Avoid the marketing chopping block

Finance continues to gain greater influence and authority over the business as a whole, including marketing. According to Gary Patterson, CEO of advisory firm Fiscal Doctor, Inc.,“…today’s CFOs are expected to play the role of both COO [chief operating officer] and CFO, which is even more of a strategic position.”CFO’s are becoming responsible for activities such as prioritizing company resources, developing and communicating the company strategy, making IT decisions, and implementing performance programs. As a result marketers need to better quantify and measure the value of marketing programs. And more financial influence and control over marketing is on the way. Once the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) accounting standards (already deployed in the European Union, Israel, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil) come to the United States in 2015, the accounting profession will face fundamental shifts that will require marketing to proactively work with finance to adopt these new reporting standards into the marketing planning and budgeting cycles.  In this new world you need to “speak business” to win over the CFO and save your budget.  

About the Author: Laura Patterson is President of  VisionEdge Marketing -- Improving Marketing Effectiveness and Creating Marketing Centers of Excellence. Laura Patterson is a proven marketing practitioner, respected consultant and dynamic speaker. She is known for her practical, no-nonsense approach to proving and improving the value of B2B marketing.