The CFO is increasingly becoming a top technology investment decision maker — if not the leading decision maker — in many organisations, according to a joint study by Gartner, Inc., and Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF), the research affiliate of Financial Executives International (FEI).

The study shows that the CFO's role in technology decision making has increased in the last year with 44 percent of CFOs stating that their influence over IT investment has increased since 2010, while 47 percent say that it has remained the same and just 9 percent of those surveyed believe that their influence has decreased.

The survey was conducted between October 2011 and February 2012, and it included 255 CFO respondents.

"The CFO and CIO are well-positioned to work together at generating business value from enterprise IT investments. However, this performance is often not achieved because of poor perceptions of IT, a parochial CFO or CIO perspective, or simply a failure to invest in the CFO-CIO relationship," said John Van Decker, research vice president at Gartner.

"This year’s results show that, in most organisations, the CFO and CIO work together to finance IT and provide information that supports enterprise processes. But there is also an opportunity for them to form a powerful alliance that generates more value for the enterprise."

The survey results showed that there are many ways that CFOs are involved in making IT investment decisions.

Forty one percent said that they were the actual leader of a group responsible for IT investment, whereas another 41 percent were part of a group responsible for IT decision making, 16 percent provide advice and one percent said they were the sole decision maker.

Since the large majority was involved in group decision making about IT, engaging the CFO is clearly a critical issue.

"CFOs need to explain to CIOs the IT capabilities needed by the finance function," said Bill Sinnett, director of research at FERF. "There is an opportunity for them to form a powerful alliance that generates more value for the enterprise."

Sinnett adds that the CFO and CIO are well-positioned to work together at generating superior performance from enterprise IT investments. However, this performance is often not achieved because of poor perceptions of IT, a parochial CFO or CIO perspective, or simply a failure to invest in the CFO-CIO relationship.

One reason CFOs are important stakeholders is that they control IT funding. Although CFOs don't strictly decide who receives the money, they are powerful influencers and strict enforcers of policies and decisions.

CFOs often have greater access to, and involvement with, senior business governance groups, and usually have strong influence and credibility with the CEO and board.