In partnership with
Don’t get SaaD. Get Rippling.
Remember when software made business simpler?
Today, the average company runs 100+ apps—each with its own logins, data, and headaches. HR can’t find employee info. IT fights security blind spots. Finance reconciles numbers instead of planning growth.
Our State of Software Sprawl report reveals the true cost of “Software as a Disservice” (SaaD)—and how much time, money, and sanity it’s draining from your teams.
The future of work is unified. Don’t get SaaD. Get Rippling.
Hey there, CFOs! 💼
Finance leaders are leaving static budgets behind for agile finance playbooks. Rolling forecasts and scenario triggers now outperform perfect estimates.
Are you budgeting for control or for speed?
📰 Upcoming in this issue
🦕 Don’t Be a Budget Dinosaur: Why Agility Beats Accuracy
🛡️ De-Risking Tech and Data: The CFO’s Evolving Role
📈 CFOs Grow Cautiously Optimistic for 2026
📈 Trending news
CFO Optimism Stays Local
Deloitte AI Debacle is a CFO Wake-Up Call
How AI Transforms CFO Leadership
🦕 Don’t Be a Budget Dinosaur: Why Agility Beats Accuracy
Finance leaders are shifting their focus from precision to adaptability. The article explains how rolling forecasts and trigger-based plans enable faster and more confident decisions than traditional annual budgets.
Key Takeaways:
📈 Rolling Forecasts: Replace annual budgets with quarterly rolling forecasts that refresh assumptions as conditions evolve.
🧪 Scenario Planning: Model multiple outcomes, assign triggers, and define preapproved actions to respond quickly when thresholds are met.
🧭 Decision Rights: Grant operators greater spending authority within established guardrails to enhance speed and accountability.
📏 Measure Outcomes: Track cycle times, forecast accuracy bands, and return on change, rewarding learning over false precision.
🛡️ De-Risking Tech and Data: The CFO’s Evolving Role
FTI Consulting outlines how finance leaders turn technology risk into managed value creation. CFOs are aligning investments, governance, and resilience with measurable business outcomes.
Key Takeaways:
🧭 Own the Risk Agenda: Map technology risks to financial impact, set clear thresholds, and guide investments toward the highest-value controls.
🔐 Strengthen Governance: Establish firm policies, access controls, and audit trails to safeguard data quality, privacy, and compliance across systems and vendors.
📊 Value-Linked Metrics: Utilize dashboards to track incidents, remediation progress, and ROI, thereby transforming risk management into measurable business performance.
🔁 Resilience by Design: Test scenarios, monitor third-party risk, and prepare recovery playbooks that keep operations running through disruptions.
📈 CFOs Grow Cautiously Optimistic for 2026
A new survey reveals an improving sentiment among CFOs, although most remain focused on maintaining cost discipline and pricing strategies to protect margins. Many are planning selective hiring and measured investments in AI.
Key Takeaways:
📊 Pricing Power: Implement targeted pricing actions and packaging to offset costs while maintaining demand stability.
🧰 Cost Discipline: Tighten procurement, automation, and vendor consolidation to defend margins amid uncertain demand.
🤖 AI Investment: Allocate budgets to automation and analytics that accelerate forecasting and reduce SG&A without increasing headcount.
🧭 Risk Watchlist: Monitor interest rates, elections, and supply chain shocks while maintaining scenarios and cash buffers for rapid pivots.
📊 Take This Edition’s Poll:
This or that: which technology risk deserves the most CFO attention now?
Why It Matters
Agile finance allows faster pivots and smarter capital allocation in volatile markets. Start by introducing quarterly rolling forecasts and trigger-based plans.
Empowering teams within clear guardrails ensures decisions remain responsive, accountable, and aligned with long-term goals.
Wishing you continued success,
Vanessa Carter
Editor-in-Chief
CFO Executive Insights
P.S. Interested in sponsoring a future issue? Just reply to this email and I’ll send packages!