Whether you’re just starting out as a CFO or speaking from years of experience, you’ll know how important it is to curate the right software stack. Choose the right tools, and you can create a streamlined process that allows you to reduce costs and boost efficiency in just a few clicks. But choose wrong, and you can easily find yourself overwhelmed by data, spending hours trying to track down relevant statistics within a sea of information.

Not so long ago, the main responsibilities of a CFO would have been focused on the nitty-gritty of financial management. But as technology has allowed us to automate more and more of these administrative tasks, that role has shifted. Now, a CFO might be responsible for anything from pioneering new strategies to managing growth. In other words, it’s a big job — but one that can be made easier with the right tech.

The first step to choosing the right software stack is to figure out exactly what you need. Small start-up CFOs, for example, will have a specific set of software requirements — and they might look very different to the stack used by the CFO of a growth-stage company.

Generally speaking, start-ups don’t require much — although a decent piece of accounting software should be in every CFO’s toolkit from the very beginning. To access your data from anywhere — and ensure easy sharing at the click of a button — a cloud-based solution such as FreshBooks or Xero is probably the best choice.

Once past the start-up stage, CFOs might want to consider software that deals with payroll and HR. The goal is to streamline the process while remaining in touch with your employees, so go for an intuitive, transparent platform such as Gusto or BrightPay.

Next, we move on to another cornerstone of the CFO’s stack: Enterprise Resource Planning systems, or ERPs. This software allows companies to easily manage day-to-day activities, and can encompass anything from accounting to project management, compliance, procurement, and more. And the system you choose will depend heavily on the focus of your organisation. For many businesses, NetSuite serves as a good all-rounder, while Unit4 offers a high level of personalisation that’s popular with charities and nonprofits.

ERPs, though, can only do so much — and many CFOs like to add financial planning and analysis platforms to their stack as well. With collaborative tools such as Abacum, you can automate certain tasks and analyses, making it easier to predict the future of your business. Similarly, a spend management solution will help you keep track of corporate spending, allowing you to easily incorporate all expenses into your overviews and predictions.

In other words, there are lots of different elements that make up the perfect CFO software stack — and only you can decide what’s right for your company.

But whether you’re a small, independent business or a high-growth company on your way to the top, it’s worth taking a look at what our sister company Projected has to offer. Ideal for busy CFOs who sometimes struggle to find the data that they’re looking for amongst various complex platforms, Projected has built a tool to analyse your KPIs, delivering all the essential data direct to your inbox. So if you want to make informed decisions about your company’s future — and plan for growth in a sustainable and productive way — speak to the Projected team about the essential tool that can transform your software stack.