CFOs should interact with employees: ex-Engro chief
Conference discusses challenges faced by finance professionals.
EX-Engro chief said that CFOs should establish contact with ordinary employees to get a better idea of how different proceeses withing organizations. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
A chief financial officer (CFO) should spend 40% of his time inside his office and 60% time interacting with employees to understand functional processes of the company that will strengthen him in making decisions for the betterment of the organisation.
This was the view of Asad Umar, former president of Engro Corp, who spoke on ‘Financial Leaders – Meeting Future Challenges’ at the annual CFO Conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) here on Thursday.
The conference, with the theme ‘CFO-Meeting Future Challenges’, was attended by more than 500 professionals from the areas of finance and business including dignitaries and crème de la crème of the industry.
“In the present world, the role of CFOs is not just limited to figures and calculations, they have to think beyond in terms of product understanding, people’s skills, designing future strategies, competitor knowledge and political environment awareness,” he said.
CFOs’ role was also crucial in arranging funds for future growth projects of a company, Asad added.
Speaking on the occasion, ICAP President Ahmad Saeed said the CFO Conference over the years had emerged as a strong platform where professionals in business and industry met to explore, confront and thrash out solutions to the challenges.
Saeed highlighted the multifaceted dimensions of the emerging CFO and its four faces – steward, operator, strategist and catalyst, citing the challenge to balance and achieve excellence in all roles.
Atlas Honda Chief Executive Officer Saquib H Shirazi stressed that the challenges were parallel in nature nowadays, the ones which professionals were paid for and the others which were beyond their control. The later included lawlessness, security threats, lack of electricity and gas, etc.
Despite all the challenges, he said, “we are still able to achieve the goals and the only thing which leads us to our destinations is our faith in what we believe,” he said.
International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Senior Technical Manager Vincent Tophoff listed out the crucial factors for strategic management. He spoke about achieving the objectives taking into account risk management, internal control and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2013.
Like Business on Facebook to stay informed and join in the conversation.
A chief financial officer (CFO) should spend 40% of his time inside his office and 60% time interacting with employees to understand functional processes of the company that will strengthen him in making decisions for the betterment of the organisation.
This was the view of Asad Umar, former president of Engro Corp, who spoke on ‘Financial Leaders – Meeting Future Challenges’ at the annual CFO Conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) here on Thursday.
The conference, with the theme ‘CFO-Meeting Future Challenges’, was attended by more than 500 professionals from the areas of finance and business including dignitaries and crème de la crème of the industry.
“In the present world, the role of CFOs is not just limited to figures and calculations, they have to think beyond in terms of product understanding, people’s skills, designing future strategies, competitor knowledge and political environment awareness,” he said.
CFOs’ role was also crucial in arranging funds for future growth projects of a company, Asad added.
Speaking on the occasion, ICAP President Ahmad Saeed said the CFO Conference over the years had emerged as a strong platform where professionals in business and industry met to explore, confront and thrash out solutions to the challenges.
Saeed highlighted the multifaceted dimensions of the emerging CFO and its four faces – steward, operator, strategist and catalyst, citing the challenge to balance and achieve excellence in all roles.
Atlas Honda Chief Executive Officer Saquib H Shirazi stressed that the challenges were parallel in nature nowadays, the ones which professionals were paid for and the others which were beyond their control. The later included lawlessness, security threats, lack of electricity and gas, etc.
Despite all the challenges, he said, “we are still able to achieve the goals and the only thing which leads us to our destinations is our faith in what we believe,” he said.
International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Senior Technical Manager Vincent Tophoff listed out the crucial factors for strategic management. He spoke about achieving the objectives taking into account risk management, internal control and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2013.
Like Business on Facebook to stay informed and join in the conversation.