Modern Finance Function.
How the finance team itself is built and run — its tooling, its structure, and the shift from scorekeeper to partner.
The modern finance function is the finance team built for a company that runs on real-time data, distributed work, and continuous decisions — not the month-end close alone. The work has shifted from scorekeeping (record what happened) to partnership (shape what happens next): closer to product, pricing, and go-to-market, with automation across the order-to-cash and procure-to-pay paths and an FP&A function that reports forward-looking signal rather than backward-looking variance.
The CFO seat carries more, not less — from downside-risk manager to growth agent and back toward defense, from accountant-in-chief to the CEO’s eyes and ears, from owning the close to owning the systems that route the business. This hub absorbs what we used to call the CFO beat and success-in-finance, covering how modern finance teams are built and run across stages, geographies, and operating models.
Essays 49
071 I just graduated again. Thanks, Claude. AI in Finance 067 Without benchmarks you're naked — Michiel de Bruijn on greenfield SaaS procurement Podcast Summary 066 Outcomes are easy, enablers are hard — Srini Phatak on the Fortune-500 CFO job Podcast Summary 065 Strategy is a branch of pricing — Jean-Manuel Izaret on the inversion Podcast Summary 064 How to succeed in finance Modern Finance Function 063 10 reasons CFOs should feature on podcasts Talent & Equity 060 Demo to production — Harsh Joshi on the chasm enterprise AI keeps falling into Podcast Summary 059 Flip the equation — Rocky Lalvani on profit as the driver, not the residual Podcast Summary 056 Between the commodity and the one-off — Tim Smith on pricing as a discipline Podcast Summary 052 The 1% challenge — Per Sjöfors on pricing as the unread P&L line Podcast Summary 051 Communication beats negotiation — Murali on enterprise procurement Podcast Summary 050 Three commandments for a media CFO — Sanjay Jain on 5% economics Podcast Summary 047 Procurement is sales without the quota — Reba Cox on the function of functions Podcast Summary 046 A blueprint for the Indian market Modern Finance Function 045 Starve your distractions, feed your focus Modern Finance Function 042 The synthesizer — Alex Small on strategy as connective tissue, not a function Podcast Summary 040 The co-founder CFO — Priya Sharma on the decisions only a founder can make Podcast Summary 039 3V framework: protect, create, unlock Modern Finance Function 038 RRR: Respect, Recognize, Reward Talent & Equity 037 IPO is an entry event, not an exit — Arvind Agarwal on the public-company CFO Podcast Summary 036 The IPO masterclass lives before the bell — Rakib Azad Podcast Summary 035 A roadmap to becoming a CFO Talent & Equity 033 The CEO-CFO match Talent & Equity 032 How to recruit a CFO in emerging tech Talent & Equity 031 The best CFOs work for the best CFOs — Dan Himple Podcast Summary 030 The finance pyramid — David Yan on insights, not raw data Podcast Summary 029 Risks hiding in plain sight — Alex Urmersbach on the paranoid CFO Podcast Summary 028 Finance is the heart, not the brake — Akshay Sarma on the lender CFO Podcast Summary 027 Less close, more counsel — David Junius on the strategic CFO Podcast Summary 026 Subtract the work — Arjun Mehta on the leader who eliminates Podcast Summary 025 The CFO diamond — Karan Bhople on the dispassionate chair Podcast Summary 024 Run the house or run the strategy — Pankaj Naik on tech CFOs Podcast Summary 023 The SaaS traps that catch growing companies Procurement / Spend 022 The AI-finance paradox AI in Finance 021 I want to be a CFO — Joy Mbanugo on the deliberate path Podcast Summary 020 Is finance a support function? Modern Finance Function 019 The pendulum — Mika Kasumov on strategic finance Podcast Summary 018 Underrated CFO traits for the AI era AI in Finance 017 What I'd tell my pre-AI self AI in Finance 016 Today's controller is yesterday's CFO — Pete Boyes Podcast Summary 015 Test match to T20 — Ananth Avva on the leaking CFO chair Podcast Summary 013 System-driven, not people-dependent — Amit Kumar Podcast Summary 012 Software asset management across the lifecycle Procurement / Spend 010 The Conscious Keeper — Venkatesh Tarakkad Podcast Summary 008 What you can control — KJ Tjon Podcast Summary 007 Change the tires of a fast-moving car — Jay Sahal Podcast Summary 006 How to evaluate finance software Modern Finance Function 004 Reset 100, Part 2: Business Strategy Modern Finance Function 003 Reset 100, Part 1: CFO Leadership Modern Finance Function
Episodes 20
EP 031 Srini Phatak Unilever EP 031 - How to Run a Fortune 500 Company with Srini Phatak, Deputy CFO of Unilever Jul 16, 2024 1 hr 30 min EP 028 Rocky Lalvani Profit Comes First EP 028 - How to Build a Profitable Business with Rocky Lalvani, Advisor and Profit First Consultant Jun 7, 2024 59 min EP 024 Sanjay Jain EP 024 - The Evolution of Media in India with Sanjay Jain, ex-CFO at Viacom18 JV and TV Today Network Apr 28, 2024 1 hr 8 min EP 020 Priya Sharma ZestMoney EP 020 - The ZestMoney Story with Priya Sharma, Co-founder, ex-COO & CFO at ZestMoney Feb 15, 2024 1 hr 50 min EP 019 Arvind Agarwal PayU India EP 019 - The Nation-builder CFO with Arvind Agarwal, CFO at PayU India Feb 5, 2024 1 hr 43 min EP 018 Rakib Azad Alkira EP 018 - The Infra SaaS CFO with Rakib Azad, CFO at Alkira Jan 31, 2024 1 hr 21 min EP 016 David Yan Treez EP 016 - The CannaTech CFO with David Yan, CFO at Treez Jan 13, 2024 1 hr 26 min EP 015 Alex Urmersbach Kiavi EP 015 - The Paranoid CFO with Alex Urmersbach, CFO at Kiavi Dec 15, 2023 1 hr 6 min EP 014 Akshay Sarma Axio EP 014 - The Graduate CFO with Akshay Sarma, CFO at Axio Dec 2, 2023 57 min EP 013 David Junius Cowbell Cyber EP 013 - The Insurance CFO with David Junius, CFO at Cowbell Cyber Oct 30, 2023 56 min EP 012 Arjun Mehta Revolut India EP 012 - The Eliminator CFO with Arjun Mehta, CFO at Revolut India Oct 16, 2023 57 min EP 011 Karan Bhople strongDM EP 011 - The Dispassionate CFO with Karan Bhople, CFO at strongDM Oct 9, 2023 1 hr 28 min EP 009 Joy Mbanugo ServiceRocket EP 009 - Confidence, Prepare, Execute, and Repeat with Joy Mbanugo, CFO at ServiceRocket Aug 14, 2023 1 hr 7 min EP 008 Mika Kasumov Abacus & Pencil EP 008 - Finance as a Growth Driver with Mika Kasumov Aug 5, 2023 50 min EP 007 Pete Boyes Thoma Bravo EP 007 - Inspire, Communicate & Empower with Pete Boyes, Operating Partner at Thoma Bravo Jul 26, 2023 55 min EP 006 Ananth Avva Altium EP 006 - To Be or Not To Be a CFO with Ananth Avva, SVP and GM Cloud Platform at Altium Jun 29, 2023 1 hr EP 005 Amit Kumar Avataar Ventures EP 005 - Being System Driven with Amit Kumar, Head of Finance CoE at Avataar Ventures May 30, 2023 57 min EP 004 Venkatesh Tarakkad DealShare EP 004 - The Un-accidental CFO with Venkatesh Tarakkad, CFO at DealShare May 4, 2023 56 min EP 003 KJ Tjon Kaleyra, Nubia Brand, Volcon EP 003 - Focus on What You Can Control with KJ Tjon Apr 21, 2023 59 min EP 002 Jay Sahal Yellow.ai EP 002 - Customer Value Enhancement through Internal Excellence with Jay Sahal, CFO at Yellow.ai Apr 14, 2023 1 hr
Related questions
Reviewed- What is the 'modern finance function'?
- The finance team built for a company that runs on real-time data, distributed work, and continuous strategic decisions — not month-end closes alone. The work has shifted from scorekeeping (record what happened) to partnership (shape what happens next). In practice that means closer involvement in product, pricing, and go-to-market; tighter automation across the order-to-cash and procure-to-pay paths; and an FP&A function that reports forward-looking signal, not just backward-looking variance.
- How is the modern CFO different from the traditional CFO?
- Three shifts. (1) From downside-risk manager to growth agent, then — post-2023 — partially back toward defense (cash runway, scenario planning, stress-testing the model). (2) From accountant-in-chief to the CEO's 'eyes and ears,' flagging where the business might go wrong before it does. (3) From owning the close to owning the systems that route the business — billing, ERP, contracts, revenue recognition. The chair carries more, not less.
- When should a company hire its first CFO?
- When the finance work has grown beyond what a controller plus a part-time advisor can carry — typically around Series B, or $5–10M ARR, or the start of a serious fundraise. Earlier than that, fractional CFOs cover most of the strategic surface at lower cost. Later than that and you'll feel it in the data: forecasts miss, board materials slip, and the CEO is doing finance work themselves. The trigger is responsibility, not headcount.
- What does 'business partnering' actually mean for finance teams?
- Sitting in the rooms where decisions get made — pricing changes, hiring plans, geographic expansion, monetization moves — and feeding the numbers in early enough to shape the decision, not just record it. The mechanical version: one structured hour per quarter with product and pricing on the revenue-recognition implications of new packaging; standing weekly time with sales ops on pipeline and quota; standing time with HR on attrition and backfill cycles. Without that cadence, finance becomes the function that says no after the decision is already made.
- How do system-driven companies differ from people-dependent ones?
- A system-driven company can lose a person without losing the process. A people-dependent company can't. The unlock — captured most clearly by Amit Kumar — is mechanical: automate the routine paths (order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, expense, HR), enforce the three-eyes principle through the system (the person who does, passes, and approves a transaction must all be different), and reserve human judgment for the decisions that actually need it. The CFO's role is to judge how much automation is needed, where, and when.