Unconscious Uncoupling: CFO Business Partnering 2025

The report surveyed 240 US heads of Sales, Marketing, HR, IT, Customer Service, and R&D departments, lifting the lid for the first on their real relationship with their CFOs.
The analysis finds that despite long-held promises for “finance business partnering”, partner departments still consider the main function of the CFOs Office as “limiting spending” and as a “Department of No”.
At the same time, most department executives also say CFOs are the least trusted to lead AI strategy in a company— reinforcing the perception that the finance office is behind the curve. This also reveals the first benchmarks for business partnering on topics ranging from communication to strategic alignment.