Financial Discipline as Foundation For Growth .Over the past decade, CFO research services has documented the broad transformation of the finance function from steward of accounting, control, compliance, and financial reporting to key adviser on strategic planning, operating efficiency, and, ultimately, value creation. In the years leading up to the recent economic downturn, our research showed that finance executives were keenly interested. In improving dimensions of their business partnership—in particular, the finance function’s ability to measure and manage business performance; its contribution to planning, budgeting, and forecasting; and its support for business decision making. as the recent financial crisis broke, however, many finance executives at mid-size companies were forced to snap their attention to finance fundamentals: liquidity and funding, balance sheet management, and cost control.