The CFO Playbook: Navigating Economic Uncertainty with James Sweeney

Across 2025, our Spotlight Interview series will take a deep dive into the modern CFO.

No longer just a financial steward, the CFO is viewed as a strategic partner deeply embedded in all facets of the business. Over the next 12 episodes, The CFO Playbook, will uncover the skills, insights, and leadership approaches to serve as a gateway to understanding the multifaceted role of the CFO and how they contribute to organisational success.

In our inaugural feature, we met with James Sweeney, CFO at BAD, for his insights into Navigating Economic Uncertainty. [7 minute read]

David Waddell (DW): James, it’s great to have you with us. You’ve enjoyed a varied career so far, can you start by walking us through your background and career journey?

(JS): Thanks, David. It’s been an interesting ride, for sure! Graduating from Leeds with a mathematics degree certainly feels like a long time ago and what’s followed is a career spanning management, commercial, sales, and financial duties at SaaS and services SMEs across multiple sectors. Starting my training at Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting, I qualified for my ACCA at Travel Assets Group.

What followed was joining the Board of Transive at a young age, co-founding multiple businesses—including a multi-million-pound e-commerce and ERP platform—and leading a software agency with offshore teams. I also ran a startup incubator, advised entrepreneurs, and served as product owner for a travel technology app in partnership with an industry leader.

Beyond that, I lectured on finance and legal matters at the University of the Arts, and served as Treasurer for Little Green Pig, helping steer them through the pandemic. Now, I’m CFO at BAD, working alongside CEO Andrea Day on corporate finance, governance, and strategic planning. I am also the CFO at ForLoop, a data science and engineering company, on financial and commercial strategy, and technology product launches.

DW: Well, you did say it was varied! That’s an impressive and diverse journey, but what really stands out is the range of businesses you’ve been involved with. Having worked across different stages of the business lifecycle, you’re in a strong position to share your thoughts on navigating economic uncertainty. What’s your approach?

JS: You’ve got to stay ahead of the curve and keep informed on macroeconomic trends. Just recently, the ONS (Office for National Statistics) reported that 62% of trading businesses are facing turnover challenges with rising prices and taxes squeezing both profit margins and limiting growth potential.

At the same time, economic uncertainty, influenced by Brexit and global market fluctuations, complicates decision-making and future planning. I have been looking closely at R&D relief and grant funding, and performing regular line-by-line reviews of our costs with colleagues to ensure costs don’t drift out of control.

DW: I can relate to that. Finding the balance between a drive for growth with sensible and realistic future planning is a fine art! Employing the right people armed with the best tools or tech available certainly doesn’t mean success!

JS: Of course, technological adaptation is critical, as SMEs must invest in digital tools to stay competitive not forgetting the time for training and onboarding for these tools. There’s a hidden cost to digital transformation you need to be aware of.  And of course, there’s process automation, but that’s another conversation!

You mention employing the right people and certainly in your line of work, you’d appreciated that talent acquisition and retention pose further challenges, especially as larger companies offer more attractive compensation packages. SMEs need to think outside the box. Flexible working practices are still very much the norm within SMEs and employee engagement are levers we can pull to succeed here. 

DW: James, this is a conversion we have daily with our clients! Anything else to add here?

JS: Finally, whatever the sector, market competition is fierce, and if required, securing access to finance is becoming more difficult with tighter lending criteria. Alternative financing options, though available, come with higher risks.  So I suggest CFO’s spend time with their Board on the business plan and make sure it’s not something that gathers dust in the corner of a folder somewhere. Get involved in the work your sales and marketing leaders do on value proposition and market research. Know your customer.

DW: There are so many things to consider and I agree, automation is a whole other subject matter to unpick! Certainly in our world of recruitment, we rely on businesses having the confidence to hire and candidates having the confidence to change jobs but if only it were as simple as that, there are so of course so many variables. We touched on the balance of strategic future planning, what are your thoughts on how this can be approached in uncertain times?

JS: If we start with the most recent BICS (Business Insights and Conditions Survey) report, December 2024 saw 30% of trading businesses report decreased turnover which is the highest proportion since December 2022.

DW: Perhaps I will take another coffee James!

JS: This is why this conversion is so timely. 28% of businesses in the report cited economic uncertainty as a key challenge and as you alluded to earlier David, it is essential to strike a balance between long-term growth and short-term pressures. When we’re communicating with the Board and our colleagues, it is up to us to bridge the gap between what’s going on in the wider world, and how that affects our Business.

DW: And how do you share this?

JS: In order to maintain financial resilience, I prepare detailed scenario plans covering the most extreme upside and downside, so we’re prepared. With a quarter of UK businesses expecting turnover to decrease in February 2025, your base-case scenario plan may not include any growth. Cash is priority number one, so make sure you’re pulling the levers on your working capital KPIs and maintaining a healthy line of credit with your debt providers.

Balancing investment and cost-cutting requires a sharp focus on priorities. Investments in technology that improve efficiency or reduce labour reliance are critical, but you need to consider the hidden cost of transformation and change, otherwise, you’ll overestimate the potential return on your investment.

DW: I can relate to that. A HR Director once said to me that Recruitment and Retention should always be part of the same conversation, interestingly it now seems like Investment and Cost-Cutting should be treated the same way!

JS: Long-term strategy remains rooted in strengthening customer value propositions and diversifying revenue streams. When you’re thinking about cost-cutting exercises, take the rest of your management team with you. Top-down edicts from finance will not work. Similarly with potential investments – always test alignment with the business’s strategy and take people with you.

DW: Thanks James! That actually leads us nicely into communication and the importance of clear comms. Which then actually takes us back to an earlier point of confidence to make a decision! At least with clear communication, you’d know whether the decision was the right one, either way!

JS: Absolutely! In the face of ongoing economic uncertainty, CFOs play a vital role in guiding their organisations through turbulent times. McKinsey emphasises that clear, consistent, and transparent communication is essential to build trust and reduce anxiety among employees. Acknowledging the situation and outlining the steps being taken, while keeping open channels for feedback, helps to keep teams aligned and engaged.

DW: And in larger businesses, there of course more teams to communicate with!

JS: Exactly. We must also ensure alignment between finance and other departments when implementing our strategies. By involving teams in decision-making processes, we can foster a sense of ownership, improve morale, and leverage diverse perspectives to navigate uncertainty effectively. Regular collaboration across departments allows for faster adaptation to changing circumstances, reducing operational disruption.

In terms of maintaining transparency with all stakeholders, we should provide clear messaging to employees, investors, and customers alike. This helps manage expectations and ensures stakeholders remain informed and confident during uncertain periods. Maintaining regular, honest communication with the board is equally important for aligning strategic priorities.

Lastly, we must proactively prepare contingency plans. By clearly communicating these plans to stakeholders, CFOs can reassure them of the organisation’s preparedness, maintaining confidence and stability during challenging times.

DW: That’s sound advice indeed! Clear and regular communication required! No hiding in the shadows!  James, as we’re approaching the end of our time, you are obviously tech and data savvy. How in these testing times can they best be leveraged from a CFO standpoint?

JS: Monitoring financial performance is critical. As a CFO, you’ll already be aware of the relevant KPIs and reports that accurately reflect your business’s financial health.

There are plenty of resources out there that will give you the paint-by-numbers view – it’s up to us to hone in on the levers that really drive the unit economics of the business. For every SME I’ve been a part of, working capital KPIs have been a key element. For services businesses, I look at the change in project margins, billable utilisation, and contractor cost control. For SaaS companies its cost of acquisition, churn, user engagement metrics, and lifetime value. When I’m launching a startup, I am focused on my runway from a financial perspective and my sales pipeline.

But to gain access to these metrics, it’s important to have a data strategy. Where is the data being recorded now? Before we can build the fancy dashboards that house our KPIs, we need a data lake where data can be ingested, stored securely, catalogued, and processed. We need teams who can understand the landscape – our citizen data scientists – and depending on the size of the organisation, capable partners or internal team members who can come in and perform the data science.

DW: Ha! You lost me a bit there! A data lake?! That’s a lot to take on board! So what about automation?

JS: Automation ensures financial agility, particularly during rapid change. It accelerates processes like financial reporting, cash flow management, and expense tracking, enabling the CFO to access real-time insights. Payroll automation reduces administrative burden, allowing HR and finance to focus on strategic initiatives. Additionally, scenario planning and forecasting tools help anticipate the impact of market shifts, ensuring faster, more informed decision-making.

DW: That certainly demonstrates that tech and data play a key role within a business and its decision-making processes but what’s as important is not only understanding the data but what to do with it!

Ok, James, we’re at the end of our time. I’ve really enjoyed our conversation and I’m sure the CFO Playback audience will equally have enjoyed this article and the advice you’ve shared today. I’ll give you the last word to sum up! Leave us with some lessons learned through your experience.

JS: Economic uncertainty has been a consistent reality for all of us over the last 15 to 20 years. We’ve faced the financial crisis in 2008, austerity and Eurozone debt issues, a double dip recession, Brexit, the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation, labour shortages, the disruptive effects of AI, and now the morale-draining effects of Dry January!

However, there are a multitude of lessons to take from these events.

• In the current funding market, for debt and equity, businesses need to have robust unit economics and a clear route to profitability to raise money;
• We need a longer runway from a working capital perspective to stay resilient;
• Our scenario planning is becoming more complex, so we need to become AI and ML proficient, and to build teams with data science capability to handle the complexity;
• We need live data accessed from a data lake, with dashboards that give us the information we need to reduce the time between event detection and action, and
• We have to bite the bullet and focus on operational efficiencies we can gain through the use of automation and AI.

If I were to advise those making that first step, based on my own experience and speaking to fellow CFOs, you should join CFO groups like CFO Connect. You get to speak 1-1 with your peers and you realise quite quickly we’re all in the same boat!

I’d also get involved with events like the Gartner CFO and Finance Executive Conference from a networking and personal development perspective. I’m always coming away from those events with one or two new ideas to menace my team with!

Above all else, prioritise a good work/life balance. If you burn out, the recovery is long and hard. Rely on your support networks and employee assistance programmes. And if you’re working at 120% during crunch periods, make sure you go down to 80% afterwards. And try to have fun!

DW: Thanks James, I really appreciate your time. Not only insightful but for a delicate yet important subject matter, that was thoroughly enjoyable!

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January 2025

The CFO Playbook: Navigating Economic Uncertainty with James Sweeney

If you’re a CFO and would like to take part in The CFO Playbook, Spotlight Interview Series, then please reach out to David Waddell, MD at Harvey John.