Why your CFO should chair the Integrated Reconciliation Review
30 Jul 2025
Blog
This blog covers:
- Why traditional IBP leadership models often fail at the critical reconciliation stage
- How CFO leadership creates accountability and drives better decision-making
- Why finance ownership of reconciliation meetings aligns perfectly with the modern CFO's evolving role
- Details of our Integrated Business Planning for Finance online workshop taking place on 24th September 2025
In an effective Integrated Business Planning (IBP) operating model, leadership roles as review owners are carefully distributed across functional heads – except, curiously, when it comes to the Chief Financial Officer. Despite being champions of the IBP process, CFOs are often relegated to observer status in the meeting where financial forecasts hit operational reality: the Integrated Reconciliation (IR) Review.
This separated approach might have made theoretical sense once. However, in practice, it creates a fundamental disconnect that undermines the effectiveness of the entire planning process.
This is a challenge we explore in our Integrated Business Planning for Finance online workshop, where we help finance leaders take ownership of the reconciliation process.
CFOs as natural owners of integration
The IR Review represents the critical juncture where operational planning meets financial commitment. It's where the financial forecast and outlook promised to the CEO and board intersect with the reality emerging from the planning process.
To have this pivotal meeting led by someone other than the CFO – typically an IBP process leader who often lacks executive authority – defies both practical experience and organisational reality. It's akin to asking a talented midfielder to play goalkeeper during the penalty shootout.
In our experience working with hundreds of organisations, this misalignment creates unnecessary friction, undermines accountability, and weakens the IBP process, ultimately.
Today's CFOs are increasingly embracing their role as stewards of integrated planning. They recognise IBP as a value driver and understand that integration produces better results than isolation. Most importantly, they grasp that reconciliation is where this integration happens most powerfully.
When CFOs chair the IR review, several benefits emerge:
- Enhanced accountability: The CFO's involvement signals the strategic importance of the reconciliation process
- Improved decision quality: Financial implications of planning decisions are immediately contextualised
- Faster resolution: Gap-closing actions receive appropriate priority and resources
- Stronger executive alignment: The CFO can represent reconciled plans to the CEO during the MBR with confidence
In our analysis of recent IBP implementations, a high majority of successful designs now position the CFO as chair of the IR review, reflecting both evolving best practice and practical reality.
The modern CFO's opportunity
This shift also represents a significant opportunity for finance leaders seeking to expand their strategic influence. By taking ownership of the reconciliation process, CFOs demonstrate their value beyond traditional financial governance, positioning themselves as integrated business leaders.
As one client noted after implementing this approach: “The IBP process leader has always been seen as a candidate for future leadership – but now the CFO can use this platform to demonstrate their understanding of the total business and establish themselves for broader leadership opportunities.”
For organisations reconsidering their IBP leadership structure, the key is recognising that this isn't about finance ‘taking over’ planning but aligning leadership responsibilities with organisational reality.
The CFO's role in chairing the IR Review acknowledges their unique position in ensuring that the plan presented to leadership is robust, clear and actionable. Rather than disempowering other functions, it creates the conditions for truly integrated decision-making.
In a business environment demanding ever-greater agility and forecasting accuracy, putting your CFO at the helm of reconciliation is more than a sound, structural choice. It’s a strategic advantage.
If you're a finance leader ready to take ownership of reconciliation and elevate your strategic influence, our Integrated Business Planning for Finance online workshop offers the practical tools and frameworks to lead with confidence.
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