The recessionary impact on the global economy has led organizations to ponder upon the necessary change in CFO’s importance in business strategies than ever before. The reason is simple – we are in the middle of economic slowdown. No, let me be bit more optimistic saying that we’ve almost tided over the troubled times with some positive signs of recovery. So, if the impact of meltdown has to do something with ineffective financial management, then better let CFO play the most pivotal role in drawing out the strategies to generate real value in the enterprise.
The CFO’s role has been going through a constant phase of transformation irrespective of the economic climate. CFOs are expected to even out transactional processes with the deployment of more effective and resourceful financial systems in place. This increasingly demanding environment calls for greater CFO responsibility and maximum strategic value. But, this isn’t going to happen overnight. Time is required to carry out the transition which can only happen with vigilant business measurement and enterprise transformations.
Here, we arrive at the theory of Strategic CFO.
The concept of Strategic CFO ensures transformation of CFO’s role into a calculated business asset, endowing the CFO with proper business measurement tools to overhaul fiscal policies and core financial operations of an organization.
The road map has to be in place to create a skeleton for success. It’s high time that organizations let CFOs come out of the shackles of old paradigm of “mere” numbers crunching and focus on focus on overall enterprise strategy and challenges.
When I am talking about the overall enterprise strategy, let’s delve deeper. More focus on non-strategic functions is required from basic transactions processing to ERP deployment which eases the process resulting in deep positive impact on the financial workflow.
The Strategic CFO concept paves the way for CFOs to gain higher level of internal controls over critical issues like auditing and regulatory matters, analysis of information, budgeting, M&As operational risk management.
I look forward to your comments please.
Data Source/References/Quotes:
Are You “Strategic”? http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14449015
Disclaimer
The views and opinions mentioned in this blog are strictly my own and in no way reflect those of IBM or any other corporation or individual in any manner
My name's Robert Parker, and I have been working with IBM India from April 2008 as a Vice President, Finance and Operations IBM India/South Asia. In my 23 years of career with IBM I had a wide range of financial positions within Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
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