---
title: "CFO and CSCO: Better Together"
description: Through a closer partnership between the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Supply Chain Office, Finance and Supply Chain are able to advance strategic goals.
---

[River Logic Blog | Prescriptive Analytics Blog](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog)

# [CFO and CSCO: Better Together](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog/cfo-and-csco-better-together)

 Written by [River Logic](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog/author/river-logic) | Nov 02, 2016

## The CFO and CSCO Can Truly be a Power Team

### First, understand a little history

Traditionally, the finance department has never been particularly close or collaborative with the supply chain people. Instead, each department had their own purview and each pursued their own select goals without much regard for the other. For better or worse, the finance department was in charge of closely tracking spend (among other things) while the supply chain side was trusted to simply report their results and meet demand in the cheapest way possible. Historically, supply chain never had to be very accountable.

With the introduction of supply chain planning software, however, things changed significantly. Now, the CEO (and the Office of Finance) can track the activities in supply chain, making them much more accountable. (And, in turn, making their mistakes much more apparent to Finance!) So it's no surprise there still exists tension between the two: Supply Chain typically wants to meet demand and never be short on inventory while Finance is looking for ways to drive profit and cut costs — slightly conflicting goals, at times.

### Second, recognize that the situation must change

As mentioned, times have changed. A forward-looking business should realize that these two departments must cooperate to a very great extent if the entire company is to flourish. Working to form a closer partnership between major business units has become the new norm in the worlds most successful supply chains (The P&Gs, Apples and Unilevers of the world). These leading companies recognize that CFOs and CSCOs must come together to create an alignment between strategy, finance and operations.

### Finally, take a look at the wealth of opportunity

A close CFO/CSCO relationship presents a multitude of opportunities for an organization. In general, it not only strengthens financial performance but it can also unlock hidden value within the organization. In particular, it provides these benefits:

It should be obvious that the roles of the CFO and CSCO are continually evolving such that these prime movers can no longer act unilaterally. Instead, a proactive approach to supply chain management is the new prescription for success. Business analytics will undoubtedly play a large role in this process (and the CSCO should thus also focus on giving the Finance more clarity into data via advanced analytics tools / dashboards), but the human factor cannot be underestimated.

[View full post](https://download.riverlogic.com/blog/cfo-and-csco-better-together)

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