The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is responsible for all financial matters resulting in a corporation. The CFO takes care of all inner and outer financial situations reporting results to appropriate executives.
Primary Responsibilities:
- The CFO will oversee cash flow planning and ensure availability of funds as needed.
- The CFO will oversee cash, investment, and asset management.
- The CFO will oversee financial strategies and activities, as well as banking relationships.
The CFO is the person in charge of all the money that the company receives and disburses. The functions behind doing this are many and varied. One of the chief main functions of the CFO is to oversee the accounting department to ensure proper maintenance of all accounting systems and function. The CFO supervises the staff in the accounting department making sure that the department runs smoothly. The CFO ensures maintenance of appropriate internal controls and financial procedures.
The CFO ensures timeliness, accuracy, and usefulness of financial and management reporting for board of directors. The CFO makes sure that all reports are made to all the appropriate departments in a timely manner. The CFO coordinates audits and makes sure the proper filing of tax returns is handled in a timely manner. The CFO ensures all legal and regulatory compliance regarding all financial functions is kept.
The CFO of a corporation must have a minimum of a BS; a CPA and/ or MBA would be preferred in most financial institutions. The CFO must have experience working in a senior financial-management role, partnering with executive staff. The experience results in the development and implementation of creative financial management strategies that the CFO needs to be aware of creating for the company. The CFO must have significant experience in accounting in reference to the company that he is doing the business for such as:
- Law Firm CFO experience
- Non-profit CFO experience
- Medical Groups CFO experience
- Manufacturing CFO experience
Most companies prefer that the CFO have a deep knowledge and understanding of the Office of Management and Budget control. The CFO must have experience working with information technology staff to manage finance and accounting software packages. The CFO must have excellent written and oral communication skills. The CFO is supposed to demonstrate leadership ability, team management, and interpersonal skills. The CFO is required to possess excellent analytical and abstract reasoning skills, plus good organization skills. The cash flow planning determines how the company is progressing, if they can invest more money, and which direction they are heading. That is why the CFO is responsible to oversee the cash flow planning in order to help ensure availability of funds as the company needs it. Since the company needs to make investments in order to grow the CFO is responsible for the company assets on hand and the investment to come. The CFO often works with the different banks that hold the company funding. Since the CFO is in charge of the necessary banking practices for the company then he is the front runner with the banking representatives. Many of the financing strategies are brought out by the CFO and presented to the board in charge of investing and company improvements.
The CFO in a manner is the prophet of the future planning for the company. Since he is in charge of all financial statements and company assets he is suppose to be able to foretell the future events for his corporation. He should be able to tell if it is a good time to invest or if the company should tighten the reigns. The whole process of profit and loss is predicted by the CFO. The duties of the company’s CFO pertain to the financial status of the company along with the investment part of the company. The board of trustee’s depends on the CFO to provide them with all aspects of profit and loss both now and in the future. In order to maintain a stabilized company budget along with prospects for growth in the future can depend on how the CFO conducts business and how well he plans for future investments. That is why it is very important that the company hires a CFO who has experience and a good educational background.