Inside the Strategy Room
Inside the Strategy Room
McKinsey & Company
316. Your budget is killing your strategy: 4 imperatives for CFOs
55 minutes Posted Aug 14, 2026 at 1:02 am.
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Show notes

The traditional annual budget process is broken. It is rigid, backward-looking, and not operationally fit to keep up with today's fast-moving markets. Top-performing companies are outpacing peers by budgeting differently. Matthew Maloney, Karen McLoughlin, and Michele Tam join us to discuss their recent article on how top-performing companies are transforming the budget from a control mechanism to a dynamic road map for driving growth. They share how leading CFOs are more closely linking the budget to strategic priorities, and how harnessing AI enables a data-driven, forward-looking approach.

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