From Cost Center to Growth Lever: Why CFOs Should Prioritize Direct Spend

For many Chief Financial Officers, direct spend – the money spent on direct materials and services that go into a company’s products – remains an underappreciated lever. Historically, direct spend has been viewed as a cost of goods sold to control, largely managed by procurement and operations. Yet this perspective is changing, and for good reason. In product-centric industries, direct materials can represent the largest portion of total expenditures – often up to 80% of