In the corporate reporting system, does the finance department always play a dominant role? This is a question worth exploring in depth. The chief financial officer (usually referred to as the CFO or finance director) in most enterprises is responsible for preparing financial statements, managing budgets, monitoring cash flow, and ensuring that externally disclosed financial information complies with regulations and accounting standards. However, corporate reporting is not limited to financial data; it also covers non-financial information such as sustainability, human resources, governance structure, and risk management. In these areas, the CFO may not be the primary decision-maker, or may not be involved at all.

Reporting areas led by finance

The finance department typically assumes core responsibilities in the following areas:

  • Statutory financial statements: Including the balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and statement of changes in equity, these documents must comply with generally accepted accounting principles (such as IFRS or GAAP).
  • Management accounting reports: Providing internal management with decision-support information such as cost analysis, budget execution status, and performance evaluation.
  • Tax filing and compliance reports: Ensuring that the enterprise completes various tax filings accurately and on time, and responds to tax authority inspections.
  • Financial communication in investor relations: At quarterly or annual earnings calls, the CFO typically interprets financial performance and answers analysts' questions about profitability, debt, capital expenditures, and more.

Areas where finance is not involved or does not lead

Although finance holds an important position in corporate reporting, the following areas are often led by other functional departments, with finance providing only support or no involvement at all:

  • Sustainability reports (ESG reports): Disclosure of environmental, social, and governance information is typically handled by the sustainability department or corporate social responsibility team; finance may only assist in providing quantitative data such as energy consumption and carbon emissions, but is not the leader of the report.
  • Human resources reports: Data such as employee headcount, training investment, and diversity metrics are compiled by the human resources department; finance does not directly participate in their content design or publication.
  • Strategic and forward-looking statements: Forward-looking descriptions of future plans such as market expansion, product R&D, and mergers and acquisitions are usually drafted by the strategic planning department or the CEO's office; finance only provides financial feasibility analysis but is not responsible for the final wording.
  • Compliance and legal disclosures: Information involving legal risks such as litigation, regulatory investigations, and intellectual property is led by the legal department; finance does not participate in specific legal judgments.

Blurred boundaries and collaboration of responsibilities

It is worth noting that with the growing trend toward integrated corporate reporting (such as the integrated reporting framework), the boundaries between finance and other departments are increasingly blurred. For example, when preparing an annual integrated report, the CFO may need to work with the sustainability team to determine the intersection of "financial materiality" and "impact materiality," where finance's involvement far exceeds that in traditional financial reporting. However, in practice, whether the CFO is "responsible" for a particular report depends on the corporate governance structure, industry regulatory requirements, and the expectations of the report's target audience.

A key question: Is the CFO responsible for non-financial information?

In many jurisdictions, such as under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the CFO may be required to sign off on internal control processes for ESG information, but this does not mean they bear full responsibility for the content. Instead, the board of directors or audit committee typically holds final approval authority. Therefore, the CFO's role is closer to that of an "information integrator" or "quality supervisor," rather than the sole person responsible for all reports.

Conclusion

Finance indeed plays a core role in corporate reporting, especially in statutory financial reporting and internal management reporting. However, for non-financial information, finance is often not the leader, and may even be completely absent. The success of corporate reporting depends on cross-departmental collaboration, and the scope of finance's responsibilities should be clearly defined to avoid responsibility gaps or duplication of effort. In the future, as reporting standards evolve, the role of finance may expand further, but the answer to whether "finance always leads" still depends on the specific type of report and the organizational structure.