CIO: Don’t square up to the CFO

Who does he think he is cutting my budget, when in fact he should be increasing it to enable me to deliver operational efficiencies elsewhere? Tempting as it maybe to have it out with the CFO, this is rarely productive.

I suggest you take cost management into your own hands. Get ultra lean and divert the saved cash to delivering operational efficiencies elsewhere in the business. Then get the beneficiaries to push the CFO for more of the same.

On the basis that the CFO trusts the other departmental heads more than you, or at least likes the sound of costs being cut around the organisation, he is likely to see the wisdom in investing in further cost management initiatives.