What CFOs Actually Want from Marketing Leaders

Marketing and Finance aren’t opponents - they’re simply mistranslating each other. At the start of my career, I trained as an accountant. I learned to think in terms of risk, return, capital allocation and comparability. Every decision had to stand up to scrutiny; assumptions were explicit, numbers reconciled - it was black and white.

Years later, sitting in boardrooms as a marketing leader, I found myself in very different conversations - ones filled with nuance, judgement and far more grey. My favourite Finance Director is now a very good friend of mine but when I was pitching for annual budgets, it often felt like we were living on different planets. I would talk about the importance of top-of-funnel investment and long-term demand creation. She would glaze over when I admitted we couldn’t measure it in pure bookings or immediate revenue terms. She would ask about ROI on creative production spend. I would explain why attribution wasn’t straightforward.

We would both leave the room slightly frustrated. Looking back, neither of us was wrong. We were just speaking different languages.

CFOs don’t hate marketing - they hate ambiguity

Because of my early finance training, I understand what makes finance leaders uncomfortable. It isn’t brand investment, it’s uncertainty without boundaries. Finance teams are responsible for managing risk and allocating finite capital. When marketing cases are framed around awareness, engagement or share of voice without clear commercial linkage, it creates ambiguity in a system built for clarity. And that’s when it all starts to sound a bit ‘fluffy’. The problem isn’t that top-of-funnel activity lacks value, it’s that we often fail to explain that value in terms of margin, payback period, efficiency and long-term contribution. Once you understand that lens, the conversation changes.

Attribution was never the real issue

For a long time, I thought the tension would disappear if we could perfectly attribute every pound of spend to a booking. It didn’t. Perfect attribution was never realistic. What helped was introducing marketing mix modelling. It wasn’t flawless, but it allowed us to simulate different investment scenarios using historical data and reach directional accuracy - often within 90 percent. Crucially, we brought the finance team into the process. They could see how the model was built, challenge the assumptions and understand the limitations. That transparency and collaboration built confidence and made adoption far easier.

More importantly, it reframed the discussion. We stopped debating whether brand 'worked' and started discussing optimal investment levels to maximise total return. We could also identify where each channel was reaching diminishing returns and where additional investment would no longer drive commercial impact. We were fortunate to work with a brilliant agency at the time who built the model and could explain it in plain English - a language both Marketing and Finance could understand. CFOs don’t require perfection, they require credible assumptions, transparency around risk, and evidence of disciplined decision-making.

Marketing sometimes makes it harder than it needs to be

If I’m honest, marketers can unintentionally widen the gap. We:

• Overcomplicate dashboards presenting data because we have it, not because it answers the ‘so what?’
• Change metrics too frequently
• Present channel performance instead of commercial impact up in one place, down in another, with no clear link to overall business performance
• Defend activity rather than articulate contribution

Under scrutiny, it’s tempting to retreat into complexity but complexity rarely builds confidence, it can look like we’re hiding behind it.

The most effective marketing leaders I’ve worked with simplify. They translate marketing activity into revenue contribution, retention impact, pricing power and efficiency gains. They acknowledge uncertainty but define its boundaries. That builds trust. 

The shift that unlocks alignment

The turning point in most finance-marketing relationships is subtle but powerful. Instead of saying, “Here’s what marketing delivered,” say, “Here’s how marketing contributed to growth, efficiency and resilience.” Instead of arguing that something cannot be measured, explain what can be measured, what can be modelled, and what assumptions underpin it. When marketing is framed as disciplined capital allocation rather than creative expenditure, alignment becomes easier. And when alignment improves, investment decisions improve too.

Start by changing your language.

Replace ‘marketing spend’ or ‘marketing budget’ with ‘marketing investment’ in every conversation you have.