Conclusion:
From steward
to strategic catalyst
The CFO has historically been seen as the steward of an organization. Now, they must move beyond protecting and guiding their organizations to become catalysts of change. The more strategic and resilient the finance function is, the more equipped organizations will be to manage the world of business in 2035. However, finance leaders face the challenge of balancing competing priorities, while their teams grapple with collaboration challenges, skills gaps, and a patchwork of outdated systems.
To make this transformation, CFOs must rethink the traditional operating model of the finance function, cultivating new skills, and harnessing the power of data for predictive insights. It’s not just about managing the numbers — it’s about leveraging them to shape the future of the business. Equipped with consolidated data insights and a more dynamic workforce, CFOs can lead their organizations in navigating complexity, driving innovation, and unlocking new value.
Visit the Finance 2035 landing page to join the conversation on how we can accelerate the strategic role of the CFO. Find out how OneStream can help you unleash the value of finance, empower the enterprise with insights, and prepare your organization for the future. Together we can Take Finance Further.™
PIONEERING LEADER
A strategic team leader, equipped with high-level technological skills.
BIG-PICTURE THINKER
Keeps the overall business strategy at the forefront of decision-making, while keeping on top of business risks and maintaining strong investor relationships.
CHANGE AGENT
Takes a proactive approach, diversifying supply chains and implementing transformational digital solutions.
Detailed methodology
Return to Investment is based on a research study combining a global business survey among 2,000 business leaders and investors with a scenario planning framework.
Scenario planning process
Building alternative futures requires a creative and open process. Making sure that they remain plausible, even in their criteria, requires a rigorous methodology.
OneStream commissioned Man Bites Dog to design and develop the scenario planning. Working in collaboration with geopolitical analysis and advisory firm Oxford Analytica, Man Bites Dog undertook a multistage process to gather the latest insights on the future of business and technology and use them to build four plausible scenarios.
The research team reached out to experts in fields related to financial markets, globalization, geopolitics, the future of work, technological innovation, corporate strategy, government policy, regulation, and sociological trends.
Interviews with five experts were complemented by a strategic workshop to uncover the components that make up the four plausible future scenarios. The components are broken out into analytical units, that serve as a guide through the analytical process to illustrate which factors are fixed, which are uncertain, who they will affect and how they might interact to produce a plausible future. These components include:
Analyzing the above components then generated the two key macro drivers to form the foundations of the four plausible worlds. These two drivers were:
Regulation: Will international regulation converge or diverge between now and 2035?
Technology: Will the rollout of advanced technologies, such as AI, drive strong economic growth, or will technology and growth hit limits?
Predetermined elements: factors that are relatively stable and predictable within the timeframe of our scenarios. These factors will not vary greatly between different scenarios, but will have a significant influence on all of them as they constrain how much change is possible. Examples include the demographic profile of populations, presentday technology and the basic structure of the international system.
Trends: developments or processes that can be projected on the basis of current conditions. While the nature of a trend is established, its trajectory can vary substantially between different scenarios. Trends include the rate of economic growth, global temperature increases, or technological change.
Critical uncertainties: events or processes that have a high impact and multiple possible outcomes. Examples include the outcome of a key election and whether or not conflict between two hostile countries breaks out (or ends, if it is already underway).
Global survey
OneStream worked with Man Bites Dog to design and conduct a global survey with 1,500 business leaders working in both large, enterprise organizations and mid-market businesses (with a minimum annual revenue of USD $500 million and at least 1,000 employees).
The sample consisted of 1,000 CFOs; 250 CEOs; and 250 line of business (LOB) managers (including leaders from operations, procurement, sales, finance, customer, and regional heads). We also surveyed 500 investors, with assets under management (AUM) of $10 billion to over $3 trillion.
The research was designed to include statistically relevant samples from OneStream’s target countries and industries. Respondents were from the following countries: Australia, France, Germany, Singapore, the UK, and the USA, and represented the following sectors: financial services; manufacturing; healthcare (pharmaceuticals and health technology); public sector; and retail and consumer.
Interviews were conducted in 2024 by research company Coleman Parkes. The survey data was supplemented with in-depth interviews with CFOs and business leaders.
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