The chief financial officer (CFO) is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation.  This is the definition from Wikipedia (which is where everyone seems to get their explanations).

Do you think that "managing the financial risks of the corporation" is the PRIMARY responsibility?   I would argue that it is ONE of the PRIMARY responsibilities but certainly not the only one.  The explanation goes on to say the following:  "This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management. In some sectors the CFO is also responsible for analysis of data".   Who writes this stuff?  Aren't we missing a number of key roles?

Another source, Investopia, had the following as the answer to the question (massively abridged, editors discretion):  Controllership duties, Treasury duties, and Economic strategy and forecasting.  Granted the article written goes on to say the following "The CFO's job is a very complex one. We have only scratched the surface of the many things this executive is responsible for. One thing is certain: a great CFO will usually differ from a good CFO by the way that he or she is able to project the long-term financial picture of the company and by how the company thrives based on his or her analyses."  Well we do not have the space to discuss the differences between a "great CFO" and a good one but maybe another article?

What do you think?  How would you define the job of a CFO?

David A. Fogel, CPA                                                                                                                                                                                           Coordinating Committee for the MIT Sloan CFO Summit

Principal, Swifton CFOs
Email: dfogel@swiftoncfos.com Twitter: @swifton  

I'm sure like me you are inundated with materials to read---financial reading, business reading, IT systems reading, etc.  I complicate it but getting too many content emails and too many magazines.  Granted, both the ridiculous number of emails and magazines are all free, the magazines come from frequent flyer points, but all they seem to do is pile up.  They either pile up in my inbox or in my home office----much to my wife's displeasure.

I am stricken with that age-old disease "I will get to it someday" expectation.  That disease is complicated by the "missing something" disease.  I always feel like if I don't keep that reading material and read it "someday" I will miss an important article or important fact.

I tried the........"if I do not read it within a month of publication I throw it away" rule.......but somehow the "missing something" disease overtook the "month rule" a long time ago.  Funny how the disease took over the rule.

I am sure the experts would simply say that if you do not read the materials within a few days (or earlier) you should throw it away.  But does that work????

David A. Fogel, CPA                                                                                                                                                                                           Coordinating Committee for the MIT Sloan CFO Summit

Principal, Swifton CFOs
Email: dfogel@swiftoncfos.com Twitter: @swifton