In recent years, business partnering has emerged as a strategic function, and today’s CFOs are partnering with Chartered Accountants to drive future-focused discussions, manage risk, enable data-driven decision-making, and influence value creation.

This revised and updated Business Insight explains what business partnering means for Chartered Accountants today. From applying AI-powered financial modelling to shaping environmental, social and governance programs, we explore what best-in-class business partners are doing right now.

We spoke with leading Chartered Accountants to discover their proven approaches to effective business partnering, including tech-enabled business partnering using dashboards, generative AI, robotic process automation and more. At the same time, our guide keeps one eye firmly on the fundamentals of successful partnering, including applying a customer-centric lens.

The guide also covers essential business partnering skills, traits and behaviours, as well as strategies to future-proof finance through effective partnering.

"A great finance business partner not only understands data, but also the operators who use that data. They’re not just a numbers person—they’re a people person as well.”