CFO Duties

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Typical duties and responsibilities of a CFO
According to Jiang et al. (515) the duties and responsibilities of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) can be categorized into three: treasury, controllership and forecasting and strategy formulation. Regarding treasury, the CFO plays a formidable role in managing a firm’s financial condition. Therefore, he/she must be engaged in making decisions on how income should be invested by ensuring risk and liquidity are managed effectively. Additionally, the CFO is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the capital structure of a company is optimized to maximize returns. Controllership is another set of duties that a CFO is expected to undertake. In this breath, the CFO is expected to create and report …show more content…

One way that CFOs use accounting information is in making investment decisions. Usually, accounting ratios such as cost-benefit analysis are good metrics for determining the profitability of a new investment idea and CFOs use this information to determine how feasible propositions are (Bushman & Abbie 3). Another way that accounting information is cardinal revolves around measuring the efficiency of business operations. In fact, one of the rudimentary ways of determining the efficiency of business operations is through profits. Based on this concept, efficient operations are poised to be more profitable as compared to those that are inefficient. CFOs use accounting information, which helps them to determine the efficacy of business operations. CFOs also use accounting information to optimize capital structure to ensure the business operates at optimum profitability. In that breath, they rely on accounting information to ensure that the best mix of debt financing and ploughed income is maintained at all times to enhance profitability. Lastly, CFOs employ accounting information in making decisions of strategic importance. By looking at the balance sheet of a firm, CFOs may forecast outcomes based on a set of …show more content…

Some of them include:
• Association for financial professionals-This association is headquartered in Washington DC and it administers professional credentials to its members
• The private equity CFO association- Headquartered in Boston, this association’s membership includes CFOs of private equity firms. The primary aim of this association is spreading knowledge on best practices to its members in addition providing them with a forum to network.
• The CFO alliance- This organization is transnational and it facilitates networking and innovation among its members.
Current job outlook and salary ranges
The demand for CFOs has been on upward trajectory since 2012. According to the Bureau of labor statistics (1), the number of CFOs (also known as financial managers) is expected to grow by 9% in the period between 2012 and 2022. The annual salary for CFOs is approximately $109, 740, which translates to an hourly rate of $52.76 (Bureau of Labor Statistics

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