What does a CFO do and how can anyone become one?
In: Economics
A Chief Financial Officer is the executive in a company responsible for all the financial aspects of the business. They are responsible for all the money, budget, ledger, reporting, taxes, billing, analysis, purchasing, etc. in the company. To do this they typically employ financial controllers, financial analysers, lawyers, etc. under them in one or more department. And they work closely with the rest of the company, especially sales and hr.
The CFO would receive reports and issue orders to the heads of the different financial departments and again report on a day to day basis to the CEO, and also directly to the board of directors. Because money is so important to the shareholders the CFO is reporting a lot to the board and the rest of the shareholders, usually equally much as the CEO and maybe even more. Other Chief Officers also report to the board but not as much. So in a board meeting you almost always have a presentation by the CEO and by the CFO but only occasionally from the COO, CTO, CCO, etc.
Technically anyone can become a CFO. It is a job like anyone else and you do see job listings for CFOs all the time. But often they would want a CFO with the right qualifications. Things like economics school, business school, law school and then longer relevant experience. But it is up to the CEO and usually the board of directors to chose which candidate to hire and they can ignore any qualifications you might have or lack thereof. This is more common in small companies as they might not have the money to pay the salary of a fully qualified CFO, and they might not need a full time CFO so the job would include other tasks that requires other qualifications.
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