We are entering the 2026 budget season. Last year, our CFO-CMO event revealed a unanimous finding: most tensions stem from poor preparation for these conversations.

'Give me money' vs 'No, I won't.' This parent-child dynamic poisons many tech companies. The problem isn't money — it's the nature of the discussion.

When a CMO walks in asking for €50K for an event with no context, she puts the CFO in an uncomfortable position: how do you arbitrate on a domain you don't fully understand?

The solution: Establish clear contracting from the outset. Who approves what? How does a spend get committed? How is the budget tracked? These clear rules prevent situations where overspend is only discovered after the fact.

Key takeaways

The CFO-CMO relationship works when it moves beyond the requester-arbitrator dynamic and becomes a genuine partnership. The ingredients for success:

• Clear rules established from the start
• Mutual education on each other's areas of expertise
• A fact-based, data-driven approach
• A shared long-term vision
• Pragmatic working methods

Ultimately, CFOs and CMOs share the same objective: deploying the company's capital optimally to ensure its growth and sustainability. This alignment of interests can transform a conflictual relationship into a competitive advantage.

For the full details of our discussion:

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The right way to present your marketing budget

Rather than arriving with a one-off request, the CMO should first:

• Present their overall strategic marketing vision
• Explain their business logic and how they intend to deploy marketing
• Detail their impact measurement methodology
• Show that they understand the financial constraints

This approach reassures the CFO: they're not dealing with someone who 'just does stuff', but with a professional who has a considered vision.

Mutual education: the foundation of the relationship

CFOs want explanation, not persuasion. They don't know marketing, but they master capital deployment. Their role is to ensure that the company's money generates the best possible ROI.

This relationship works both ways. Marketers must also educate their CFOs on the specificities of marketing — particularly the difficulty of measuring everything, especially brand.

A crucial point: CFOs change domain of expertise with every company. In HR, commercial, or ops roles, they adapt quickly. Marketing remains the only department where they sometimes take 6 months to understand the mechanics.

Focus on numbers, not on selling

CFOs are analytical thinkers who quickly detect a sales posture. They prefer a cold, data-driven approach:

• Open meetings with a pipeline review
• Present what worked and what didn't
• Take a holistic view by speaking to overall revenue, not just MQLs
• Avoid silos between marketing and sales

This transparency on performance builds trust and strengthens the relationship.

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The long-term view: the CFO's responsibility

Contrary to popular belief, the CFO must be the guardian of the long game, not the quarterly target. When we talk about capital (rather than expenses), we're talking about ROI over several years.

Marketers should challenge CFOs who think too short-term and use the fear argument: show concrete examples of companies that failed through under-investment in brand.

Budget construction: starting from historical data

To avoid endless back-and-forth during the budget process:

1. Analyse the last 2–3 years of performance data
2. Clearly separate 'Run' activities (mature and predictable) from 'Build' projects (experimental)
3. Model bottom-up from historical conversion rates
4. Set aside a dedicated budget for experiments with clear tracking KPIs

This pragmatic method reduces uncertainty and facilitates discussions.

Minimising reforecasts

To avoid monthly reforecasts that exhaust everyone:

• Implement rolling forecasts with continuous updates
• Keep a record of all decisions and their justifications
• Work with gap analysis: 80% of the budget is predictable (salaries) — concentrate on the 20% that is variable