Finance teams possess too much data and insight to stay siloed within one organization-their expertise should be integrated across departments to influence their business counterparts to make better decisions. The power of such influence hasn't gone unnoticed. A recent PwC CFO US Pulse Survey confirmed that one of the top priorities for CFOs is to establish finance as a business partner across the enterprise. But this is a major change in culture for many teams.

The switch from traditional finance to becoming a partner and financial analyst requires skills like communication and persuasion. The payoff-becoming integrated members of the management team-is worthwhile; it gives finance a new role of influence to impact the business and co-create business value.