CFOs have increasingly functioned as strategists, and spend less time with traditional operations as a results of the COVID-19 pandemic. That was the finding of Grant Thornton’s TheThe firm sent an initial questionnaire in February, before many businesses shut down, and a second in May, after steps to combat the virus had been widely implemented.
The number spending more than half their time on control and compliance dropped from 36 percent to 8 percent and 9 percent reported spending that amount of tie handling transactional processes, down 40 percent from February.
The pandemic has also impacted the pace of technology adoption. In February, about half the respondents said they had implemented key emerging technologies or planned to do so within the next two years. But in May, 62 percent had delayed projects while another 19 percent had reshaped them. Only 19 percent had accelerated projects.
