Roles of a Finicial Manager

Trident University

Melissa Massey

Module 1 Case

FIN301 Principles of Management

Dr. Aubry

Do you think finance departments are the best place to train future CEOs? The goal of most companies is to gain financial success. Therefore, CEO’s must have vast knowledge of how to attain and retain such success. The financial departments of companies role is focused on helping the business to achieve its objectives and generating value. The finance department is one of the best places to view and understand a company so therefore it would be best place to train a future CEO.

Finance departments must have leaders that understand the broad business environment and the economics of strategic-decision making. To do this, CEO’s and CFO’s must understand how a company operates. The best way to accomplish this is through the finance department because it provides the best insight into all of the company’s assets. Globalizations of businesses and increasing competitive pressures are forcing companies to depend on their financial departments for economic growth.

In today’s business world, the role of the CFO is evolving and there are more opportunities for the right kind of candidates to achieve CEO status, although not all CFO’s have the potential. Unlike in the past, CFO’s are interacting with their management board and CEO for strategic planning on a regular basis. It is common to find companies that are promoting CFOs to CEOs. There are advantages and disadvantages to hiring a CFO to be a CEO. An advantage to promoting a CFO to and CEO is the fact that the CFO has been with the company and knows how it operates. They have interacted with their management board and CEO for strategic planning on a regular basis. A CFO knows all aspects of financial business from sales goals to the marketing plans that will benefit the company. A disadvantage of promoting a CFO to CEO could be that a financially oriented person may have an overly...