More than 150 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and senior management executives from across South East Asia came together at the Deloitte Southeast Asia CFO Vision 2018 Conference in Kuala Lumpur to participate in important conversations on the future of the CFO role. The Southeast Asia CFO Vision Conference is a key component of the CFO Program, a global Deloitte initiative with activities spanning 29 member firms across the globe.
Through the CFO Vision conferences and other CFO program offerings such as CFO Labs and CFO Forums, Deloitte is able to build a channel to understand the issues CFO across the globe face and help them create value for their organisations. Themed “The CFO of the future”, this year’s conference centred around key topics addressing the evolving economy and business environment, how finance is upended by digital disruption, as well as other pressing challenges in finance and how CFOs can prepare for it.
“CFOs around the world continue to express concerns about the future – especially on global economic transformation and disruptive technologies which are on the rise. The role of CFOs has been changing considerably. CFOs are undertaking broader formal responsibility for business planning, IT/data, operations and risk,” said Sandy Cockrell, Global Leader & US National Managing Partner, CFO Program at Deloitte. “CFOs are expected to take on more challenging and diverse roles to steer their companies towards achieving the organisation’s strategy, including instilling a consistent and effective financial approach and mindset to enhance performance and grow the business.”
Elaborating on the conference, Yee Wing Peng, Deloitte Malaysia Country Managing Partner and Malaysia CFO Program Leader said, “To realise Deloitte’s CFO Program’s vision to be recognised as the pre-eminent advisor to CFOs, we are committed to helping finance leaders navigate the evolving business landscape and elevate their positions. This year, we were privileged to have with us a distinctive panel of experts and leaders sharing their views on how CFOs can confront the rapid pace and increasing complexity of businesses and embrace the digital evolution for business growth.” “2018 is also a special year for Deloitte Malaysia as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of our founding. We feel most privileged to host the second Southeast Asia CFO Vision conference here in Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with our anniversary celebration – bringing together participants from across eight countries in the region to address the increasingly dynamic role of CFOs,” said Yee.
The Deloitte Southeast Asia CFO Vision 2018 Conference featured a line-up of distinguished finance experts, corporate leaders as well as Deloitte’s own CFO Program Leads and subject matter experts who discussed salient topics for CFOs such as optimising cash and credits, reimagining finance leadership, digital DNA transformation, what CEOs want from CFOs and more.
Lim Fen Nee, Partner, Audit & Assurance and Malaysia CFO Program Co-Leader, in sharing her views on finance leadership, said, “Having the right team and a full complement of core competencies within that team is vital for CFOs to address gaps in their skillsets and keep pace with the changing expectations of the CFO role, as digital is moving finance to be a strategic partner in all senses of the word. More and more, CFOs will have to factor in flexibility and agility in their operating models, with a focus on user-centricity and enabling technologies.”
