A recent survey of senior finance managers by Gartner and the Financial Executives Research Foundation found that more than half of the CFOs out there want CIOs to report to them. Increasingly, CFOs are the top decision makers in their organizations when it comes to technology investments.

According to this survey, the IT department reports to the CFO in 42 percent of the organizations, and it reports to the CEO in 33 percent. But when asking which chief the CIO really reports to, the answer may depend on whom you ask. As Thomas Wailgum points out, the "2010 State of the CIO" study by CIO magazine found that 43 percent of CIOs report to CEOs, and only 19 percent of CIOs report to CFOs.

The Gartner/FERF survey results could mean that CFOs are "using the IT function and its 21st-century business influence to bolster their own power base inside the executive suite," Wailgum writes. Or, it could mean that CFOs are simply exaggerating their own importance when it comes to IT. As Wailgum puts it: "I know how to use my BlackBerry, therefore I'm an IT expert!"

The survey doesn't offer much help for CIOs struggling for a more direct communications route to the CEO (which perhaps isn't surprising since it surveyed financial managers). Instead, it offers suggestions on how to help the CFO better understand IT and its business value. As Wailgum points out, it may behoove CIOs to apply this advice to helping out the CEO instead.

For a somewhat more uplifting view on how to work with--rather than for--the CFO, a post at InfoBoom by IBM vice president Judy Smolski offers some insights. Smolksi discusses a recent IBM study that identifies some of the bigger challenges CFOs face and how CIOs can team up with them to find solutions. IBM's (not agenda-free, obviously) study found that the CFOs who performed best knew how to promote both finance efficiency and business insight.

For more:
- see Thomas Wailgum's article at CIO
- see Judy Smolski's post at InfoBoom

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