CFOs are held out to be strategic business partners, but are they able to free up their time from dealing with the day-to-day to be able to play that role?

The modern CFO is expected to shape business strategy, influence investment decisions and act as a trusted advisor to the board. Yet operational oversight, reporting and compliance continue to consume a significant share of leadership bandwidth. The findings of the inaugural India Finance Leaders Barometer survey show that strategy and business partnering feature prominently among modern CFO priorities. Strategic planning and decision support rank highest in their current time allocation, closely followed by business partnering with leadership and the board.

But this tells only part of the story. These priorities are competing with operational oversight, reporting, and compliance requirements, which demand significant CFO attention. Nearly half of the CFOs surveyed rank operational oversight in the top three areas of current time allocation.

The result is that CFOs are doing strategic work, but not at the level, consistency, or intensity they believe is required.

Inside the CFO workload

62%

Rank strategic planning and decision support in their top three priorities

52%

Rank business partnering with leadership in their top three priorities

48%

Rank operational oversight in their top three priorities

The battle for CFO bandwidth: Current state vs ideal focus

Finance leaders want to focus on strategy, but day-to-day demands still take up much of their time

Percentage of CFOs prioritising each activity.

The conversation around the CFO's role has evolved significantly over the last decade. Today, few organisations question whether the CFO should be a strategic advisor, as the expectation is already there. The challenge is that many finance leaders continue to operate within delivery models designed for a far more operational mandate. As business expectations grow, organisations must rethink how finance is structured, governed and enabled so CFOs can spend more time shaping decisions rather than managing processes.
Karan Marwah Partner and CFO Advisory Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat

The gap is not about intention; it is about the operating model

When asked how they would prefer to spend their time, CFOs are clear about their priorities. Half (50%) say strategic planning should be their primary focus, and 86% place it in their top three areas of focus. Business partnering follows closely, reinforcing the idea that CFOs want to shape decisions rather than report on them. This indicates a clear disconnect between the current and ideal state. CFOs want to operate as architects of business outcomes. In reality, they remain constrained in their ability to run the engine.

What is holding CFOs back?

Operational oversight, reporting cycles, and compliance remain deeply embedded in the CFO agenda. The prominence of reporting, ranked among the highest priority areas for CFOs, suggests they are dedicating significant time to translating data into actionable business insights.

Despite mature frameworks, regulatory and compliance requirements consume meaningful leadership bandwidth, often due to escalation-heavy processes.

While CFOs are spending time on automation and increasingly leveraging technology, they are yet to deliver the promised outcomes in terms of efficiency and meaningfully freeing up CFO bandwidth.

Meanwhile, areas such as ESG and talent leadership are consistently deprioritised, indicating they are still treated as secondary or compliance-led activities rather than core levers of value creation.

While CFOs increasingly aspire to act as architects of business outcomes and trusted advisors influencing critical decisions, existing operating models often require them to remain focused on managing day-to-day finance operations. To enable CFOs to dedicate more time to strategic priorities, organisations must simplify and standardise processes, strengthen governance frameworks, enhance data quality and embed automation more effectively across the finance function. Ultimately, this requires a fundamental redesign of the finance operating model, empowering CFOs to serve as catalysts for growth, transformation and long-term value creation.
Devesh Uniyal Partner and Tax & Finance Consulting Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat

Closing the gap

For organisations, the question is not about what the CFO should focus on, but what needs to change to enable that focus. The future finance model must:

1.

Reduce operational and reporting friction through automation, better processes, and cleaner data

2.

Strengthen foundational governance, so fewer issues escalate to the CFO

3.

Embed business partnering as a scalable capability—not an individual dependency

4.

Use technology as a lever to reduce work, not add another layer of oversight

CFOs want to spend their time shaping strategic choices, enabling faster decision-making, and partnering at the highest levels of the organisation. But realising that shift will depend less on changing priorities and more on redesigning the systems, processes and workflows around them.

The future of finance starts with the right conversations

Every organisation’s journey is different. Our experts work with finance leaders to navigate evolving priorities, from technology enablement and process transformation to strengthening strategic decision-making.

Let’s discuss what the next chapter of your finance function could look like.

 

About the survey

The India Finance Leaders Barometer 2026 by Grant Thornton Bharat captures the perspectives of CFOs and senior finance leaders on the priorities, challenges and opportunities shaping the finance function.

Drawing on insights from across industries, the survey explores how finance leaders are responding to an increasingly dynamic business environment and where they expect the function to evolve over the coming years.

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    Our leader

    Karan Marwah

    Partner & Leader, CFO Advisory & IPO...
    Gurugram  Office
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