Tax and treasury functions have always been central to organisational stability and resilience, but the context in which they operate is shifting.

As economic pressures increase and transformation agendas move forward, expectations are broadening. Today, it’s not only about compliance and risk mitigation. It’s about influence, strategic contribution and being able to clearly articulate the value these teams bring to organisations.

In this article, Lorna Blair, Partner specialising in Tax & Treasury at Eton Bridge Partners, shares insights from recent conversations with CFOs and senior finance leaders, observing what’s working, what’s holding organisations back and where opportunities lie for forward-thinking finance teams.

The rising strategic relevance of Tax & Treasury

Across these conversations, a consistent theme emerges: tax and treasury are being recognised for their strategic importance, not just their technical expertise. Their remit now stretches well beyond filings, controls or liquidity management into areas that shape the organisation’s future – business resilience, investment decisions, transformation initiatives and risk intelligence.

Lorna notes that CFOs consistently highlight how strong Tax and Treasury leadership accelerates execution and growth. The leaders making the biggest impact are those who have deliberately broadened their contribution. Instead of focusing solely on the detail of what their teams deliver, they frame their roles in terms of the wider commercial outcomes they influence. As she puts it, the game-changer is recognising that “it’s not just what you deliver – it’s what you enable for the business.” That small shift in emphasis can be the difference between being seen as a necessary function and being recognised as a strategic partner.

This broader perspective is essential in an environment where decisions carry increasing complexity. Regulatory expectations are rising. Capital and cash pressures are intensifying. Transformations are underway across ERP, data and operating models. In each of these areas, tax and treasury insight is not simply helpful, it’s foundational.

The biggest barrier: When the business knows your function, but not your value

Despite their growing strategic relevance, many tax and treasury leaders across the market still grapple with a common challenge: their functions are understood in outline, but not in impact. Colleagues may know that treasury manages cash and risk, or that tax oversees compliance and governance, but the deeper value they bring often remains unseen.

This lack of visibility has very real consequences. One senior treasury leader told us that their team is “often the last to know and the first to see the risk” – a pattern that places pressure on the function and introduces avoidable risk for the business. When decisions are brought to tax or treasury too late, optionality disappears. Problems are solved reactively. Costs escalate. And the organisation misses opportunities to design more effective, efficient or resilient outcomes.

Much of this comes back to purpose. The leaders gaining the strongest internal traction are those who can articulate their purpose in clear, commercial terms that resonate beyond finance. Instead of describing technical outputs, they explain why their work matters: protecting the licence to operate, strengthening the organisation’s resilience, enabling safe growth, improving decision quality. Lorna has seen repeatedly that purpose, when expressed in this way, “becomes the anchor that shapes how the business perceives you.” It elevates the function from a technical necessity to a strategic enabler.

A stronger business case: demonstrating value with confidence

Another recurring theme is the challenge of building a compelling business case for investment. Many leaders describe the difficulty of justifying additional resource, system improvements or structural change when the majority of their value is preventative or risk-driven rather than revenue-generating.

But this is also where we see the clearest differentiation in leadership effectiveness. The most successful business cases are those that tell a commercial story grounded in outcomes, not activities. They show how investment improves resilience, accelerates decision-making, reduces risk exposure or unlocks capacity. They use sensible assumptions rather than waiting for perfect data. And they are socialised early, inviting input before decisions are made.

There is growing appetite for practical, staged solutions rather than ambitious end-to-end programmes. Leaders are increasingly successful when they present the smallest viable solution first, with a clear line of sight to scale, and evidence of what is already underway. This reassures stakeholders that investment is enabling momentum, not funding uncertainty.

One tax director reflected candidly on their own experience, explaining that they “spent years trying to perfect the numbers,” only to realise that what finally unlocked support was “a clear story with good assumptions.” This reflects a broader truth: in tax and treasury, influence is built less through technical detail and more through strategic clarity.

Expanding influence: Transforming the function from a checkpoint to a trusted advisor

A defining trait of leaders with strong organisational influence is their willingness to step beyond the traditional boundaries of their function. Increasingly, tax and treasury professionals are being drawn into transformation programmes, ERP upgrades, M&A planning, supply chain redesign and risk steering groups – not because they are box-ticking participants, but because their input materially strengthens outcomes.

A senior treasury leader recently noted that once colleagues understood how their team thought – not simply what they did – they began inviting them into discussions earlier. Rather than slowing decisions down, their presence sped them up by reducing uncertainty and surfacing risks before they materialised. This shift in perception transforms the function from a checkpoint to a trusted advisor.

Lorna sees this pattern across the market. The leaders making the biggest impact, she says, “don’t wait to be invited.” They step forward, articulate their value and demonstrate the ways in which early involvement from tax or treasury can protect the organisation and accelerate progress. They show that these functions are not there to say no, they are there to help the business say yes, confidently.

Across organisations of all sizes, this proactive, commercially attuned mindset is what is separating high-influence leaders from those who feel stuck at the periphery.

If you’d like to explore these themes further or understand how they relate to your organisation, get in touch with Lorna to continue the conversation.