How You Can Charm Your CFO Into Loving Procurement

1.We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto

Remember when procurement was all about squeezing every last drop of savings from suppliers? A decade when businesses were so hyper-focused on cutting costs they practically wrote books about it?

Yeah. Those days are gone.

What’s there now? Inflation. Market consolidation. Tariffs. Suppliers who’ve used every trick in the book to protect their margins. Meanwhile, companies are still stuck using tired tactics that don’t work anymore. If ‘buy better’ is still your mantra, then we have news: 2012 just called - she wants her strategy back. 

Because this is what 2025 has in store for you:

• Shrinking cost-savings: An inflation spike means your cost-saving efforts are just keeping you afloat instead of giving you an edge.
• Everything’s speeding up: How are your purchasing approval processes? Speedy? By the time you adapt, the goalposts might have already moved.
• One emergency at a time: Your team needs to be part strategist, part tech genius. Instead, you’re run ragged with day-to-day firefighting.

All of this has left procurement with a PR problem. In plenty of companies these days, it’s seen as just another admin function, a cost center that slows down purchases, one that few of us want to deal with.

Done right though, procurement should be financial strategy in disguise. Every supplier agreement, every discount negotiated, every purchase decision can all act as financial levers that affect cash flow, profitability, and risk.

2.Welcome to The CFO Dilemma: So many hats, so little time

The CFO’s daily to-do list sees them throwing on different hats for each role they need to play:

• The Payment Whisperer: Making sure invoices don’t get lost in the ether and payments come in on time.
• The Budget Enforcer: Ensuring every team sticks to the budget they swore they’d follow.
• The Cash Flow King or Queen: Keeping the lights on, salaries paid, and the CEO happy.
• The Financial Time Traveller: Making sure that accounting for the past makes sense today, all while planning for the future.

For a CFO, success boils down to cold, hard numbers measured in cash flow, ROI, EBITDA and more. They are fighting a constant battle to get control, clarity, and cash flow. And when systems, processes, or people fail to cooperate, they’re the ones left cleaning up the mess. All while being tasked with making sure the company’s financial engine running at full speed.

And if they get it wrong: here’s a taster of what’s keeping your CFO wide awake at 2 a.m:

• Rogue spending: Limited visibility and control over spending commitments and unpaid invoices. 
• Hunt the payment: A constant guessing game of “Who paid this, and why?”
• Data integrity struggles: Fighting to keep ERP data clean, accurate, and reliable.
• Streamlined but not stifling: Getting the balance right between a smart purchase order process and soul-crushing bureaucracy.
• Mindless manual mayhem: Hours wasted during financial close, thanks to low user adoption and poor processes leading to manual info gathering.

Done right though, procurement can make all these problems go away, eliminating unstructured spending, keeping every purchase within predefined limits, and ensuring supplier agreements are actually followed.

In short, it can restore… control. And if there’s one thing CFOs absolutely cannot stand: it’s feeling out of control. 

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3. Why procurement = control (and why CFOs love it)

Unstructured procurement is a giant black hole where cash disappears, contracts go missing, and last-minute purchases blow up budgets. Structured procurement can fix all of that. It means no more budget black holes where spending goes rogue, and no more bad supplier deals that cost more than they should. All of which mean no more last-minute financial fire drills at the end of every quarter.

By rethinking procurement as a strategic function, you can unlock value in the business:

• Stop patching holes. Quick fixes won’t cut it anymore.
• Start building strategy. Think big, act smart, and leverage the right tools and talent.
• Lead the change. Your team can be the driving force behind cost savings, innovation, and risk reduction.

If your digital roadmap is just a shopping list of tools though, you’re doing it wrong. The real trick is to look ahead, think strategically, then work backwards:

• Start with the big-picture vision. Stop obsessing over savings and think about the bigger picture.Where does your business need to be in 3-5 years?
• Identify the gaps. Get the visibility to actually know what’s happening (and what to do about it). What’s holding you back in your procurement process?
• Choose tech that solves real problems. Embrace agility but don’t chase shiny objects - chase impact.

And here’s the kicker: Don’t try to implement everything at once. Break it into waves, test what works, and adjust as you go. 

4. Learn to speak their language (as well as your own)

Remember: CFOs and execs don’t care about procurement jargon - they care about results. If you want to win them over, these are the plays you should look at:

• Deliver on the basics. Nail the cost savings, streamline the processes, and keep stakeholders happy.
• Pick your early wins. Choose a few big-ticket opportunities, crush them, and create internal champions who sing your praises.
• Show them the money. Link every initiative directly to the bottom line.

Getting your CFO (and your team) to embrace procurement doesn’t have to be a battle. CFOs don’t approve investments based on gut feelings. They want data. So show them the numbers. If you position procurement correctly, it shouldn’t be seen as a cost - but as a profit protector.

Speak their language: Don’t talk about purchase orders. Talk about risk, control, and financial predictability.

Make it easy: Make the plan ridiculously easy to implement, so finance teams see immediate value - no long, painful transitions.

Show quick wins first: No CFO wants to sign off on a two-year implementation plan. Start small. Automate approvals, consolidate suppliers, reduce rogue spending.

Tie it to business goals: Procurement can positively affect growth, operations, and profitability, so talk about the longer-term impacts of lower costs, better financial forecasting, reduced risk exposure, all of which can be benchmarked.

5. Conclusion: It’s time to start believing

Let’s be real: If you don’t believe in procurement’s impact, your CFO won’t either. It’s not about spending less - it’s about spending smarter. And structured procurement doesn’t just prevent financial chaos - it turns finance teams into strategic leaders.

Ready to turn the page on another year of budget overruns, surprise expenses, and messy supplier contracts? If you’re looking instead to sell in a streamlined, predictable procurement process that actually supports growth, we’d love to help.

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