CFO at 28: Career Advice from a Seasoned Professional

President and CEO of the Institute of Management Accounts and CFO Insights contributor Jeff Thomson spoke recently with Ben Mulling, CMA, CPA, CITP, CFO at TENTE Casters Inc. and member of the IMA Global Board of Directors.

Ben earned his title of CFO at age 28.

They discussed the increasingly strategic role accounting and finance professionals are asked to perform and the skills necessary to advance in the profession.

For more advice on how to succeed in today’s marketplace, watch the extended video interview below.

CFO Magazine’s CPM Conference

CFO magazine’s CFO Corporate Performance Management Conference will be held in Philadelphia this year, January 27-29. CPM will present the latest thinking about the most critical aspects of finance today, from working capital management, cost modeling, and risk management to strategy and talent development.

Receive a $500 discount when you register via EPM Channel’s web site. For more info, please visit our web site and click on the CFO.com CPM link. Use discount code EPMCDSC for $500 off conference prices.

Why CFOs Should Care About Big Data

The topic of “big data” clearly has reached a tipping point in 2012. With plenty of coverage over the past few years in the IT press, we are now starting to see the topic of “big data” covered in mainstream business press, including a cover story in the October 2012 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

To help customers understand the challenges of managing “big data” as well as the opportunities that can be created by leveraging “big data”, Oracle has recently run and published the results of a customer survey, as well as white papers and articles on this topic.

The Worst Countries To Be A CEO

CEO pay in the U.S. is not “excessive” but rather reflects pay-for-performance packages, according to a new paper.

Writing in the Review of Financial Studies, the authors of “Are US CEOs Paid More? New International Evidence” say the bulk of American CEO compensation tends to be from equity rather than a base salary, it appears to skew higher.

But when you control for firms’ sales, industry, and firm, ownership, and board characteristics, U.S. pay is only slightly above the global average.

Why We Like to Play with Shiny Toys

Are these fads and fashions or the real deal? Are CFOs attracted to them as the shiny new toys they must have on their resume for their next bigger job and employer? My belief is these four “hot” managerial methods and tools are essential. But they need to be thought through and properly designed and customized; and not just slapped in willy-nilly just to have them as shiny new toys.

What are these “four hot tools”, you ask? Read on for insight by author Gary Cokins.

Why Do Some CEOs Take More Risks?

Everyone has different attitudes to risk. Our individual judgments, interpretations and preferences influence the way we approach risky decisions. Sometimes, we can weigh the odds in a fairly rational, mathematical way. But when chief executive officers (CEOs) take big decisions such as acquiring another firm, it is very hard for them to know in advance how likely different outcomes are. Risk taking is not so much an economic calculus as an interpretive act.

The Core – Communicating Strategy, Vision and Values

“The Finance Talk. When I sit you down and explain that if you miss your income statement, you might get chewed out a bit, but if you miss your balance sheet, you get fired”. In layman’s terms, that means that if I missed the forecast there was a chance I’d get a tongue lashing, but if I was hiding things on the balance sheet, that was cause for dismissal.

Which brings me to the subject of values and corporate strategy. How do you go about communicating these things in your organization?

The CFO’s Expanding Role – Reality or Delusion?

“Modern financial executives are moving toward a more central and expanded role as stewards of the company’s longevity, using the finance function to enable growth, especially in new markets and in response to market changes. For those who are ready for change, the new finance is an exciting and rewarding way to help shape a more intelligent enterprise that is better connected to the market and its customers.

To be a devil’s advocate, what proof do we have that Gianni’s observation is true?

Can Finance Have a Seat at the Strategy Table? Not Without Change, New Survey Reveals.

A NEW CFO PRIORITY: TALENT DEVELOPMENT WITH A FOCUS ON SOFT SKILLS In previous years, the finance function sat mostly on its own and “crunched the numbers” without having much input into daily operations or long term strategy. However, the finance role has evolved to one that needs to provide sharp and meaningful analyses to…

What Wears Down Employee Productivity and Morale?

Let’s take a break from health care reform/span> and pension funding to look at something really important: Do work-from-home employees wear pajamas all day?

No, seriously.

When companies worry about employee engagement and productivity, the clues to any breakdown in those areas are probably already evident among the workforce. And, yes, one-quarter of employee do wear their pajamas all day when they work from home