“At Bel, we always define performance in two ways: financial and non-financial. And if we want to manage non-financial performance as well as financial performance, we need to have the right tools. (…) Each member of management receives their P&L (profit and loss statement) with their carbon footprint. In fact, the position of CFO no longer exists as such within the company.
Three years ago, we decided that the role of the finance department was ultimately to put pressure on the organisation to achieve its objectives. Its role boils down to: how can we manage conversations to achieve performance? And since we define performance in both financial and non-financial terms, we have placed the CSR (corporate social responsibility, editor’s note) teams under the financial director, who is no longer called the ‘financial director’ but the ‘global impact director’ or ‘chief global impact officer’ (CGIO).
But we haven’t just played with words: an entire function that was initially part of finance has become the global impact function. These employees have put all their processes, tools and conversations at the service of data: no decision is now taken by the group if it has an impact on the climate, nutrition or social issues.”
Cécile Béliot, CEO of Bel Group, in L’Echo, November 2023, translated by DeepL AI
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