The CFO Evolution Benchmark Survey by Armanino looks at CFO opinions on factors ranging from the CFO's role, company profitability, headcount and public listings. It found that 89 per cent said they had seen positive growth in their organisation's revenue; 67 per cent reported growth in headcount; 56 per cent had an increase in budget; 27 per cent ranked market expansion as their top priority; and 30 per cent have short-term plans to expand domestically.

Here are some of the other main takeaways from the survey:

• Revenue growth is on the rise, with increases remaining strong in the modest growth categories. There is slower growth in hiring than in past years, even though revenue is increasing.
• Domestic expansion in increasing, while there is a decline in international expansion and a steep decline in China.
• Even though there has been an emphasis on data gathering and analysis, using the right data still seems to present a struggle for most.
• Of important key performance indicators (KPIs), half saw a rise in effectiveness, while others remained flat.
• Board members are increasingly asking to see KPIs.
• Security remains the biggest concern for Cloud technology and integration is a very close second.
• Almost half of participants have integrated technology; the majority of those have almost all systems connected.
• The biggest perceived concern to integration is cost; however, when grouped, current architecture issues were chosen most often as biggest concern.