No matter your role in a business, it is important to remember the importance of communication if you want to be successful. Specifically, if you are in a finance role, communication has become a top skill that should be learned.
According to an article in the Journal of Accountancy, it has been found that nearly 90% of nonfinance members of the C-suite believe that the finance team plays a pivotal role in business. Over the last few years, finance functions have grown making it important that the team communicates with those outside of their department.
This means that you must be able to better communicate with those outside of the finance department. This could include other leadership members, employees, and stakeholders. Learn to collaborate with outside team members and be able to explain numbers clearly.
According to a survey completed by Oracle NetSuite, which polled small and midsize company leadership teams, it was discovered that there are disparities between what CFOs believe their skill level is and the rest of the leadership teams’ analysis.
For example, the CFOs who were surveyed gave themselves a score of 73 on a scale from 0-to-100 when they rated themselves on their ability to communicate with employees. While other executives, on the other hand, gave their CFOs a smaller rating of 59.
Throughout the survey, communication was the biggest disparity found among the finance team and other executives. In another question regarding communication, it was found that only 25% of nonfinance executives believe that CFOs have improved within the last three years in creating new initiatives and communicating with employees or stakeholders.
With these results in mind, it is essential that you are mindful of how you are expressing information to other team members. Communication could arguably be one of the most vital skills as it is your responsibility to clearly relay information and create insights from financial statements.
In the end, the business looks to you for advice so take the time to practice breaking down difficult topics, consider your audience’s perspective when speaking to others, and keep an open line of communication with other leadership members.
