The role of the CFO has always included two tasks: managing the balance sheet and shaping the strategy. What has changed is the balance between them. Deloitte’s Finance Trends 2026 report, based on a survey of 1,326 global finance leaders, found that 57% now play a leading role in shaping their company’s strategy and that these strategy-influencing leaders are taking on 20% more responsibility than their counterparts who remain solely focused on financial management.
This change is well documented, but it does not happen on its own. It depends on three factors working together: systems that save time, skills that shift from tech to commerce, and team structures that focus on business partnerships rather than transaction processing (Source: Deloitte, Financial Trends 2026).
Key insights
- The change is measurable, not anecdotal: Deloitte found that 57% of finance leaders now play a leading role in shaping strategy.
- Systems are the first enabler. Mid-sized UK finance teams waste a lot of time due to fragmented, manual data consolidation.
- Skills are the second factor. In addition to accounting knowledge, commercial and strategic skills are also playing an increasingly important role.
- The team structure is the third factor. Finance functions are reorganizing to focus on business partnerships, not just transaction processing.
Here’s what we cover:
What the transition from scorekeeper to strategist actually means
A scorekeeper CFO produces accurate and timely numbers about what has already happened: the financial statements, the management accounts, the statutory reporting. A strategic CFO sets this as a baseline and also shapes what happens next, making decisions about pricing, investments, market entry and resource allocation before they are made, rather than reporting on them after the fact. The two are not mutually exclusive; Shifting is about how much time and attention the CFO shifts from the first to the second.
This shift doesn’t happen because a CFO decides to invest more time in strategy meetings. This happens because the systems, skills and team structures underlying the role change enough to make this possible.
Enabler one: systems that create time for analysis
The most fundamental barrier to a CFO’s transition to strategy is time, and most time is currently spent compiling data rather than analyzing it. The Access Group’s 2026 survey of 400 UK CFOs and finance directors at mid-market companies found that finance teams lost an average of 20 hours per month consolidating fragmented data across disparate systems and that 84% of respondents planned to switch finance software as a result (Source: The Access Group, Mid-Market Finance Report 2026).
Twenty hours per month corresponds to approximately two and a half working days and will not be restored until the underlying systems no longer require manual reconciliation.
This is the same limitation addressed in why UK finance teams can’t close faster: a close that takes the better part of the month leaves little time for the analysis actually needed to provide strategic input.
Enabler two: Capabilities that shift from the technical to the commercial
Systems create time; Skills determine what happens to them. Research from Deloitte found that 64% of finance leaders plan to incorporate more technical and commercial skills into their role, reflecting a broader shift in what is expected of CFOs: not just technical accounting knowledge, but also the ability to read a market, model a decision and make a recommendation to stakeholders outside of finance.
For CFOs and FDs new to this expanded role, this change often only becomes apparent in the first few months of a new role. Check out our new CFO’s first 90 day checklist to find out what’s most important when starting out, and our overview of financial planning software to find out which tools typically support this more commercial, forward-thinking way of working.
Factor three: team structure based on business partnerships
The third enabler is organizational. Finance functions based on transaction processing, one team per process area, tend to inherently reinforce a scorekeeper mindset because the structure itself is based on producing accurate historical numbers. Functions further into this transformation tend to layer a business partnership structure on top: analysts and finance leaders are embedded in commercial, operational or sectoral teams and translate financial data into decisions that those teams can respond to directly.
This is clearly evident by sector. In the financial services sector in particular, the pressure to combine regulatory rigor with commercial agility has driven this restructuring further and faster than in many other industries; Explore sustainable growth for financial services companies and see how it plays out in practice with Sage Intacct’s financial services experience.
Final Thoughts: What this means for CFOs and FDs developing the case internally
None of these three enablers move quickly on their own. System changes require a business case and a transition phase. Developing skills takes time and often requires a different mindset. The team restructuring goes beyond the finance function itself. The data suggests that companies that view these changes as three interrelated changes, rather than choosing one, tend to make the transition faster than companies that approach them in isolation.
For CFOs who are already exploring what a more decision-focused reporting structure looks like in practice, there are two related articles worth reading alongside this one.
At Sage Intacct, learn how the underlying financial system fits into this transformation as one of the three enablers, rather than a replacement for the other two.
Frequently asked questions about the CFO role
What does “from scorekeeper to strategist” mean for the role of the CFO?
It describes a shift in the way CFOs use their time and influence: from primarily producing accurate historical financial reports to actively shaping business strategy, pricing, investment and resource allocation decisions before they are made. Deloitte’s Finance Trends 2026 study found that 57% of finance leaders now play a leading role in strategy design.
What is driving the change in the CFO role in the UK?
Three interrelated factors: financial systems that automate data compilation and save time, an expanded skill set that adds commercial and strategic skills to technical accounting knowledge, and team structures that focus on business partnerships rather than purely transactional processing.
How much time are finance teams losing due to manual data consolidation?
Access Group’s 2026 survey of CFOs and finance directors of mid-sized companies in the UK found that teams lose an average of 20 hours per month consolidating fragmented data across disparate systems.
Do CFOs need new skills to take on a more strategic role?
Increasingly, yes. Research from Deloitte found that 64% of finance leaders plan to incorporate more technical and commercial skills into their role. This reflects a shift in expectations beyond technical accounting knowledge to commercial judgment and the ability to communicate recommendations to stakeholders outside of finance.
