Well, like the old saw says, time flies when you’re having fun. It seems unbelievable to us, but July 11 marks the one-year anniversary of the first issue of CFO Brew.
We’ve seen an unbelievable amount of change and uncertainty in our first year, more than we would have ever guessed a year ago: an ongoing European ground war, supply chain snarls, staggering inflation, upheaval in the banking system, a crypto implosion, and the introduction of ChatGPT.
To mark our first birthday (since we can’t all raise a glass together) we’ve gathered some of our—and your—favorite stories from CFO Brew’s first year.
- Talent is number one. CFOs consistently rate attracting and retaining talent as one of the most pressing challenges they face. The most read story of our first year tackled the talent question head on. “How one company’s finance and HR teams handled talent retention,” published in February, looked at how one company’s HR and finance teams worked together to improve employee retention and engagement.
- Top talent. Along those same lines, readers flocked to our story “The behind-the-scenes of hiring a CFO,” published in January 2023. The story was an inside look at the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring process for a CFO, and landed on our top five most read list.
- AI explosion. Since the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022, we’ve been exploring how generative AI is going to impact finance. Our second most read story of the last year, “Future is now,” published this April, found what seemed to be the first chat CFO. Another top-ten most popular story, “It’s not your Dad’s Excel anymore,” published in May, explored how generative AI may impact the vital finance tool.
- New role, who dis? But it wasn’t just the AI technology itself that interested readers. Finance professionals wanted to know how AI and other technologies were going to impact their jobs. Throughout the year, we reported on how technology was changing the CFO role. Our story “Chief financial data officer” explored the data skill sets finance professionals will need in the future, while “What CFOs should know about generative AI,” published in June, offered a primer on the paradigm-shifting technology.
- Fun times. The last year hasn’t been all heavy-duty change and upheaval, though. We’ve had a lot of fun looking at the lighter side of the finance and accounting beat. Whether it’s earnings call “Buzzword bingo” or unlikely recession red flags or outrageous reimbursement requests, we’ve been able to flex our creative muscles and (hopefully) entertain our readers a little.
- Readers first. Perhaps the best part of the last year has been meeting finance professionals through our reporting. Whether it was the man with the largest CFO Rolodex in the world (we think), the CFO who’s a secret novelist, a comptroller with a wicked left hook, a CFO who’s fighting for human rights in Iran, or the CFO who found new opportunities in cannabis, we’ve seen the wide range of fascinating experiences and backgrounds that set our readers apart. And that’s the best birthday present ever.