Expert insights. Personalized for you.
As described in the HBR article “ Sustainability a CFO Can Love ,” by the company’s chief financial officer Kurt Kuehn and Lynnette McIntire, it is used to display proposed initiatives in terms of their relevance internally to the company’s strategy and externally to outside parties. It’s vital that companies manage their impact on the planet , and most are willing to invest at some level in sustainability initiatives. MORE
Chief Financial Officer. You need a numbers guy to navigate your company to financial success. If the movies are true, the ideal is a tie wearing, straight arrow that lives for financial statements. MORE
At the same time, members of the C-suite are measuring their potential impact using different metrics — financial, regulatory, technical, operational — leading to conflicting assessments. High-profile cyberattacks — ranging from the one suffered by Sony Pictures in 2014 to the global ransomware attacks that occurred last May and June — highlight the huge financial and reputational stakes. Harry Haysom/Getty Images. MORE
As Keith Sherin, GE's chief financial officer, explained, "This is where the growth is. When news broke recently that Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital was teaming with Berkshire Hathaway to buy Heinz for $28 billion, some people noted that the deal marked a resurgence in M&A activity. Maybe so, but I see it as part of a bigger, more formidable trend that has vast implications for the future of almost every business: what I call the global tilt. MORE
What receives far less attention is that, more and more in our increasingly complex, volatile, and fully-globalized business world, the effectiveness of such action depends on a powerful partnership between the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the General Counsel (GC). MORE
Chief Financial Officer: “We should enter the Italian and German markets because we can generate $XMM in incremental profits.”. Chief Marketing Officer: “We should enter the Italian and German markets because we can increase our European market share by X%.”. MORE
For those who live in the Bay Area, they can work from the office, if they’d like. We pay a standard rate of $25 per hour, regardless of whether you’re applying to be an engineer or the chief financial officer. Automattic employs 225 people. MORE
Yet the number of women at the top is barely budging: some 5% of Fortune 500 chief executive officers and 17% of board members. “If If you want to change the numbers, you have to get men involved,” says Mike Kaufmann, chief financial officer of Cardinal Health. Men this is your career guide about women you work with. The business case is compelling. Companies with more women in leadership posts simply perform better. MORE
For instance, you can outsource a chief financial officer that can offer advice to the company on how to best improve their profitability. Employees are the heart and soul of the company. MORE
Ideally, security executives should attend board meetings in the same way that a chief financial officer would. Clique Images/Getty Images. With news of data breaches, ransomware attacks, and zero-day vulnerabilities making headlines, cybersecurity is likely appearing even more frequently on the agenda in many board meetings. After all, no company wants to become the next brand on the front page of the Wall Street Journal or have their executives testify in front of Congress. MORE
What resources do you have to get something fixed?" —Chief Operating Officer. Every salesperson is trying to get into my office and explain how their wonderful products will save me tons of money. What they said didn't really apply to us." —Chief Financial Officer. MORE
Last month, Patrick Pichette, Google’s 52-year-old chief financial officer, announced that he was retiring to spend more time with his family. MORE
If you want to be a chief financial officer (CFO), identify five CFOs who you admire or who are well regarded in your industry. Find the leaders on the industry “best” lists (best chief marketing officer, chief information officer, etc.), MORE
Peg Burnette, chief financial officer, said that since its Lean conversion (process started) in 2005, the city’s public health system has benefited to the tune of $54 million in increased revenue, money not spent, and expenses cut. MORE
Brian Paradis was the Chief Financial Officer for Florida Hospital when he was tasked with leading the troubled organization in 2006. I MAGINATION is about seeing what others don’t see. In a disruptive world, we need leaders with more imagination. MORE
We replicated our analysis for the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of each bank and other members of the top management team, but we did not find a relationship between their cultural heritage and firm performance. agalma/Getty Images. Does cultural background affect a leader’s decision making? MORE
If you answered B , then it’s time to get out of your office and hit the road again. These are the big kahunas at the corporate office making decisions about how much to cut your training budget. MORE
My boss, the Chief Financial Officer, set lofty goals. Ultimately, I was called into the CFO’s office and asked for my resignation. I never would have though, given my family’s financial position at the time. The Scenario: An Unrealistic Demand. MORE
The arrest of Meng Wanzhou , chief financial officer of China’s Huawei, by Canadian police upon the request for extradition by the U.S. Paul Taylor/Getty Images. MORE
If you choose only “Indian Chiefs, you may well find the egos are more trouble than they are worth. Don’t use precious board time to rehash reports and financial performance that can be shared in advance. He’s a seasoned financial operator with extensive experience in startups and growth companies. He serves as Chief Financial Officer of publicly traded Leaf Group (NYSE: LFGR), a diversified consumer internet company. MORE
Indeed, systematically dealing with the risks of anti-business/anti-globalization proposals and the opportunities of pro-growth policies has become as important for global corporations as addressing product, market, and financial issues. The contemporary CEO must not only be expert at addressing the commercial verities of products, markets, and competitors. MORE
To be sure, organizations need financial targets, and when they are under severe pressure, slashing "overhead" is far faster and easier. According to ThedaCare's chief financial officer, Tim Olson , top management viewed it as a significant waste of time. ThedaCare also introduced a daily financial management tool for department managers. A company's leaders need to be accountable for financial results. It isn't to sit in their offices reviewing budgets. MORE
Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer of Enron, recently completed a six-year prison sentence for his part in the scandalous deception that hid Enron's financial troubles from investors. After I was quoted late last year in an article on the 10th anniversary of the Enron debacle , Fastow contacted me and offered to speak to the Financial Statement Accounting class I teach at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. MORE
As Keith Sherin, GE's chief financial officer, explained, "This is where the growth is. When news broke recently that Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital was teaming with Berkshire Hathaway to buy Heinz for $28 billion, some people noted that the deal marked a resurgence in M&A activity. Maybe so, but I see it as part of a bigger, more formidable trend that has vast implications for the future of almost every business: what I call the global tilt. MORE
Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, a company so committed to manufacturing in China that it labels many of its products, “Designed in California. Yuji Sakai/Getty Images. MORE
Despite its infamous financial chicanery, it still appeared to be a viable, profitable firm. At the annual conference of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners late last month, former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, who served six years in prison for his part in Enron''s deceptions, offered an explanation. But after hearing Fastow speak twice to my Financial Statement Accounting class and reviewing independent evidence, I think I have good idea. MORE
Fiduciary Duty: better align interests of financial intermediaries and their investors. Almost 80 percent of chief financial officers at 400 of America’s largest public companies say they would sacrifice a firm’s economic value to meet the quarter’s earnings expectations. MORE
In one recent case, the chief financial officer of a small company was fired for possible expense account violations, and he was also seen as a poor strategist and weak team player. In a volatile world, anxiety and uncertainty make people a little testy. Cranky people can drag everyone else down by spreading negativity and sowing seeds of doubt just when leaders need commitment. MORE
Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” – Dwight D. The following is a guest piece by Terri Williams. The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. MORE
Position Yourself with a Better Financial Portfolio: Quitting your job and then applying for a small business loan is a recipe for disaster. Don’t Put Your Financial Eggs in One Basket: Diversifying your income allows you to mitigate financial risk and maximize your ability to make more money. MORE
So, I’m sitting across from the Chief Financial Officer of a major organization and he’s going on about the next director he plans to fire. As the Chief Information Officer for the organization, it’s my unfortunate responsibility to support his behaviors. MORE
In our recent HBR article , we argued that financial statements fail to capture the value created by modern digital companies. Since then, we interviewed several chief financial officers (CFOs) of leading technology companies and senior analysts of investment banks who follow technology companies. and (ii) how can digital firms improve their financial reports to communicate sources of value creation in their businesses? Martin Konopka/EyeEm/Getty Images. MORE
At the time we launched my second business, Sigma Communications, and its flagship magazine, The National Register of Commercial Real Estate , the biggest issue facing chief financial officers and real estate executives was their surplus real estate. Malls and office buildings sat empty, ushering in the term “see-thru buildings.”. MORE
They continue to express very high dissatisfaction with financial services, consumer durables, and healthcare. One reason is that women often work in so-called "protected" industries — education, health care, retail, service businesses, while job losses were concentrated in male-dominated industries construction, real estate, financial services. They are the chief financial officers at home, responsible for balancing the budget, yet companies continue to ignore their needs. MORE
While raises or bonuses are not unimportant, especially in this uncertain financial climate, recent CTI data shows that workers across a spectrum of ages — from Baby Boomers who have worked hard to reach the peaks of their career, to Generation X'ers struggling to satisfy professional ambitions and personal fulfillment, to Millennials who view work/life balance as their right — are looking for a remix of conventional rewards. MORE
Consider Staples, the office-supplies retailer, which had tumbled from being the market leader to being a third of the new leader’s size by 1992. So founder and CEO Tom Stemberg hired John Wilson as head of strategy and chief financial officer. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Rick Mills has been the group strategy officer for 20 years. alicemoi/Getty Images. MORE
The chief financial officer (CFO) role rose to prominence in the mid -1980’s as pressures for value management and more transparent investor relations gained traction. Adding a chief marketing officer (CMO) became crucial as new channels and media raised the complexity of brand building, while Chief strategy officers (CSOs) joined top teams to help grapple with complex and fast-changing global markets. MORE
The survey gathers perspectives from a small but influential group of executives — chief information officers, chief data officers, and senior business and technology leaders of Fortune 1000 firms. MORE
Before 1999 “performance” had a simple, unidimensional definition for health care leaders and their boards: It was shorthand for the CFO’s financial report, summarizing operating margins. Now, however, a unifying theory has emerged for how to improve performance for all these dimensions — safety, quality, experience, and financial. The financial health of the organization was the most important metric for management and governance to follow. MORE
The title Chief Executive Officer is something of a misnomer. An effective CEO makes things happen principally through his executive colleagues, aptly called “Chiefs” too: the CFO, CCO, and COO. MORE
From the outset, all three men viewed themselves as serving in multiple roles: founder, custodian, brand manager, chief financial officer, recruiter, and head of consumer insights. MORE
A few years ago I was working with a global company that was trying to engage Chief Financial Officers. Paul Garbett for HBR. Over 4,000 companies have corporate universities. Some of the most famous are run by GE, Disney, and McDonalds. Their purpose is to instill the company’s vision and values and cultivate critical skills and competencies. MORE
Nearly 13% of chief financial officers, chief marketing officers, and other C-level executives say that having input into company decisions is their top reason to stay with a company, according to the survey. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Communication Memes Self-Awareness Work life boss-employee relationship c-level CEO disease execunet mark anderson peter cappelli university of pennsylvania wharton school MORE
Ghosn was recently arrested for financial misconduct, fired from his position as Nissan’s board chairman, and criticized by Nissan’s Japanese CEO for accumulating too much power. Westend61/Getty Images. MORE
Chief Financial Officer Related Topics Leading Blog
AUGUST 20, 2019
Position Yourself with a Better Financial Portfolio: Quitting your job and then applying for a small business loan is a recipe for disaster. Don’t Put Your Financial Eggs in One Basket: Diversifying your income allows you to mitigate financial risk and maximize your ability to make more money.
Leading Blog
JUNE 5, 2019
Brian Paradis was the Chief Financial Officer for Florida Hospital when he was tasked with leading the troubled organization in 2006. I MAGINATION is about seeing what others don’t see. In a disruptive world, we need leaders with more imagination.
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Tanveer Naseer
FEBRUARY 14, 2017
Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” – Dwight D. The following is a guest piece by Terri Williams. The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity.
Chart Your Course
JANUARY 13, 2017
Chief Financial Officer. You need a numbers guy to navigate your company to financial success. If the movies are true, the ideal is a tie wearing, straight arrow that lives for financial statements.
Coaching Tip
DECEMBER 13, 2014
Yet the number of women at the top is barely budging: some 5% of Fortune 500 chief executive officers and 17% of board members. “If If you want to change the numbers, you have to get men involved,” says Mike Kaufmann, chief financial officer of Cardinal Health. Men this is your career guide about women you work with. The business case is compelling. Companies with more women in leadership posts simply perform better.
EnLeadership
JULY 29, 2010
Peg Burnette, chief financial officer, said that since its Lean conversion (process started) in 2005, the city’s public health system has benefited to the tune of $54 million in increased revenue, money not spent, and expenses cut.
Great Leadership By Dan
JULY 26, 2018
If you choose only “Indian Chiefs, you may well find the egos are more trouble than they are worth. Don’t use precious board time to rehash reports and financial performance that can be shared in advance. He’s a seasoned financial operator with extensive experience in startups and growth companies. He serves as Chief Financial Officer of publicly traded Leaf Group (NYSE: LFGR), a diversified consumer internet company.
|
Coaching Tip
MARCH 29, 2011
Nearly 13% of chief financial officers, chief marketing officers, and other C-level executives say that having input into company decisions is their top reason to stay with a company, according to the survey. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Communication Memes Self-Awareness Work life boss-employee relationship c-level CEO disease execunet mark anderson peter cappelli university of pennsylvania wharton school
Great Leadership By Dan
JUNE 4, 2012
If you answered B , then it’s time to get out of your office and hit the road again. These are the big kahunas at the corporate office making decisions about how much to cut your training budget.
Modern Servant Leader
DECEMBER 13, 2011
My boss, the Chief Financial Officer, set lofty goals. Ultimately, I was called into the CFO’s office and asked for my resignation. I never would have though, given my family’s financial position at the time. The Scenario: An Unrealistic Demand.
Strategy Driven
NOVEMBER 20, 2018
For instance, you can outsource a chief financial officer that can offer advice to the company on how to best improve their profitability. Employees are the heart and soul of the company.
Strategy Driven
OCTOBER 26, 2016
At the time we launched my second business, Sigma Communications, and its flagship magazine, The National Register of Commercial Real Estate , the biggest issue facing chief financial officers and real estate executives was their surplus real estate. Malls and office buildings sat empty, ushering in the term “see-thru buildings.”.
Deming Institute
JANUARY 9, 2017
Fiduciary Duty: better align interests of financial intermediaries and their investors. Almost 80 percent of chief financial officers at 400 of America’s largest public companies say they would sacrifice a firm’s economic value to meet the quarter’s earnings expectations.
|
Strategy Driven
NOVEMBER 22, 2016
Chief Financial Officer: “We should enter the Italian and German markets because we can generate $XMM in incremental profits.”. Chief Marketing Officer: “We should enter the Italian and German markets because we can increase our European market share by X%.”.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 26, 2014
As described in the HBR article “ Sustainability a CFO Can Love ,” by the company’s chief financial officer Kurt Kuehn and Lynnette McIntire, it is used to display proposed initiatives in terms of their relevance internally to the company’s strategy and externally to outside parties. It’s vital that companies manage their impact on the planet , and most are willing to invest at some level in sustainability initiatives.
Harvard Business Review
JULY 25, 2016
What receives far less attention is that, more and more in our increasingly complex, volatile, and fully-globalized business world, the effectiveness of such action depends on a powerful partnership between the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the General Counsel (GC).
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 19, 2018
The arrest of Meng Wanzhou , chief financial officer of China’s Huawei, by Canadian police upon the request for extradition by the U.S. Paul Taylor/Getty Images.
Harvard Business Review
APRIL 14, 2015
Last month, Patrick Pichette, Google’s 52-year-old chief financial officer, announced that he was retiring to spend more time with his family.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 9, 2016
From the outset, all three men viewed themselves as serving in multiple roles: founder, custodian, brand manager, chief financial officer, recruiter, and head of consumer insights.
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 9, 2016
The survey gathers perspectives from a small but influential group of executives — chief information officers, chief data officers, and senior business and technology leaders of Fortune 1000 firms.
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 7, 2018
Ghosn was recently arrested for financial misconduct, fired from his position as Nissan’s board chairman, and criticized by Nissan’s Japanese CEO for accumulating too much power. Westend61/Getty Images.
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 29, 2011
In one recent case, the chief financial officer of a small company was fired for possible expense account violations, and he was also seen as a poor strategist and weak team player. In a volatile world, anxiety and uncertainty make people a little testy. Cranky people can drag everyone else down by spreading negativity and sowing seeds of doubt just when leaders need commitment.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 28, 2018
We replicated our analysis for the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of each bank and other members of the top management team, but we did not find a relationship between their cultural heritage and firm performance. agalma/Getty Images. Does cultural background affect a leader’s decision making?
Harvard Business Review
SEPTEMBER 17, 2012
What resources do you have to get something fixed?" —Chief Operating Officer. Every salesperson is trying to get into my office and explain how their wonderful products will save me tons of money. What they said didn't really apply to us." —Chief Financial Officer.
Harvard Business Review
OCTOBER 11, 2011
To be sure, organizations need financial targets, and when they are under severe pressure, slashing "overhead" is far faster and easier. According to ThedaCare's chief financial officer, Tim Olson , top management viewed it as a significant waste of time. ThedaCare also introduced a daily financial management tool for department managers. A company's leaders need to be accountable for financial results. It isn't to sit in their offices reviewing budgets.
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 17, 2017
At the same time, members of the C-suite are measuring their potential impact using different metrics — financial, regulatory, technical, operational — leading to conflicting assessments. High-profile cyberattacks — ranging from the one suffered by Sony Pictures in 2014 to the global ransomware attacks that occurred last May and June — highlight the huge financial and reputational stakes. Harry Haysom/Getty Images.
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 16, 2017
Ideally, security executives should attend board meetings in the same way that a chief financial officer would. Clique Images/Getty Images. With news of data breaches, ransomware attacks, and zero-day vulnerabilities making headlines, cybersecurity is likely appearing even more frequently on the agenda in many board meetings. After all, no company wants to become the next brand on the front page of the Wall Street Journal or have their executives testify in front of Congress.
Harvard Business Review
MAY 31, 2017
Before 1999 “performance” had a simple, unidimensional definition for health care leaders and their boards: It was shorthand for the CFO’s financial report, summarizing operating margins. Now, however, a unifying theory has emerged for how to improve performance for all these dimensions — safety, quality, experience, and financial. The financial health of the organization was the most important metric for management and governance to follow.
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 7, 2014
For those who live in the Bay Area, they can work from the office, if they’d like. We pay a standard rate of $25 per hour, regardless of whether you’re applying to be an engineer or the chief financial officer. Automattic employs 225 people.
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 7, 2013
The title Chief Executive Officer is something of a misnomer. An effective CEO makes things happen principally through his executive colleagues, aptly called “Chiefs” too: the CFO, CCO, and COO.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 22, 2013
As Keith Sherin, GE's chief financial officer, explained, "This is where the growth is. When news broke recently that Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital was teaming with Berkshire Hathaway to buy Heinz for $28 billion, some people noted that the deal marked a resurgence in M&A activity. Maybe so, but I see it as part of a bigger, more formidable trend that has vast implications for the future of almost every business: what I call the global tilt.
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 20, 2016
Indeed, systematically dealing with the risks of anti-business/anti-globalization proposals and the opportunities of pro-growth policies has become as important for global corporations as addressing product, market, and financial issues. The contemporary CEO must not only be expert at addressing the commercial verities of products, markets, and competitors.
Harvard Business Review
SEPTEMBER 14, 2016
A few years ago I was working with a global company that was trying to engage Chief Financial Officers. Paul Garbett for HBR. Over 4,000 companies have corporate universities. Some of the most famous are run by GE, Disney, and McDonalds. Their purpose is to instill the company’s vision and values and cultivate critical skills and competencies.
Harvard Business Review
MAY 24, 2012
While raises or bonuses are not unimportant, especially in this uncertain financial climate, recent CTI data shows that workers across a spectrum of ages — from Baby Boomers who have worked hard to reach the peaks of their career, to Generation X'ers struggling to satisfy professional ambitions and personal fulfillment, to Millennials who view work/life balance as their right — are looking for a remix of conventional rewards.
Harvard Business Review
MAY 1, 2012
Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer of Enron, recently completed a six-year prison sentence for his part in the scandalous deception that hid Enron's financial troubles from investors. After I was quoted late last year in an article on the 10th anniversary of the Enron debacle , Fastow contacted me and offered to speak to the Financial Statement Accounting class I teach at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 18, 2018
Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, a company so committed to manufacturing in China that it labels many of its products, “Designed in California. Yuji Sakai/Getty Images.
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 30, 2018
If you want to be a chief financial officer (CFO), identify five CFOs who you admire or who are well regarded in your industry. Find the leaders on the industry “best” lists (best chief marketing officer, chief information officer, etc.),
Harvard Business Review
OCTOBER 10, 2013
The chief financial officer (CFO) role rose to prominence in the mid -1980’s as pressures for value management and more transparent investor relations gained traction. Adding a chief marketing officer (CMO) became crucial as new channels and media raised the complexity of brand building, while Chief strategy officers (CSOs) joined top teams to help grapple with complex and fast-changing global markets.
Harvard Business Review
JULY 28, 2011
They continue to express very high dissatisfaction with financial services, consumer durables, and healthcare. One reason is that women often work in so-called "protected" industries — education, health care, retail, service businesses, while job losses were concentrated in male-dominated industries construction, real estate, financial services. They are the chief financial officers at home, responsible for balancing the budget, yet companies continue to ignore their needs.
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 19, 2018
Consider Staples, the office-supplies retailer, which had tumbled from being the market leader to being a third of the new leader’s size by 1992. So founder and CEO Tom Stemberg hired John Wilson as head of strategy and chief financial officer. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Rick Mills has been the group strategy officer for 20 years. alicemoi/Getty Images.
Harvard Business Review
JULY 11, 2013
Despite its infamous financial chicanery, it still appeared to be a viable, profitable firm. At the annual conference of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners late last month, former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, who served six years in prison for his part in Enron''s deceptions, offered an explanation. But after hearing Fastow speak twice to my Financial Statement Accounting class and reviewing independent evidence, I think I have good idea.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 22, 2013
As Keith Sherin, GE's chief financial officer, explained, "This is where the growth is. When news broke recently that Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital was teaming with Berkshire Hathaway to buy Heinz for $28 billion, some people noted that the deal marked a resurgence in M&A activity. Maybe so, but I see it as part of a bigger, more formidable trend that has vast implications for the future of almost every business: what I call the global tilt.
Harvard Business Review
JUNE 8, 2018
In our recent HBR article , we argued that financial statements fail to capture the value created by modern digital companies. Since then, we interviewed several chief financial officers (CFOs) of leading technology companies and senior analysts of investment banks who follow technology companies. and (ii) how can digital firms improve their financial reports to communicate sources of value creation in their businesses? Martin Konopka/EyeEm/Getty Images.
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