He was once the man of the no. The one who held the purse string and spun the balance sheet numbers. Today, the role of the chief financial officer has evolved to become a sort of right-hand man to the CEO. "Managers are concerned about this global finance which has real and sensitive impacts on companies and increasingly sophisticated figures are now needed to guarantee the financial tranquility of companies", explains Gabriele Ghini, managing partner of the multinational executive search Transearch.
How has the role of the CFO changed in recent years?
The fields of expertise and the skills required have increased considerably. The first new trend is finance, which has changed the rules of the game. I'll give you a concrete example to make you understand better. A client of mine, when there was a raw materials storm, had to decide whether to sell or keep the warehouse. Which meant making important organizational managerial decisions such as closing a plant. This situation caught them suddenly, they were unprepared, because the previous CFO had never had to face such problems and had to learn to read finance. In the past, the CFO was the man of no, it was enough for him to know the business of the company and the sector. Now his role is much more evolved.
What are the other threads?
There is the issue of credit. The CFO must know how to move between the new forms of business financing, from bonds to equity, which now join the traditional banking channel which is no longer able to satisfy all requests. It must contribute to knowing how to manage and preserve the company's reputation because thanks to this you can have access to better credit. Finally, he must know how to handle compliance and risk management rules. Nothing has been removed but only additional tasks have been added to its sphere of competence.
What objectives are given to the CFO?
Must be able to find smart finance solutions with low risk alternatives, the company does not want to take risks. He must take care of the transparency of information and communication and guarantee impeccable financial communication. Finally, he must maintain the ability to say no.
What changes compared to the past on this front?
He must be more proactive and strategic, it is no longer enough to be good at taking stock, he must be able to explore new ideas and plans, study and propose better alternatives. He has become a sort of right arm of the CEO, who needs a much more qualified sidekick.
What are the main requests you receive today?
Companies are asking for people who are increasingly prepared for road shows and internationalisation. Managers are worried about this global finance that has real and sensitive impacts on companies and increasingly sophisticated figures are now needed who are able to guarantee the financial tranquility of companies and, if we can say so, also able to stabilize the impacts of global finance.
Are there differences depending on the sectors?
They have to have specific expertise in that sector they have to work in and the transition from one sector to another is not that easy. By now companies want plug&play managers, they must already know the characteristics of a specific business. Here too the saying in vogue in Formula 1 applies, that you win by hundredths of a second and the differences between the first and second are really minimal, but they are decisive differences.
Have there been significant changes on the salary front?
The old patterns are blown. There are no longer really valid salary parameters, there is such an abundance of managers who are walking around that those who used to get 300 thousand euros a year can now accept even 80 thousand + bonus which can be as high as the salary. On the variable it may be possible to negotiate even a lot but on the fixed it is more difficult.
Do you think that the salary ceiling wanted by the Government, around 311 euros, is a limit in attracting the best talent on the market and that it will make many managers leave, as claimed by Mauro Moretti, former CEO of the Railways now at Finmeccanica?
For that money, there is no problem attracting top-tier resources. Moretti has done an excellent job on the railways, winning the high-speed bet. The controversy has taken on exaggerated tones because he was confronted with his German colleague and not the French one, who actually earns much less. These are absurd controversies. Let's dispel the myth that it is the market that asks for crazy sums to have good managers.
