allowed for leaner embedded finance teams to focus on enhanced decision support and partnership with the business. The finance function led the transformation of the overall enterprise in terms of speed and impact, driving $120 million in cost savings.
~40%
freed capacity
The CFO at a fashion and luxury store turned to BCG for help transforming its planning, forecasting, and business intelligence capabilities, including driver-based business logic, modern digital tooling with greater data automation, and streamlined planning and forecasting processes. As a result, finance and business leaders gained more real-time visibility into the drivers of performance and freed up 30% to 40% of the financial planning and analysis teams’ capacity to redeploy to business advisory and decision support.
~$40m
in efficiency improvements
BCG developed an AI- and machine-learning-based forecasting engine for a large industrial goods manufacturer. This new tool, based on vast internal and external data sets, improved the accuracy of revenue forecasts by 50% while drastically reducing variance and bias and providing better explainability into the drivers of demand. Better forecasting enabled $25 million to $40 million in efficiency improvements across business operations, through improved labor and production scheduling, procurement efficiencies, and better working capital.
~30%
freed capacity
BCG worked with a CFO of a global health care company to develop a vision for the finance function and to support its design and implementation. This included a radical rethink of the planning process, the agile operating model, and organizational design. As a result, the finance teams became more flexible and efficient, freeing up 20% to 30% of their capacity.
Rethink Every Dollar with Zero-Based Budgeting
Put People at the Center of Value Creation
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Put People at the Center of Value Creation
Put People at the Center of Value Creation -
Power Strategic Growth
Power Strategic Growth -
Set CFOs Up for Success
Set CFOs Up for Success -
Tackle CEOs' Cost Concerns
Tackle CEOs' Cost Concerns -
Fix What Most Cost Transformation Miss
Fix What Most Cost Transformation MissAhsan Ali
BCG’s Center for CFO Excellence
Our Center for CFO Excellence—the hub of BCG’s knowledge of the CFO domain—draws on the firm’s extensive experience in finance function consulting across diverse industries to help finance functions achieve the highest standard of effectiveness and efficiency.
Our Solution for Finance Function Excellence
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
BCG’s CFO Excellence Panel
Our finance function benchmarking solution provides executive-level insights to drive impactful finance performance improvements.
BCG’s CFO Excellence Panel
Our Insights on Finance Function Transformation
Article
June 10, 2025
Finance functions are ideal starting points for cost programs, offering swift, substantial savings and strategic benefits such as faster execution and streamlined ways of working.
Article
June 4, 2025
What separates high-ROI AI efforts in finance? The combination of proven implementation tactics and a laser focus on impact-driven use cases.
Article
March 27, 2025
Leaders must boost the finance function’s performance in several key areas to enable their companies to successfully navigate the energy transition.
Article
January 30, 2025
Companies that optimize their balance sheet can improve earnings by an average of 5% across industries.
Article
November 1, 2024
Focus less on rigid details and more on flexible, tech-powered planning.
Meet Our Finance Function Consulting Team
Our finance function consulting team helps CFOs and finance leaders transform their finance function operating models to achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness, unleash the power of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, orchestrate companywide transformations to drive the corporate value agenda, and more. Here are some of our experts on this topic.
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