When people think about corporate friendships, finance and HR don’t exactly come to mind. One primarily counts people. The other counts money. One talks about culture and morale. The other talks about costs and margins. At first glance, we look like we belong on opposite sides of the office divide, and to be very honest, most times, we are. No, do not explode in anger just yet. Stay with me.
Let’s start with the money. A finance person tracks every naira made or expended, ensuring that the company doesn’t spend what it doesn’t have. HR, meanwhile, is often one of those spending the money, hiring new talent or rolling out training programmes. Without a tight connection and coordination, an HR’s plans can balloon costs, leaving Finance scrambling to plug holes. A good CFO knows HR’s headcount goals before they’re set, not after. Therefore, a partnership between finance and HR isn’t just nice to have. It is a must.
As a CFO, your company’s people strategy is your cost strategy. Your hiring and retention trends shape your productivity metrics. Payroll is not just a line item; it’s perhaps the largest recurring investment in your income statement. If you don’t understand your workforce, you don’t really understand your numbers. This is because the biggest costs in any organisation are tied to human decisions. Who gets hired? Who gets promoted? Who leaves? Who gets disengaged and decides to show up but mentally checks out.
Finance and HR cannot afford to work in silos and expect things to run smoothly. I’ve seen what happens when they do. Imagine if Finance creates a “headcount freeze” memo without context, and HR rolls out engagement programmes that Finance never budgeted for. Everyone will get irritated. And the business suffers.
It gets worse when neither side talks in plain English. Finance throws around cost-to-income ratios, burn rates and run-rate projections. HR replies with pulse survey insights and employee experience scores. The CEO is stuck decoding jargon and settling unnecessary rivalries and misunderstandings.
Some CFOs still treat HR as a soft function. They only speak to them when salaries are up for review or when the headcount report is due. I think that’s a mistake. HR has insight into organisational health, the way finance has insight into financial health. Both are incomplete on their own. And let’s be honest. Many HR departments don’t engage in Finance early enough, either. They cook up grand programmes, then email the budget request at the last minute. Finance, rightly, becomes the adult in the room and says no. Not because we don’t value people, but because we weren’t part of the thinking.
Finance wants structure. HR wants flexibility. But it’s not an either-or game. It’s a matter of shared context and better timing. But when we get it right, the results are powerful.
In one construction company that we consulted for in my very early strategy consulting role, we flagged a troubling HR trend. High turnover among mid-level managers in operations. Finance pulled the numbers, and sure enough, productivity dipped in those departments. Overtime costs spiked. Project delays crept in. We traced it back to poor frontline supervision and a lack of promotion pathways.
We didn’t fix it with a finance-only solution or an HR-only policy. We got both the finance and HR teams to work together. We proposed a focused leadership programme, funded by shaving waste in other areas. The result was that staff retention improved. So did cost efficiency. The numbers told the story, but the people’s strategy solved it.
This old experience is why I think that finance and HR guys should spend more time in each other’s offices. And trust me, I have seen the result of this HR/finance partnership work well in my more recent finance leadership roles.
In a business environment like ours, where economic uncertainty is high and employee attrition is rising, this partnership matters more than ever. As business leaders, we can’t throw money at every person’s problem. We also can’t afford to lose your top 10 percent because our salary structure is five years old and based on expired assumptions.
HR knows what your people feel. Finance knows what the business can afford. Together, we can strike a balance. But only if we stop operating like divorced parents with shared custody of the company. It’s not always easy. Our instincts differ. But our success is tied together, whether we like it or not.
About the author:
Sikiru Salami FCA is a Nigerian-based CFO, finance strategist, and business leader with finance leadership experience spanning multiple sectors. He can be contacted via goodsalam@gmail.com.
