When asked about Aon’s top finance initiatives, Christa Davies seldom mentions spend management, thrift controls, or any of the trendy methodologies that have enjoyed added luster during the economic downturn. Instead, Aon’s CFO routinely dwells on the subject of organic growth.

It is this stubborn focus that has led Davies to make the metric return on invested capital her favorite trumpet blast, as she seeks to draw attention to the origins of organic growth within the firm. For its part, Aon has in the past counted on the all-popular metric to help the firm measure the success of its many acquisitions. However, when it comes to stimulating organic growth within a recession, the metric has become increasingly integrated with Aon’s financial planning.

“If you’re going to start investing for growth in difficult market conditions, then it’s really about thinking out over a longer-term horizon, and we really have been doing a lot more 3- to 5-year-term planning to make sure that we’re getting the right returns not just in year one, but in year two and year three,” says Davies, whose finance team spans 20 countries.

Aon’s investment strategy has required that Aon’s finance professionals increasingly offer support and advice to business leaders within the firm’s different geographies.

Says Davies: “We’re definitely having that discussion with our business leaders – because they all want to make investments for growth, and we need to make certain that they are prioritizing correctly.” ###