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Common career paths for CAs
As your CAreer progresses, you may have the opportunity to work in senior financial management positions at a variety of companies. Responsibilities at this level have less to do with crunching numbers and more to do with steering the company in the direction it needs to go.
Many business students are lured by the CA program after hearing the success stories of accountants that have become chief financial officers (CFOs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) at very successful companies. What most of these stories don't address is what role these positions play in these organizations.
Controller
One of the most important operational managers in a company's finance department is the controller. In smaller companies, the controller often doubles as the office manager. Responsibilities can include purchasing, insurance, payroll, employee benefits, and human resources. However, the larger the company gets, the more these non-accounting duties turn into full-time jobs.
At the highest level, the controller's job is to turn the financial strategies developed by the CFO into marching orders and procedures for the rest of the accounting staff. In large companies, this means that the controller must still wear many hats-just different ones from the small company controller. Information management, inventory control, pricing, plant management, materials management, venture capital, and investor relations become important responsibilities for the controller.
During mergers and acquisitions, the controller plays an extremely important role in feeding high-quality information to the CEO, CFO, and investors in order to best evaluate a company. Once a company is bought, the controller may take over the integration and make presentations to investors and investment analysts, answer questions about corporate synergies, economics, and conversion issues. Regulatory filing with the government and private sector agencies generally falls on the controller's desk, as does bringing together new finance teams.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
As you might have already guessed, the relationship between the controller and the CFO is a close one. The main difference is that a typical CFO may do little of the accounting function within an organization. This is not to say that one doesn't need to know accounting to be a CFO. Company-wide financial planning and performance management requires a keen understanding of the basics.
The role of the CFO has changed rapidly with the introduction of the knowledge economy in the last 20 years. In the new economy, the most valuable assets are ideas, not buildings or machines. Assigning values to patents and staff experience is forcing CFOs to develop new ways of looking at value and measuring financial performance. Because people figure heavily into the bottom line for most new economy companies, like software and biotech outfits, CFOs spend a lot of time finding ways to leverage the maximum value out of people using IT and management solutions.
So how does the CFO of the modern company manage risk if there are limited physical assets? They build a strong foundation for the business through customer relationships and partner with other successful companies. This means that the CFO spends a great deal of time building relationships and strengthening existing ones.
In addition to managing relationships, the modern CFO must also work internally to develop strategic plans and translate financial information into bottom line performance of the company. The importance of this role has led many to call the CFO "the engine" of a company.
To get an insiders look at the CFO role, meet John Tucker, the CFO of Thrifty Foods
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Keeping the car metaphor in mind, it is no stretch of the imagination to call the CEO "the driver". As long as the driver maintains a car, they won't have to get out and push when the car breaks down. Similarly, a good CEO doesn't usually get involved in the nuts and bolts of the operation but instead focuses on ensuring that every aspect of the business is going in the right direction. This means the day-to-day activities of the CEO focus on facilitating success, examining assumptions about an organization's purpose, gathering intelligence, developing strategy, and planting seeds in the minds of the staff.
The CEO is responsible to every employee, shareholder, and board member and is often the principal spokesperson for the organization. Relationships become the key to effective distribution of important information and the modern CEO spends a lot of time building coalitions and leading by consent rather than issuing orders to the staff.
This approach reduces the isolation of the traditional CEO, increasing a sense of ownership among staff and contributing to a healthy, happy workforce. Some people have gone as far as to say that the real job of the CEO is to create more CEOs. Knowledge is power in the new economy and putting power in the hands of employees is crucial to an organization that wants to grow. Creating this environment for success is a full time job.
Since most CEOs have deep financial interests in a company and the ability to make business critical decisions unilaterally, any fallout from bad decisions land squarely on the shoulders of the CEO. This may sound intimidating, but with the foundation of integrity that you gain in the CA program, there are few qualifications that better prepare you for the responsibility.
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