I see where CFOs need to “Float like a Butterfly”. Not only do Chief Financial Officers need to be appreciated for their ability to (continually) transform, Successful CFOs are appreciated for their grace and form as they accomplish amazing tasks with what looks like relative ease.
Do CFOs need to “Sting like a Bee”? Do they need to inflict pain to accomplish corporate objectives?
Butterflies have an easy transformation from caterpillar.
CFOs, those that make it to the role and those that are successful in the long term, have a much harder time. In fact, they do not have one transformational moment in a cocoon, but a series of ongoing transformations they must seek and overcome to continue to be successful and on top of their game.
Staffing levels in corporate accounting and finance are expected to remain stable in the third quarter, according to a recent survey of CFOs.
But the same executives increasingly are reporting difficulty finding qualified professionals.
CFOs are telling pollsters there are problems in the talent pipeline. Why is this occurring? Why are people now so worried about future staffing requirements?
Most importantly, is there an inherent risk for companies who are short on their finance talent?
Author Mary Driscoll interviews Dr. Jonathan Schiff, a professor of accounting (Fairleigh Dickenson) who also happens to be an authority on finance leadership development, skills assessment, and the training program design for large organizations.
Dr. Schiff had three key observations.
As the new CFO of a publicly held company, somewhere on your extensive “to do” list is implementing an effective investor relations program.
Whether or not the IR function was a well-oiled machine when you arrived, or virtually non-existent, there are key areas you need to address immediately to ensure that you are effectively taking the IR reins. So here are six steps for success as you accept responsibility for the IR function.
We all know them, the global finance leaders, the newly-promoted highly technical staff accountants, the number crunchers, but what does it really take to be a highly successful CFO?
As CFO, you can be the best in the world (for your business), if your team is not up to par, you and your company will suffer. A key foundation for a CFO’s success is their Finance Team (see bottom of my CFO Relationship Map). CFOs I have spoken with agree that A Strong CFO needs a Strong Finance Team.
The most intractable issues that face finance departments are those that “everyone” knows must be addressed but somehow never muster the collective urgency to do so. Many couch potatoes know they need to watch their diet and exercise regularly. If asked, they would say it’s important or even very important. Yet there they sit.
I am certain that I have broken the rules of meters in my limerick poem below. My excuse is that I am not a poet!
As she waits for a new boss to make longer-term changes at the troubled company, Avon Products CFO Kimberly Ross puts short-term trims at the top of her to-do list.